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Friday, October 11, 2019

PO- Prefix with Verbs - Serbian 701

One of the common and very productive ways of expanding a verb meaning is the process of "prefixation" in Serbian. While in English this additional meaning is conveyed through use of different tenses or prepositions in phrasal verbs, at a sentence level, in Serbian it is achieved through only one word, at the lexicology level.

Today we are talking about PO- prefix and its meanings.

Meaning of Po- Prefix in Serbian

There are five main meanings of PO- prefix when added to a verb. These are as follows:
  1. making a perfective verb out of an imperfective one: jesti - pojesti
  2. adding up "distributive meaning", often combined with the word "sve": krasti - pokrasti (there will be a special post dedicated to this)
  3. beginning of the action: leteti -  poleteti
  4. spatial meaning (additional meaning "over") : bacati -  pobacati
  5. action which lasts for a long time: živeti - poživeti

Exercise with Po- Prefix in Serbian

Let me add five lists of verbs for which you have to decide which group they belong to:

Can you think of any other examples?

Here are some of my ideas:

  1. pokisnuti
  2. poleteti
  3. pozlatiti
  4. pokrenuti 
  5. polupati
  6. posvađati 
  7. porazbijati
  8. pokrasti



Examples with Po- Prefix in Serbian Literature

Here comes the famous story Sve će to narod pozlatiti by Laza Lazarević, written back in 1881. 




- What is the meaning of the noun ZLATO and verb POzlatiTI?
- What meaning(s) does this prefix add?
- What is the gist of the story?

Thursday, October 10, 2019

QAs About Most Common Mistakes in Serbian

Most Common Mistakes in Serbian

I'm sure you've seen a lot of interesting photos which explain most common mistakes in the Serbian language, such as this one:






















Video with Most Common Mistakes in Serbian

Today, I've come across this great video with similar examples. I am sure you'll enjoy watching it! 

Wednesday, October 09, 2019

Serbian 201 - Pronouns in Accusative

Serbian Pronouns in Accusative

The best way to practice this phrase is to play a game and point to the different food items in the kitchen saying:
  • Feminine singular: Vidim ribu, vidim je!
  • Masculine and Neuter Sg: Vidim hleb / meso, vidim ga!
  • Plural, all genders: Vidim jaja, vidim ih! 

save image


Useful Vocabulary

  • Ananas = pineapple
  • Grožđe = grapes
  • Dinja = melon
  • Višnje = sour cherries
  • Trešnje = sweet cherries

How to pronounce Pronouns in Accusative


Tuesday, October 08, 2019

Serbian 102 - Past tense of Biti

Stiže još jedan / još jedna set of exercises to practice one of the lessons from Serbian 102 course!



Past tense of To be Explained

You can find the pronunciation and the form of the verb to be in Serbian in this post published earlier.



Past tense of To be with Exercises




Past tense of To be - Games



Monday, October 07, 2019

Serbian 101 - What do you see?

What do you see in Serbian?  


The best way to start practicing Serbian cases, the Accusative for example, is to start simple and easy, with food. After the verb to see, you'll simply change the final A of the noun into U
  • VIDIM BANANU - BANANA
  • VIDIM JABUKU - JABUKA
  • VIDIM JAGODU - JAGODA
  • VIDIM LIMUNADU - LIMUNADA
  • VIDIM LUBENICU - LUBENICA
  • VIDIM PAPRIKU - PAPRIKA
  • VIDIM PICU - PICA
  • VIDIM POMORANDŽU - POMORANDŽA
  • VIDIM RIBU - RIBA
  • VIDIM SUPU - SUPA
  • VIDIM VODU - VODA



What do you see in Serbian - Exercises 




What do you see in Serbian - Games






Sunday, October 06, 2019

Serbian 401 - Mala istorija Srbije

Srpski 401 se bazira na preslatkoj mini seriji koja se zove Mala istorija Srbije, o kojoj sam pisala pre pet godina (vreme baš leti = time really flies by)!

Hajde da ponovo pogledamo prvu epizodu i uradimo sledeće vežbe:


Don't forget that for more exercises like this one with explanations and video lessons with slow pronunciation you can join Patreon page, tier one.

Saturday, October 05, 2019

This is, These are in Serbian

This is, These are - in Serbian

Let's jump with joy each time we come across a phrase or two which are easier in Serbian than in English.

There is no need for you to think how to say THIS and THESE, simply say OVO and it covers both categories!



  • Ovo je haljina = this is a dress
  • Ovo su čizme = these are boots

  • The only thing we are actually practicing is IS and ARE in Serbian, in different contexts:


    1. Odeća = Clothes
    2. Životinje = Animals 
    3. Hrana = Food
    4. Poslovi = Jobs 

    Ovo je, ovo su with Clothes



    This is, These are -Exercises








    This is, These are - Games





    Thursday, October 03, 2019

    Serbian 101 - Glagol BITI

    Glagol BITI - značenje (meaning)

    Even if you are really familiar with the verb to be in Serbian, let's simply review what we know with tthese fun exercises:


    Glagol BITI - vežbe (exercise)










    Glagol BITI - igre (games)





    Glagol BITI - additional exercises

    Tuesday, October 01, 2019

    "Excuse me, where is..." - Serbian 101

    One of the useful phrases when learning Serbian is IZIVINTE = ИЗВИНИТЕ = excuse me.

    Excuse me, where is ... in Serbian


    After this phrase, you have certainly attracted someone's attention, so you can ask a follow up question. Today we are practicing the phrase GDE JE = ГДЕ ЈЕ = where is?

    How to pronounce IZVINITE, GDE JE in Serbian

    • Excuse me, where is the exit? = Izvinite, gde je izlaz? 

    Let's practice the phrase "Excuse me, where is ..."  



    After practicing with the Flashcards, you are ready to play and win :D





    Monday, September 30, 2019

    Learning Serbian Cyrillic with Easy to Read Books

    I am happy to announce that my third book with easy texts both in Cyrillic and Latin alphabet, Who is Who, has been published!

    Let me remind you of the first two books, which you can read along with me on my Youtube channel and Patreon page:

    Easy to Read -  Šta možemo da vidimo na selu?



    This book called "What you can see on the farm" is just the first part of the series covering animal and farm vocabulary,  together with  the most common verbs in Serbian.

    Easy to Read -  Gde je ključ? 



    In this second book, Where is the Key? I continue using the most common verbs which require the accusative case. We are also practicing introducing ourselves and our friends.  There is also a task for you to find ONE hidden key. If you are having problems finding it, do let me know!

    Easy to Read -  Ko je ko?


    In the third book, Who is Who, we are dealing with some similar names like Jovan and Jovana or Ivan and Ivana. Since they can be a bit confusing, we are trying to figure out who is who, by following our friends in search of one another. At the end of the book there is an Activity book where you need to find the hidden page numbers... a little bit of Locative case will always prove useful in the days to come :D


    The Fourth Easy to Read book 

    The name of the fourth book is "What we like" and it is all about games and seasons we like. It is to be published in October. This one is the easiest of all, and I am sure you'll love it! Watch this space :D

    Saturday, September 28, 2019

    Learning Serbian with Songs

    If you like learning Serbian with songs, I'm sure oyu will like some of the new exercises I published on the new SerbianLessons page:  

    Learning Serbian with Songs



    Friday, September 27, 2019

    Serbian 701 - Lesson 1, Exercises

    In one of the more advanced Serbian language courses, you can learn how to use the following set of phrases to talk about yourself and important occasions when you want to:https://www.learnserbianblog.com/2018/09/serbian-advanced-course.html
    • treat someone = častiti  / počastiti nekog
    • take someone out to a restaurant = izvesit nekog u restoran
    as well as reasons
    • to retire = otići u penziju
    • to graduate = diplomirati
    • to enroll = upisati se na fakultet

    Serbian 701 - Exercises

    Let's just watch again the first part, for about 1 minute, until Boškić goes out of the office. Can you hear the words:
    • častim
    • moja čast
    • slavlje
    • upisati akademiju
    • upisati fakultet
    Slušajte ponovo i pokušajte da čujete:

    1. Ko časti?
    2. Zašto časti?
    3. Kako časti?
    4. Koga časti?

    Exercises with Lesson1, Serbian 701

    If you haven't done all the exercises from the previous post, you can do them on this page. Now, we are going to do a brand new exercise and talk about ourselves:

    Hajde da vežbamo ove glagole u prošlom vremenu




    Govorne vežbe

    Posle svih ovih vežbi, vreme je da kažemo nešto o sebi, u kojim prilikama častite prijatelje i porodicu i kako?

    Advanced Serbian - Srpski kao drugi jezik

    Gde je ključ? Где је кључ? - Učimo srpski sa Marinom
    Gde je ključ? ...
    Where is the Key?-...
    By Marina Petrović
    Photo book