Learn Serbian

Friday, February 15, 2013

Serbian Language 365 Day 4 - Advanced Levels

Marina Advanced Serbian , detective stories in Serbian

For upper-intermediate and advance levels of Serbian I enjoy creating detective stories, where students have to actively use the language, learn about the Serbian history, culture, customs and language. They ask questions, write e-mails and direct the "investigation".

On Fridays, I intend to share just the beginnings of these stories with you, along with the grammar exercises. So far I've completed the following series of lessons:

Ubistvo u radnoj sobi (pre-intermediate)
Misterija otrovanog piva (pre-intermediate to intermediate)
Tajna drevnog buzdovana (intermediate to upper-intermediate & advanced levels)
Petar BlOgojević - prvi srpski vampir (intermediate to upper-intermediate & advanced levels)
Ko je zabiberio kulen ? (upper-intermediate & advanced levels)
Misterija slavskog kolača (final test for intermediate Serbian202 course)
Maglovite četvrti srpskih gradova (beginner to pre-intermediate)

Serbian Language 365 Day 3 - Intermediate level & Past Tense

Marina Free lessons of Serbian , intermediate Serbian

Let's practise the Simple Past Tense in the Serbian language. While the beginner and pre-intermediate courses of Serbian focus is on phrases, present tense, modals and cases, the intermediate course focuses on aspects, explaining the subtle differences between "odmarati" and "odmoriti" and similar.

Since we are at the very beginning of everyday Serbian lesson series, let me introduce you to some of the earlier posts covering this topic:

Past Tense of To Be in Serbian - conjugations
Practise Serbian with Jeremija
Past Tense of To Be in Questions + Locative case
Past Tense word order in questions
How to form the Simple Past in Serbian
Learn by singing - Bila je tako lepa

...as well as one of the Youtube videos, which somehow connect with the yesterday's post, so now it can be easily understood:

Text : "Gde si bila ?" (Fem. Sg.) / "Gde si bio?" (Masc. Sg.) = Where were you ?
Fem. Sg. Bila sam u ...
Masc. Sg. Bio sam u ...

Serbian Language 365 Day 2 - Serbian for Pre-intermediate Level

Marina free Serbian lessons , Learn Serbian online

In the past five years I've scattered numerous blog posts with lessons of Serbian and corresponding grammatical explanations not only on this blog and Youtube and Youtube but all over the Internet. One of the many reasons for starting 365 Days of Serbian Language was to connect them and tag them correctly.

Since the previous post covered the verb TO BE in the Simple Present tense, I think that all the students who are either at elementary and pre-intermediate level can easily learn to use the same form with the Locative case, saying where you are:

At the end of each video lesson, let's revisit some of the previous posts covering the same, or similar topic:

Clothes + in the wardrobe (with the ancient video ) - you can practise it by muting the terrible audio and focusing on JE or SU (Sg. or Pl. ) + u ormanu (both ormaN and ormaR are accepted forms in the Serbian language) - check the clothes 1 and clothes 2 post
Gapped exercise about the Locative (really ancient - I must add the new link to the exercise with an instant feedback and translation)
Prepositions with the Locative / Genitive
A beautiful "April u Beogradu" song

Serbian Language 365 - Day 1

Marina Free lessons of Serbian , Serbian for beginners

As you've probably noticed, I recently started making new series of HD Serbian courses. Each Tuesday I introduce you the Serbian 101, a course for the real beginners. It is a completely new version of the Serbian for Beginners 101, which will be available via Udemy and Plimus platforms in February.

In this series of blog posts which will be published every day, I'll be posting some of the new video lessons together with accompanying exercises. I'm sure you'll enjoy it !

The verb To Be in Serbian:

Additional exercises:

365 Days of Learning Serbian

Marina how to learn Serbian , Learn Serbian online

I've recently reread a great book "First Things First" by Stephen Covey and it reminded me, yet again, how important it is to organize our activities well and dedicate our time to people we love and things that matter. Learning a new language on a daily basis, or any other skill for that matter, can make a huge difference in the long run, once we urgently need it.

That's why it struck me that I should use this blog, and all the digital teaching content I've created in years, not only to encourage you to perservere, but provide you with meaningful and graded content to learn Serbian regularly. Even if you skip a day or two, or an entire week/month, you know that you have everything in one place, right here !

Hymn Dedicated to Saint Sava

Marina comprehension exercises , Serbian Saints

Merry Saint Sava day to all the schools, learners of the Serbian language and all the faithful followers of this blog, with this magnificient hymn (click here for the lyrics and translation & click here for the exercise.)

How to Say "Merry Christmas" in Serbian

Marina Christmas in Serbian , Serbian holidays

Here comes a short video wishing you Merry Christmas (Srećan Božić) and a Happy New Year (srećnu Novu godinu) to all the followers of LearnSerbianBlog!

Serbian Idioms - "Doterati Cara Do Duvara"

Marina Serbian idioms ,

The Serbian idiom "doterati cara do duvara" has the similar meaning as the English one "to come to a head". I have often heard this phrase in my childhood, always wondering what "duvar" might mean.

The word "duvar" is a loan word, and if you go to Google translate and check it at Turkish-English translation, you'll find out that the meaning of the word is "zid" (wall). So, the literal translation would resemble the expression "to drive someone (in this case "the tzar") up the wall" and yet, Serbian phrase for this expression (drive someone up the wall) is "dovesti nekog do ludila" (or litterally "make someone crazy"). You can check the pronunciation of these two idioms here, at our audio forum (and I hope you'll surprise your Serbian family or friends by pronouncing the phrases correctly and using them appropriately).

Talking about the usage, I was really surprised that in my group of eight teenage students only one had heard of "doterati cara do duvara". She explained that her teacher of Serbian insists on students learning and using proverbs and idioms, but she also hasn't heard of the phrase being used outside of the classroom! Does this mean that we tend to use idioms less frequently, or is it the case just with this idiom ? Maybe the world has changed for better and retko iko ikada (rarely does anyone) "dotera cara do duvara" :)

What do you think ?

What's Something Like in Serbian

Marina comprehension exercises , exercises

How to say "what is something like in Serbian" ? Listen to this song and answer my questions in the quiz. Make sure you click "Finish Survey" at the end in order to get an instant feedback:

Uradite kviz odmah = Do the quiz immediately!

Serbian Verb Conjugations

Marina Free lessons of Serbian , Learn Serbian online

Fill in the gaps with the correct verb form - you'll be able to see the Serbian verbs conjugated, above the text. You can write your answer in the comment below. For all those who'd like to more actively participate in learning Serbian, do join free Activator newsletter.

Which Serbian cases to use after "iz", "rođen u ..." and "živim u "

Marina Free lessons of Serbian , free Serbian lessons

Write the answers to these questions in the comment: Start like this:
Ja sam iz...
Rođen sam u...

Learning Serbian Family Words

Marina family vocabulary in Serbian , genitive in Serbian

Listen to this podcast about Jeremija's family and write in the comment the names of your relatives.

For example: Tatin brat se zove Slobodan. On je moj stric/čika.

Podcast about Serbian Church Wedding

Marina Advanced Serbian , Listening comprehension

Listen to this short podcast about church weddings in Serbia and what one should know before they take the plunge. Try to answer the questions posted in the quiz:

Past Tense in Serbian - Common Mistakes

Marina common mistakes , Free lessons of Serbian

If you watched our previous podcast, you'll be aware of the fact that Jeremija keeps making mistakes, and I do my best to help him understand which correct forms to use. This time the topic was "bio" or "bila":

Are there any other mistakes which I didn't correct ?

Serbian Pronunciation - Lj and Nj

Marina Free lessons of Serbian , Learn Serbian online

Let's practise pronunciation of the Serbian letters "lj" and "nj". In the video you'll be able to see their counterparts in the Cyrillic script. Try to listen and repeat:

Serbian for Beginners - Common Mistakes

Marina Free lessons of Serbian , free Serbian lessons

This is a short video with Jeremija, who was pretty tired when answering my questions, so he made quite a few mistakes. Try to figure out which numbers are wrong, and what he should have said:

If you want to watch the video lessons covering the same topic and level, check out this page with beginner Serbian lessons.

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