Learn Serbian

Thursday, September 07, 2017

Serbian Pronunciation - Č vs. Ć

I guess this is something you have been waiting for: Č vs. Ć. In this video you'll be able to:

Hear these two sounds pronounced in many different examples
Understand how to pronounce them and where your tongue should be in order to hear the difference
Hear the minimal number of minimal pairs (really, there are just a few examples where mispronunciation will cause the difference in meaning)

If you want to practice your pronunciation in the same way I do and get my feedback, you are welcome to join my Patreon supporters!

To access the complete PPT with the video, check this out:

Imperative of Give in Serbian

Marina imperative in Serbian , Imperatives

Today, our topic is practising asking for food both in formal and informal way in Serbian.

DAJ MI = give me (informally)
DAJTE MI = give me (formally)
MOLIM TE = please (informally)
MOLIM VAS = please (formally)

If you are not sure why the words for food mentioned in the exercise change, check the previous posts about the Accusative case!

Exercise with the Imperative of Give in Serbian

Let's learn together:

Let's play together:

If you want to practice in the same way I do and get my feedback, you are welcome to join Patreon supporters!

How to Practice Speaking Serbian?

Marina Greetings in Serbian , Serbian for beginners

If you'd like to practice speaking Serbian and you don't have a clue how, the best way is to do the following:

Pick any of the video lessons I created on my Youtube channel SerbianLessons. For example this one: adjectives in Serbian
After listening and repeating after me (for as many times as you wish), play the video again, but mute it
Turn on the www.Vocaroo.com / or any other voice recording platform/service and record yourself speaking while watching the muted video
Save your Vocaroo (click Save, and you'll see a shareable link below - don't share it with the world, but simply send it to me to check it out and give you the video feedback - this can be arranged while I still have time)

Speaking Exercise Video - Informal Greetings

With this video the idea is to read the dialogue and fill in the gaps yourself, until the end where you have to remember everything on your own :) The version with the explanation and slow pronunciation is coming tomorrow!

Learning Cyrillic with Greetings in Serbian

Marina Greetings in Serbian ,

While I am working on my new series of courses, let me share with you some beautiful photos with short dialogues written both in the Serbian Cyrillic and Latin script. Based on the photo below, can you tell me what is missing in the gaps in the first photo?

Useful vocabulary:

to bi bilo - that would be
sve - all
laku noć - good night
hvala - thanks
poseta - visit
hvala na poseti - thanks for the visit
hvala što ste nas posetili - thanks for visiting us

For the pronunciation of some words, check out this video:

Modal Verbs in Serbian - Can 2

Marina modal verbs in Serbian , verb conjugations in Serbian

In the one of the previous lessons we practiced the verb CAN in the Present Tense in Serbian. Let's revise it once again:

When you practised the verb MOĆI long enough, you are ready to solve the following mystery:

Which words are missing?

p.s. The response you can see here is from the famous song by Zdravko Čolić. If you like the song, let's learn how to sing it together :)

Adjectives in Serbian - Part 6

Marina Serbian adjectives ,

While I am working on my new series of Serbian language courses, I prepared for you a video lesson with a bunch of adjectives, with the verb TO BE and forming simple sentences such as:

DA LI SI LEP/LEPA? - Are you beautiful?
DA LI JE ON UPLAŠEN? - Are you scared?
DA LI STE ZDRAVI? - Are you healthy?
DA LI JE TVOJ SIN GLADAN? - Is your son hungry?
DA LI JE TVOJA ĆERKA GLADNA? - Is your daughter hungry?
DA LI SU TVOJE ĆERKE GLADNE? -Are your daughters hungry?
DA LI SU TVOJI SINOVI GLADNI? - Are your sons hungry?
DA LI JE TVOJ AUTO STAR? - Is your car old?
DA LI JE HLEB JEFTIN? - Is bread cheap?
DA LI SU PSI STARI? - Are the dogs old?

Although I didn't write down my short answers, pay attention to them :)

JESAM - NISAM
JESI - NISI
JESTE -NIJE

JESMO -NISMO
JESTE - NISTE
JESU - NISU

For all of you who told me you LOOOOOVE my new cartoons, here's one covering this topic:

Your task is to figure out which word is missing?

Serbian Greetings Challenge

Marina Serbian course , serbian online course

Maybe you have noticed that I started creating a series of different video lessons recently. They are going to make up a completely new course, which is based on all your wishes and needs you've been sharing with me since January.

The idea behind the course is for you to:

learn the vocabulary sets first
try to guess what's missing in the series of fun and colourful comics with captions in Serbian Cyrillic, Latin script and English.
do lots of fun exercises based on the dialogues and texts
become proactive by sending me your short texts, dialogues and voice recordings to get my feedback.

Hope you like my first video lesson. Before to listening to me, mute the audio first and try to guess which words are missing :) Have fun!

Why not Having Fun Learning Serbian Verbs?

Marina Conjugations , learning to conjugate

Having Fun Learning Serbian Verbs

Yes, it's possible. See how:

In order for you to do the same, I'd suggest you start first with the flashcards, and then to move onto games and finally the test:

Flashcards:

Games:

Tests:

Verb Conjugations in Serbian - Present Tense of Go

Marina Conjugations , learning to conjugate

Present Tense of to Go

Here comes a short lesson with the verb IĆI = TO GO to in the Simple Present tense. The conjugations are as follows:

Ja idem - ti ideš - on/ona/ono ide ///// mi idemo - vi idete - oni / one / ona idu

Common Serbian Phrases with this Verb

How can you use the verb IĆI to create the most common phrases:

Gde ideš? = Where are you going?
Kada ideš u školu? = When are you going to school?
Gde ideš u kupovinu/prodavnicu? = Where are you going shopping?
Zašto ideš na posao tako kasno? = Why are you going to work so late?
Gde ideš na odmor svake godine? = Where do you go on holiday every year?
Kad idete na odmor? = When are you going on holiday?
Ko ide u školu? = Who is going to school?
Ko ide sa mnom? = Who is going with me?
Ko ide ka Beogradu? = Who is going to (towards) Belgrade?
Kada ideš u Beograd sa mamom? = When are you going to Belgrade with me?

As you can see, this is a tricky verb, because it can be followed by nouns in different cases. The most common are:

1. Accusative with the preposition "u / na" = in or to, as in GO TO

examples:

a. Idem na posao.

b. Idemo u školu u 8 ujutro.

c. Idemo na odmor u avgustu.

d. Svake godine idem na odmor u Grčku.

e. Sutra idem u Beograd sa tobom.

f. Idem ( u Beograd) sa mamom u petak.

g. Deca idu u školu.

2. Instrumental with the preposition "sa" =with, as in GO with a friend

examples:

h. Baka ide sa mnom.

i. Idem ( u Beograd) sa mamom u petak.

j. Zato što idem biciklom.

3. Less frequently it will be followed by the Dative, with the preposition "ka / prema" = towards, as in GO TOWARDS.

examples:

k. Mi idemo ka Beogradu. Možete li da nas povedete?

Your task

Try to match the questions 1 to 10 with the answers a to k. and record them with www.Vocaroo.com. You can send them to me and get your replies via Patreon.

Daily Routines in Serbian

Marina Conjugations , serbian conjugations

Daily Routines in Serbian

1. PRATI RUKE = to wash hands
2. PRATI SUDOVE = to wash the dishes
3. SPAVATI = to sleep
4. UČITI = to learn
5. DRUŽITE SE = to hang out (with friends)
6. DORUČKOVATI = to have breakfast
7. RUČATI = to have lunch
8. VEČERATI = to have dinner
9. PITI VODU = to drink water

For the video lesson, check out my Patreon blog. Thanks for learning with my lessons :D HVALA! .

Let's Practice DAily Routines with Quizlet

Serbian Adjective HAPPY - Part 5

Marina Serbian adjectives ,

Serbian Adjective HAPPY

In the previous lessons about the adjectives in Nominative, we learnt the forms of the adjective HAPPY just for Sg. Masc and Feminine. Here comes the list with all the forms:

Masc. Sg. SREĆAN

Fem. Sg. SREĆNA

Neut. Sg. SREĆNO

Masc. Pl. SREĆNI

Fem. Pl. SREĆNE

Neut. Pl. SREĆNA

Let's expand our short sentences into longer ones, by combining it with the reason - why someone is happy:

Conjugation of the Verb to Go to

In order to figure out how to make the previous sentences, take a look at the conjugations of the verb TO GO = ići:

The full video with the slow pronunciation and explanation and exercises will be posted for my Patreons. Many thanks for supporting these short n fun video lessons - Hvala!

Where is Marko Now - Serbian Locative 3

Marina locative case in Serbian , locative in Serbian

In our fun Serbian comics we can learn where people are, or where they were in the past. Today we are using the same case, the Locative case to express where we are in a house and after that we can also say what we are doing in the house.

Instead of a comic, I recorded a video for you, so you can practice saying simple sentences:

Ovo je HODNIK. Ovo je Marko. Marko je u hodnikU. On ne radi ništa u hodniku.
Ovo je KUHINJA. Ovo je Marko. Marko je u kuhinjI. On pravi doručak u kuhinji.

Can you listen to the rest of the story and make similar sentences for:

KUPATILO
TRPEZARIJA
SPAVAĆA SOBA
RADNA SOBA
TERASA
TAVAN
DNEVNA SOBA

Singular Nouns in Locative in Serbian

Before thinking about the grammar, try to hear how I am using these words with the prepositon U or NA. If you are not sure, here comes a bit of advice:

Sg. Masc >>> add -U (u hodniku, u Londonu, u muzeju)

Sg. Fem >>> add - I (u kuhinji, u Moskvi, u galeriji)

Exercises and Practice

For more exercises with the activities and the locative case, check out my Patreon blog!

Common Phrases in Serbian - Destinacija broj jedan

Marina common phrases , phrases in Serbian

Today we are learning two simple phrases in Serbian:

For the pronunciation and additional exercises, check out my Patreon blog :)

Listening Comprehension - Advanced Serbian, Numbers

Marina Advanced Serbian , Listening comprehension

Let's listen to this short piece of news and jot down the numbers you hear!

Many thanks to Kratke vesti portal for sharing the news on a regular basis!

Advanced Serbian - Sports Events on 5th June 2017

Marina Advanced Serbian ,

Let's work on our sports vocabulary today :)

Plural Nouns in Serbian - Delfin

Marina Singular and Plural in Serbian ,

The Plural form in Serbian can be tricky. That's why I'd like to start with really easy Singular - Plural pairs for you to enjoy learning it :D

Delfin - Delfini

More examples:

Animals

pingvin - pingvini (penguins)
konj - konji (horses)
jelen - jeleni (deer)

Buildings

muzej - muzeji (museums)
neboder - neboderi (skyscrapers)
stadion - stadioni (stadiums)

Advanced Serbian exercises - Sixth June

Marina Advanced Serbian , daily Serbian

I have always enjoyed doing short tasks based on authentic news and fun texts. That is why I want to create and share with you the same kind of exercises based on daily news, both in the Latin alphabet and Cyrillic script. Today I'm sharing with you one of the common news section called "Dogodilo se na današnji dan" - "On this day in history" from KratkeVesti :)

Cyrillic version Latin alphabet version

Photo Serbian - From To Genitive 4

Marina genitive in Serbian , PhotoSerbian

Odakle je ova lasta?

Where is this sparrow from?

Odakle leti ova lasta?

Where does this sparrow fly from?

Ona leti od Beograda do Londona.

It (she) flies / is flying from Belgrade to London.

Ma neee, ona leti od Afrike do Evrope.

Nooo, it flies/ is flying from AFrica to Europe.

Ova deca nemaju pojma!!!
These kids have no clue!!!

Ona leti od kuće do reke.
It flies/ is flying from the house to the river.

It's really complicated. Does anyone know the answer?

I think there is no correct answer, but we can enjoy learning Serbian by playing with this sentence using the Genitive case.

Genitive in Serbian

With the prepositions "from - to", you'll use the Genitive case. In the singular it changes as we have described before:

Singular

London - od LondonA Masc. Sg. adds an -A
Moskva - od MoskvE Fem. Sg. changes an -a into -E
Selo - od selA Neut. Sg. changes an -o into -A

Practicing Genitive in Serbian

Your task is to think about these places and give your own answer about the sparrow using the same form:

Lasta leti od ... do ...

Lisabon - Budimpešta
Madrid - Atina
Kopenhagen - Ankara
Zagreb - Ljubljana
Boston - Peking
Moskva - Oslo
Lima - Kairo
Čikago - Berlin
Subotica - Niš
Temišvar - Bratislava

Photo Serbian with Gavrilo

If you are wondering who took this wonderful photo of a sparrow, OR "Od koga je ova slika?", let me tell you that the author is Gavrilo!

He has been my dear friend since forever and he has allowed me to use his beautiful photos in my photo lessons of Serbian. He is doing a great job promoting Serbia and its beauties and I invite all of you to thank him on his Pixoto page by liking and leaving comments under his photos :) Хвала Гојко!

Serbian Adjectives - Part 4

Marina Serbian adjectives ,

I am sure you are confident using the simple word "lep" thanks to the previous posts about adjectives in Serbian! You learnt that "lep" (beautiful) will change as follows:

Singular

Masc. LEP grad = grad je lep (beautiful city - the city is beautiful)
Fem. LEPA zgrada = zgrada je lepa (beautiful building)
Neut. LEPO dete = dete je lepo (beautiful child)

Plural

Masc. LEPI mostovi = mostovi su lepi (beautiful bridges)
Fem. LEPE zgrade = zgrade su lepe (beautiful buildings)
Neut. LEPA deca = deca su lepa (beautiful kids)

That's why I'm sure you will be able to decide which forms of "lep" are missing in the gaps:

_______ nebo (sky)
_______noć (night)
_______ dan (day)

Yes, the answers are as follows:

lepo
lepa
lep

If you are still wondering why "noć" is "lepa", check out my video explanation and translation :D

Serbian Adjectives in Nominative - Part 3

Marina Serbian adjectives ,

The aim of the first two blog posts about the Serbian adjectives was to introduce you to the feminine/masculine change in adjectives in Singular:

Today, I'd like to introduce a new adjective "LEP" which means "beautiful". It is universally used for people (men, women, children), animals, plants, objects as well as abstract concepts.

This time you can see that the word in neuter singular is introduced and you can see how the adjective changes along with it.

LEP MOST (a beautiful bridge)
LEPA ZGRADA ( a beautiful building)
LEPO DRVO (a beautiful tree)

You can practice answering the following questions as well:

Kakav je Kip slobode? (What is the Statue of Liberty like?)
Kakva je reka? (What is the river like?)
Kakvo je nebo? (What is the sky like?)

In the background you can see some objects in plural and I invite you to think how the same adjective "lep" ends when describing:

zgradE (buildings)
balonI (baloons)

The answer with the pronunciation waits for you at my Patreon blog.

Fun Serbian - Pronouns

Marina personal pronouns in Serbian , pronouns in Serbian

Before watching the video try to figure out which words are missing in this short exercise:
Tramp brutalno odgurnuo Markovića

Serbian Genitive - Part 3

Marina genitive in Serbian ,

While in the previous simple Serbian cartoons we ppractised the prepositions followed by the Genitive:

today we are revising the same case, with words, both in Masc. and Feminine Singular, such as:

Rim, London, Pariz >>> iz RimA, iz LondonA, od ParizA - Sg. Masc.
Srbija, Engleska >>> iz SrbijE, iz EngleskE - Sg. Fem.

However, this time I am also introducing demonstrative adjectives this and these in Serbian:

This and These in Serbian

for "she" (like in "this girl" - devojčica) >>> Ova devojčica
for "he" (like in "this boy" - dečko) >>>Ovaj dečko
for "it" (like in "this sun" - sunce) >>> Ovo sunce
for they Masc. Pl or Masc. and Fem. Pl. together (like in "these people" - ljudi) >>>Ovi ljudi
for "they" Fem. Pl.(like in "these women" - žene) >>> Ove žene
for "they" Neut. Pl. (like in "these kids" - deca) >>> Ova deca

Serbian Genitive Task

I'm going to write the translations of these captions. Your task is to match them with colours :)

Boje (colours) su: narandžasta (1), crvena (2), tamno plava (3), ljubičasta (4), tamno ljubičasta (5), zelena (6)

a) My village is more beautiful than Paris (the preposition "than" in comparison always requires the Genitive case)
b) This one with an umbrella is from London for sure (the preposition "from" requires the Genitive)
c) If they are from Rome, we are from Paris!
d) If this sun sees me, it must think I am from Paris!
e) This little one (=a girl) is surely from Serbia!
f) These postcards from Italy are funnier than the ones from France!

Giving directions in Serbian - Part 1

Marina asking questions in Serbian , imperative in Serbian

Giving Directions in Serbian

Izvinite = excuse me (although izvinite can mean sorry as well)
da li = the way to start "yes -no" question
ovo = this
put = way
za = to
aerodrom = airport (masc. sg.)
ali = but
na raskrsnici = at the crossroads
skrenite = turn (formal, informal is "skreni")
desno = right

What are you having for breakfast?

Marina Accusative in Serbian , Serbian video lessons

Let me introduce you to one of my pets, a guinea pig called Beba. If it is a boy or a girl, you'll find out in our future lessons with it :)

The idea is for you to practice this short dialogue asking each other what you are having for breakfast:

a: Šta radiš = What are you doing?
b: Doručkujem = I'm having breakfast.
a: Šta doručkuješ? = What are you having for breakfast?
b: Doručkujem (travu) = I'm having grass for breakfast. (trava = grass)

For this, you'll need some knowledge about food & the accusative case. I'm sure this video will help:

Have fun!

Serbian Adjectives 2

Marina Serbian adjectives ,

If you mastered the word hungry: gladAN - gladNA, you are ready to deal with happiness :D

He is happy = On je srećan.
She is happy = Ona je srećna.
They are happy = Oni su srećni.

Now, for a more difficult task! How would you say the following phrases:

I am happy (said by a girl)
I am happy (said by a boy)
We are happy (for a boy and girl)

Hteti - Will or Want?

Marina common phrases , Serbian phrases

One of the frequent questions is how to translate Serbian "hteti" into English?

Hteti - Will or Want?

The simple truth is that the verb "hteti" can be translated into English in both ways, either will or want to, or even wish. The best way is to learn through some examples.

Želeti vs. Hteti

Hoćeš li mi pomoći? Will you help me? (pure future ) - Hoću! Pomoći ću ti (Yes, I'll help you)
Hoćeš li prestati već jednom? Will you stop it once and for all? - Neću! (I won't)
Hoćeš li da mi pomogneš? Do you want to help me? (a bit stronger than "want") - Naravno! Of course! Svakako! Sure!
Da li hoćeš da idemo u Beograd? Do you want us to go to Belgrade?
Želiš li da mi pomogneš? Do you wish/want to help me? (a bit more like "wish" than "want") - Kako da ne! Sure!
Šta želiš da ti kupim u Beogradu? What do you want me to buy you in Belgrade?

Accepting and Declining

The other set of useful phrases which we can learn from is how to best respond to questions starting with "Will you?" or "Do you want to....?"

Prihvatanje/potvrđivanje = Accepting

Naravno
Svakako
Nema problema
Kako da ne
Hoću (if the question starts with Hoćeš li...?)
Želim (if the question starts with Želiš li...?)
Da
Jašta (colloquial + archaic, but fun)

Odbijanje = Declining

Nema šanse (no way)
Nikako (no way)
Neću / Ne želim
Ne, hvala (no, thanks)
Jok (colloquial + archaic, but fun)

Adjectives and Genders in Serbian - 1

Marina PhotoSerbian , Serbian adjectives

Many of my students have asked me to create a series of video lessons or similar teaching materials dedicated only to adjectives contrasting Masculine and Feminine forms. Here comes the first one in this series - something reeeeaaaaally simple:

Masculine Sg. of hungry>>> gladAn
Feminine Sg. of hungry >>> gladnA
Neuter Sg. of hungry >>> gladNo

Exercise with this photo lesson

Ko je gladan? Who is hungry?
On je gladan! He is hungry!
Ona je gladna! She is hungry!
Ja nisam gladan! I am not hungry!

Here comes a trick question: Da li sam JA dečko ili devojčica? Am I (JA in sentence 4) a boy or a girl?

Google Tag Head

Thursday, September 07, 2017

Monday, September 04, 2017

Exercise with the Imperative of Give in Serbian

Saturday, August 12, 2017

Speaking Exercise Video - Informal Greetings

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Tuesday, July 04, 2017

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Thursday, June 22, 2017

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Having Fun Learning Serbian Verbs

Monday, June 19, 2017

Present Tense of to Go

Common Serbian Phrases with this Verb

Your task

Thursday, June 15, 2017

Daily Routines in Serbian

Let's Practice DAily Routines with Quizlet

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Serbian Adjective HAPPY

Conjugation of the Verb to Go to

Monday, June 12, 2017

Singular Nouns in Locative in Serbian

Exercises and Practice

Friday, June 09, 2017

Thursday, June 08, 2017

Wednesday, June 07, 2017

Tuesday, June 06, 2017

Delfin - Delfini

Cyrillic version Latin alphabet version

Friday, June 02, 2017

Genitive in Serbian

Practicing Genitive in Serbian

Thursday, June 01, 2017

Monday, May 29, 2017

Friday, May 26, 2017

Thursday, May 25, 2017

This and These in Serbian

Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Saturday, May 20, 2017

Friday, May 19, 2017

Thursday, May 18, 2017

Hteti - Will or Want?

Želeti vs. Hteti

Accepting and Declining

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Exercise with this photo lesson

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