Showing posts sorted by date for query Past tense in Serbian. Sort by relevance Show all posts

Monday, November 08, 2021

Serbian 401 - Aspect in Serbian

Since there aren't many exercises on perfective and imperfective aspect in Serbian, I'll share all my video lessons and exercises for you to practice.

Aspect in Serbian - Short Explanation

The easiest way to see the difference and the most frequent forms are to contrast present and past tense in Serbian.

Aspect in Serbian - Trošiti vs Potrošiti

The Perfective Aspect of the verbs in Serbian shows most naturally in the past tense, denoting the finished action: Potrošila sam puno novca na kompjuter (I have spent /I spent a lot of money on the computer)
The Imperfective Aspect shows clearly in the present tense, showing duration: Dok ti štediš novac, ja ga trošim (While you are saving money, I am spending it) - HOWEVER, it can be used for regular actions and habits as well: koliko novca trošiš svakog mesec? (how much money do you spend each month)

Aspect in Serbian - Video Exercise

Therefore, this word order exercise is dedicated only to this clear PRESENT/PAST distinction

For more, make sure you follow Serbian 301 and 401 posts!

Aspect in Serbian - Word order Exercise

Serbian 302 - Serbian Lexicology, Who Recovered?

Marina Serbian 302 , Serbian Lexicology

Serbian 302 - Serbian Lexicology

One of the very productive prefixes to form a verb out of an adjective is the prefix O-. If you know the meaning of the following adjectives, you'll surely know how to make verbs out of them and expand your vocabulary in an easy way:

ZDRAV

GLADAN

PAMETAN

BOGAT

ŽENJEN

SLOBODAN

Serbian 302 - Who Recovered?

Before checking the meaning of the words, can you simply add an O in front of each adjective. To make it a verb you also need to add the -O suffix (for Masc. form of the verb in the past tense).

For example: OZDRAVIO

1. Ko je OzdraviO?

I googled the following stories:

Ozdravio Frančesko Toti
Ozdravio Čeda

Serbian Lexicology - Verb Formation

Now, let's do the same thing for each of these newly created verbs:

GLADAN - ogladneo

PAMETAN - opametio

BOGAT - obogatio

ŽENJEN - oženio

SLOBODAN - oslobodio

After googling them, answer the following questions:

2. Ko je OgladneO?

3. Ko se _pameti__?

5. Ko se _bogati_?

6. Ko se _ženi_?

7. Ko je _slobodi_ ?

Practicing Serbian Lexicology

Serbian 201 - Present Tense to Past Tense

Marina Past tense , past tense in serbian

Present Tense to Past Tense

Here comes a fun exercise to help you practice the Simple past tense in Serbian. Let's turn this present tense story into the past tense:

Pay attention, the underlined words are in the Nominative/infinitive

Serbian 201 - Present and Past of Raditi

Marina Conjugations , Serbian 201

One of the best ways to practice different tenses is to contrast them. Today, the focus is on the verb TO WORK = raditi. Can you figure out which one is PAST and which one is PRESENT tense?

Šta radiš?
Šta si radila?
Radimo u školi.
Radili smo u bolnici.
Sada ništa ne radim.
Nisam ništa radila.

Yes, I am sure you guessed that 1-3-5 sentences are in the present tense and the others are in the past. Now, let's do one exercise to choose the verb which is missing

Present and Past of Raditi - Exercise

Exercise with Present and Past of Raditi

Game with Present and Past of Raditi

Present and Past of Raditi - Test

Serbian 301 - Retelling Story

Marina asking questions in Serbian , Past tense

In Serbian 301 one is practicing to confidently ask and answer questions about some past tense events. This can be practiced in different ways:

talking about your past, or past events in your life
talking about your friends and family and their experiences
retelling a short story that we have previously learnt
retelling an interesting film/book plot

Additionally, you can also practice telling a story based on a suitable song. Let's take Kristing by Zdravko Čolić, for example!

Retelling Story in Serbian - Song

Retelling Story in Serbian

For the sake of understanding here comes a page with the lyrics translation (not the perfect one, though, but you'll get the gist) and now you can practice retelling the story with the following set of exercises:

Retelling Story by asking questions

Now that you know what has actually happen, can you add your questions in the comments below?

Let me start with just a few:

Kada je Zdravko išao na salaš?
Gde je bio salaš?
Šta sve znači "društvo"?
Ko je stajao na vratima?
Šta je petrolejka?

Serbian 201 - Zvati SE in Past Tense

Marina Past tense , past tense in serbian

In the previous post we practiced the phrase "what's your name" or "how are you called" = "kako se zoveš" in Present Tense. Today we are practicing the same phrase but in the past tense with the family vocabulary :)

Zvati se in Past Tense - MATCH

Learning Zvati se in Past

Test with zvati se in Past

Serbian 102 - Past tense of Biti

Marina Past tense , past tense in serbian

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

Let's Learn Past Tense of To Work and Become

Marina Activator Video Lessons , exercises in Serbian

Let's learn a set of useful phrases with this website showing what some celebrities had done for a living before they became famous.

For the video with the detailed explanations and translations, check out my Patreon page.

Exercise with Verb Worked in Serbian

Serbian Conjugations - Speaking Exercise with To Have a Rest

Marina odmarati se in Serbian , verb conjugations in Serbian

In this exercise we are going to practice only the imperfective form of the verb ODMARATI SE = to be having a rest.

Take a look at these photos and make the following sentences:

Present Tense Conjugations of Odmarati

ODMARAM - ODMARAŠ - ODMARA ///ODMARAMO - ODMARATE - ODMARAJU

Na prvoj slici vidim mladića u odelu koji SE ODMARA na poslu.

Past Tense Conjugations of To have a rest

Odmarao - odmarala - odmaralo /// odmarali - odmarale - odmarala

Primer.

Na prvoj slici vidim mladića u odelu koji SE ODMARAO dok je bio na poslu.

Future Tense Conjugations of To have a rest

Odmaraću se - Odmaraćeš se - Odmaraće se /// Odmaraćemo se - Odmaraćete se - Odmaraće se

Primer.

Na prvoj slici vidim mladića u odelu koji ĆE SE ODMARATI kada bude na poslu.

Five Minute Serbian - Course 2, Dedicated to Accusative

Marina 5 Minute Serbian , Accusative in Serbian

While adding new chapters and lessons to 5 Minute Serbian course 1, I started planning the next course which will be entirely dedicated to the verbs and prepositions which require a noun/pronoun in the Accusative case.

Let me show one of these videos with which you can practice:

Present / past tense of the following verbs: videti, tražiti, naći, uzeti (to see, to look for, to find, to take): deca vide / deca su videla - deca traže / deca su tražila - deca su našla ... - deca su uzela
The Accusative with Sg. Masc of inanimate and animate category (brodić - vidim brodić, pas - vidim psa)
The Accusative with Sg. Fem (lopta - tražim loptu)

Aspect in Serbian - Odmoriti or Odmarati?

Marina aspect in Serbian ,

Do you know the difference between odmoriti and odmArAti (to have a rest)? Which one shows a finished action (perfective aspect), which one shows an action in progress (imperfective aspect)?

If you know the word trAjAti, which means to lAst, it will help you connect the form with double A with the action in progress, which shows that odmArAti is obviously used to show that you are or were "having a rest / resting".

On the other hand, the form with odmORIti, shows that you have had a rest and that's it, the result is more important than duration, so this form shows the perfective aspect.

Their various forms and differences in present and past tenses are so subtle, so I created a set of exercises for you to learn more about this weird odmoriti-odmarati duo by actually using them:) Before you see all the forms below, try to do this Micromatch exercise:

How much time did you need? Guess it wasn't that hard, once you were able to see the possible answers. For some more difficult tests, you might need all the verb forms in one place! Now, let me reveal them to you:

Present tense

- odmoriti se: odmorim - odmoriš - odmori // odmorimo - odmorite - odmore
- odmArAti se : odmaram - odmaraš - odmara // odmaramo - odmarate -odmaraju

Past tense

- odmorio - odmorila - odmorilo // odmorili - odmorile - odmorila
- odmarao - odmarala - odmaralo // odmarali - odmarale - odmarala

Have fun!

Serbian Past Tense - Bio Bila or Bilo?

Marina Biti in Serbian , exercises in Serbian

Bio Bila Bilo

Verb To Be in the Singular, simple past form

SINGULAR
Ja sam bio = I was masculine
Ja sam bila = I was feminine

Ti si bio = You were masc. sg.
Ti si bila = You were fem. sg.

On je bio = He was , obviously masc. sg.
Ona je bila = She was, obviously fem. sg.
Ono je bilo = It was, neuter, sg.

When you drop the subject (noun or pronoun), you start with the very past tense of the verb to be and this is what we are practicing now with this game!

BIO SAM ... BILA SAM ... BILO JE...

Links to Quizlet exercises with BIO BILA BILO

1. Flashcards - https://quizlet.com/230095390/flashcards
2. Learn exercises - https://quizlet.com/230095390/learn
3. Micromatch - https://quizlet.com/230095390/micromatch
4. Gravity - https://quizlet.com/230095390/gravity

For the full version of the video and more exercises, join my Patreon page. Thanks :)

Perfective and Imperfective Aspect in Serbian

Marina aspect in Serbian , verb conjugations in Serbian

In today's lesson we will learn the following verbs

Perfective Aspect = Svršeni glagolski vid

1. šutnuti = to kick
2. skočiti = to jump
3. potrčati / trčati = to run
4. povući = to pull
5. otvoriti = to open
6. gurnuti = to push
7. zatvoriti = to close
8. uhvatiti = to catch

Imperfective Aspect = Nesvršeni glagolski vid

1. šutirati = to be kicking
2. skakati = to be jumping
3. trčati = to be running
4. povlačiti / vući = to be pulling
5. otvArati= to be opening
6. zatvAriti = to be closing
7. zatvArati= to be closing
8. hvatA = to be catching

We'll use them in the past tense.

Prošlo vreme, perfektni oblik = Past Simple Tense

He kickED the ball - on je šutnuo loptu
he jumpED - on je skočio
he ran - on je potrčao
he pullED the box - on je povukao kutiju
he openED the door - on je otvorio vrata
he pushED the box - on je gurnuo kutiju
he closeD the door - on je zatvorio vrata
he caught the ball - on je uhvatio loptu

Click here for the full version.

As you can see each aspect has a different or slightly different form. That's why I am making the short videos with conjugations so you can hear and see the conjugations clearly. Let's focus on the fun task in front of us today, and in the following days you can expect me to focus more on the conjugations of the each verbs with fun exercises. Looking forward to getting your vocaroo.com stories in both aspects :)

Learning Serbian Efortlessly

Marina Past tense , past tense in serbian

Let's learn the past tense form of "She was" in Serbian the easy way: BILA JE with this beautiful song, step by step:

Now, an exercise:

If you would like to get all my video lessons with explanations in English, translations and additional exercises like the ones above, in the meaningful order, consider joining me on Patreon. HVALA!

Practising Phrases in Serbian - I need

Marina Serbian phrases , Serbian verbs

If you were happy with my short video lesson about the very simple form of the phrase "I need something" yesterday, I am sure you are now ready for a few exercises. Let me start with the easier ones and then I'll add some for more advanced students:

For Beginners: Practising only "Treba mi + different international words"

a. Flashcards

b. Matching game

c. Gravity game

d. Test

For Intermediate students: Practising "Treba + mi/ ti / Vam / mu / joj / nam / im + international words"

a. Flashcards

b. Matching game

c. Gravity game

d. Test

For Advanced students: Practising the past tense form "I needed + something", which is more complicated because here the past tense form of the word has to agree with the direct object (something): "TrebalE su mi jabukE // TrebalI su joj prijateljI // TrebalA nam je vodA" (+ word order with 3rd person Sg of the direct object).

a. Flashcards

b. Matching game

c. Gravity game

d. Test

Personal Pronouns in Accusative

Marina personal pronouns in Serbian , pronouns in Serbian

In the previous post you could see the different forms of pronouns in the Accusative case in Serbian:

There are quite a lot of verbs which require the Accusative, and "voleti" or "to love" obviously requires a direct object. Therefore you'll come across this form in many a song:

MENE / ME Da li me voliš? = Voliš li me? (me)
TEBE/ TE Ja te volim = Volim te (you)
NJU / JU / JE Volim je / Bože, koliko je volim (her)
NJEGA / GA Pustite da ga volim / Volim ga majko (him)
NAS Da ima nas (us)*(couldn't find "love + us" songs, so I added "have + us")
VAS Ja vas volim obe (you, Plural)
NJIH / IH Volim ih (them)

The same goes for the verb ZVATI. Since we are going to practice Serbian with two songs with this verb, let's start with a bit of theory:

and then let's practice with a game:

If you like these Quizlet exercises, here's one more with the verbs to see and to go to (Videti i Ići u + Akuzativ)

Finally, when you feel confident using the pronouns in Accusative, let's sing the following songs in

the Simple Present tense: Zovem te = I'm calling you

Zovem ______ zovem, a ti tako

nećeš da čuješ zov iz duše

zovem ______ zovem ko zna gde si

dok moji snovi već se ruše

Ref. 2x

Zovem ______ zovem, noću te sanjam

uzalud širim ruke svoje

zovem ______ zovem, al' čemu sve to

ti drugu ljubiš oko moje

Zovem______ zovem, a ti tako

ni pismom jednim da se javiš

zovem ______ zovem noći svake

a ti ne čuješ ili se praviš

Ref. 2x

Zovem ______ zovem, gde si mili

traže ______ moje vlažne oči

zovem ______ zovem srećni bi bili

javi mi dal' ćeš nekad doći

Ref. 2x

the Simple Past tense: Zvao sam je Emili = I called her Emily

Poći ću u šume da ____ opet tražim

uz tišinu rijeke da ___ mirno sanjam

i dok mesec sija gledaću u zvijezde

ne bih li ___ sreo sretnu i daleku

aha, aha, aha

Zvao sam ___ Emili

u moj je san ko u svoj ušla dom

zbog nje se dan pretvorio u noć

i pjesme sve poludjele zbog nje

kao kiše prolećne

Zvao sam ____ Emili

u danima kad voljesmo se mi

od proljeća do kasne jeseni

zbog nje, zbog nje izgubio sam sve

čak i dobre drugove

Zvao sam ____ Emili

the Future Simple tense: Zvaću te pile moje = I will call you my chick(en)

Serbian Online Course about Animals

Marina serbian online course ,

Brand New Serbian Online Course

If you have followed my previous posts about using different groups of vocabulary to build up more complicated sentences in Serbian, I am sure you will like my new mini course which focuses on vocabulary (here comes the Christmas discount link). It is called Expanding Serbian Vocabulary - Animals and right now it covers all levels, from the beginner to advanced. You will be using the same sets of words in different contexts and with different grammar structures, starting with the verb to be, to the past tense, Accusative, Genitive, comparisons to conditionals.

This course is perfect for all the students of Serbian at different levels, who would like to expand their vocabulary in different contexts. It is based the vocabulary describing domestic and wild animals

Serbian Online Course - Structure

Each section consists of:

intro video lesson with me pronouncing the words
video lesson without my pronunciation
video lessons with exercises where you have to supply the missing words
quizzes and grammar exercises
speaking practice video with lots of questions and a link where you can record/write your answers

Serbian Online Course about Animals - Free Lesson

Verb Biti in Serbian

Marina Biti in Serbian , Serbian language 365

Biti in Serbian

The verb "TO BE" in Serbian is something you should learn at the very beginning, because you'll need it not to express the most essential facts about yourself, but also because it is used as an auxiliary verb in the Simple Past tense.

That's why this post dedicated to the different conjugations, i.e. forms, of the verb to be can be useful both for the beginners and more advanced students.

A few short videos and exercises with the verb Biti in Serbian

Exercise 1

While watching this video say "This is a... These are ...s" using these structures:

Ovo je ... (+ nominative Sg)

Exercise 2:

Ovo su ...(+ nominative Pl)
Ovo je...(+ nominative Sg)

Exercise 3

While watching this video say what the photos are about (the locative case ) using the phrase: Ova slika je o... = This photo is about

Exercise 4

Using these full forms of the verb TO BE, give the positive and negative answers with

the full form of the verb to be:

Links to the previous posts about the verb Biti in Serbian

Verb Biti in Serbian - form and pronunciation
Verb Biti in Serbian - exercise
Serbian language exercise 1
Serbian language exercise 2

Past Tense Practice in Serbian

Marina Past tense , past tense in serbian

Past Tense Practice in Serbian

You can find lots of useful info on the Simple Past tense in Serbian in some of the previous posts on this blog. Today I'd like to share a cute song I found on Youtube - all you have to do is to listen to it carefully and add the past tense suffixes to the past tense and present tense verbs and a few suffixes with the nouns in plural.

Dlan_ _ _ ti puni snova
Osmeh boje izazova
Reci, kud si krenu_ _?
U srcu ti ceo svemir
U oč_ _ _ kriješ nemir
Snove si sakri_ _

Zvezd_ su u tvojoj kosi
Kao da te jesen pros_
Nikom neće da te da
Hoda_ lako kao vila
Gde si se do sada kri_ _
To me baš zanima

Samoj sebi već sam čudna
Svake noći ja sam budna
Šta se sa mnom desi_ _
Tvoji prst_ na gitari
I sve te lagane stvar_
Sviraj mi ponovo

Malo čežnje na tvom licu
Leptir slete_ na žicu
Nebo se osmehu_ _
Probaj sa mnom sne da deli_
Šapući mi sve što želiš
Niko nas ne čuje

Hajde da malo proba_ _
Baš to x3
Jagod_ s puno šlaga
Ti si mi tako draga
Pa nek ide sve
Do vraga

Hajde da malo krade_ _
Baš to x3
Osmeh od sladoleda
Noć ima ukus meda
Šta je iza tvog pogleda

Source and download via Youtube channel Vanja Grastić

If you are not sure about the meaning, I prepared a quiz with which you can learn the words, and later on you can try to sing the song :)

Let's learn the vocabulary:
Let's listen:
Let's play:

Serbian for Beginners - Let's Conjugate Together

Marina Accusative in Serbian , free Serbian lessons

Video with Verb Conjugations

This video is made for you to practise conjugating Serbian verbs in the Simple Present tense. For more advanced students, this video lesson can be also used for making sentences in the past or future tense or in the conditionals.

imati = to have
videti = to see
voleti = to like

together with nouns which denote:

places
plants and animals
colours
entertainment

Google Tag Head

Monday, November 08, 2021

Aspect in Serbian - Short Explanation

Aspect in Serbian - Trošiti vs Potrošiti

Aspect in Serbian - Video Exercise

Aspect in Serbian - Word order Exercise

Sunday, December 13, 2020

Serbian 302 - Serbian Lexicology

Serbian 302 - Who Recovered?

Serbian Lexicology - Verb Formation

Practicing Serbian Lexicology

Tuesday, April 14, 2020

Present Tense to Past Tense

Wednesday, November 06, 2019

Present and Past of Raditi - Exercise

Exercise with Present and Past of Raditi

Game with Present and Past of Raditi

Present and Past of Raditi - Test

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Retelling Story in Serbian - Song

Retelling Story in Serbian

Retelling Story by asking questions

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Zvati se in Past Tense - MATCH

Learning Zvati se in Past

Test with zvati se in Past

Tuesday, October 08, 2019

Past tense of To be Explained

Past tense of To be with Exercises

Past tense of To be - Games

Saturday, March 09, 2019

Exercise with Verb Worked in Serbian

Saturday, May 12, 2018

Present Tense Conjugations of Odmarati

Past Tense Conjugations of To have a rest

Future Tense Conjugations of To have a rest

Saturday, April 21, 2018

Tuesday, January 02, 2018

Tuesday, October 03, 2017

Bio Bila Bilo

Verb To Be in the Singular, simple past form

Links to Quizlet exercises with BIO BILA BILO

Saturday, April 22, 2017

Perfective Aspect = Svršeni glagolski vid

Imperfective Aspect = Nesvršeni glagolski vid

Prošlo vreme, perfektni oblik = Past Simple Tense

Wednesday, February 01, 2017

Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Thursday, September 29, 2016

Sunday, December 06, 2015

Brand New Serbian Online Course

Serbian Online Course - Structure

Serbian Online Course about Animals - Free Lesson

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Biti in Serbian

A few short videos and exercises with the verb Biti in Serbian

Links to the previous posts about the verb Biti in Serbian

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Past Tense Practice in Serbian

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Video with Verb Conjugations

Conjugations

Advanced Serbian - Srpski kao drugi jezik

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