Although you can find a lot of Serbian language exercises on this site, I am sure you'll like my new way of reading 'n' grammar tests :)

 If you are not sure what the right answers are, I'll publish a video with the key tomorrow :)
Make sure you check the blog posts about:

• the Locative case in Serbian
• the Genitive case in Serbian
• the Accusative 

While I was creating a playlist of the most well known ex-Yu series for my advanced Serbian students the other day, I stumbled upon this great video of the famous "Slovenska" song by Đorđe Balašević. I'm sure you'll find the perfectly synced lyrics  really helpful. Here's also a link to the translation.
Enjoy it !

Since I've been working on the new series of Serbian 102 lessons, I wanted to share some of them with you on this blog. Today's lesson is dedicated to the conjugation of the verb "voleti" and colours in Serbian:

If you enjoyed learning Serbian by watching Neven or Poletarac or Kefalica, I am sure you will love  "Slovo na Slovo" series, too :)

If you haven't been to Novi Sad, you'll surely look forward to visiting it after you watch this video by Daniel Erdeg :

If you have always wondered it there were any videos with conjugations in Serbian with the Cyrillic script, here they come :

With this video you can not only pronounce the Simple present conjugations of the verb "zvati se", but you can also practise its word order and asking and answering simple questions in the second part of the video. Which words are missing there ?

If you are a beginner in learning Serbian and you want to practise only the most frequent  verbs, I'm sure you'll enjoy this video with:

• videti (to see)
• voleti (to love / like)
• imati (to have)

For more speaking practice videos click here. and if you are a more advanced learner of Serbian try to ask / answer questions in different tenses or conditionals. For example: Šta bi uradio kada bi video zeca / mačku...?

In order to start speaking Serbian fluently, the best way to automatically recall the whole phrases and chunks of language is to listen to films and songs in Serbian (and  preferably sing along). For example, in the chorus of this song you can hear the following phrase over and over again:

Nije za nju, nije za nju ...za nju je ...

and I bet you won't make any mistakes in the future if you want simply to say:

• ...for her = ...za nju
• ... isn't for her = ... nije za nju 

On these pages you can find the :

• lyrics of the song (tekst pesme) with the pretty literal translation
• exercise with the song which I made for my students :)

Here comes another listening comprehension for more proficient Serbian language learners, based on the following video:


Feel free to pause the video and try to answer the following questions:

1. Koliko Mićko ima godina ?
2. Šta se Mićku zapali i pukne ?
3. Koliko časova hemije mu treba ?
4. Zašto profesor hemije ne može da pomogne Mićku ?
5. Šta profesorka hemije predlaže sve vreme ?
6. Da li on sam upotrebljava ono što pravi ?
7. Ko je nepoverljiv prema Mićku ?
8. Koliko profesora hemije je Mićko do sada pozvao ? 
9. Odakle Mićko više ne izlazi ?

1. ...jel' tu spadaju travnate površine ?
2. ... malo sam nagoreo
3. ... i ja sam posle miran dva dana
4. Završio sam ja s hemijom !
5. ...ja ne bih to više čačkao
6. ...jer kad sam video u kom pravcu sve ovo ide, pravo da Vam kažem, šta mi drugo preostaje ?

 After watching this video (several times) try to do the following exercises

• Razgovor za posao sa Supermenom
• Razgovor za posao sa sinom Rajka  Mazalice

 and  answer these questions:
1. Kako se zove prvi kandidat za posao ?
2. Koje su njegove prednosti ?
3. Koje su njegove mane ?
4. Koji posao bi on želeo da radi ?
5. Koji posao mu je predložen ?
6. Da li ga je odmah prihvatio ?
7. Koji je prigovor poslodavca dok on izlazi iz kancelarije ?
8. Kako se zovi drugi kandidat ?
9. Koje su njegove prednosti ?
10. Koje su njegove mane ?
11. Koji posao mu je predložen ?
12. Da li ga je odmah prihvatio ?

This is the final part in the series of blog posts about the verb "nositi". The previous ones can be found on the following pages:

• Various meanings of the verb "nositi"
• Idioms and phrases - part 1
• Idioms and phrases - part 2

• Što ga noge nose /  koliko me(te/ga/je/nas/vas/ih) noge nose = at full speed, as fast as possible = as fast as one's legs will carry one:

• Pas laje, vetar nosi = idle gossip should be disregarded = the dogs bark, but the caravan goes on; words and feathers the wind carries away; words are but wind

c) Pusti ti draga priče. Znas onu" PSI LAJU, KARAVANI PROLAZE !"?! Samo se ti smiri i slusaj lekare i sve ce biti u redu.

or

d) Pas laje, vetar nosi 

or

e) No, svako vredjanje najvise govori o onome ko vredja.Psi laju,vetar nosi... (the first comment under the text)

• Plati pa nosi (or more a more modern rhyming version: plati pa klati):

In order not to neglect the beginners in Serbian, here's  a video lesson about Jeremija without my voice. If you are a real beginner, do watch the version with slow pronunciation before doing the following tasks:

• Say the sentences based on the facts before the answers show up
• If that's difficult, try simply to read the answers (help)
• If that's too easy, try to ask the appropriate questions for Jeremija's answers

Here come the second part of the idioms and phrases with the verb "nositi":

• Koja kokoš mnogo kokodače, malo jaja nosi = he who talks much, does little; the ass that brays most, eats least

• Nositi svoj krst = to bear one's own share of suffering; to bear one's cross

Example 3: Ivan Ivanović: “Svako nosi svoj krst!” (from WannaBeMagazine)

• Nositi se mišlju = to intend to do something; to toy with an idea

Example 5: Pošto moja naknada za održavanje trudnoće i dalje kasni (5 meseci), ja se nosim mišlju da u sledećoj trudnoći žešće zloupotrebim sistem, jer ovo zaista nema smisla. Idući put ću da otvaram i zatvaram bolovanje do 30 dana sve do 28 dana pred porođaj -- onda niko neće moći da me vuče za nos kao sada.  (from BeBac forum)

Example 6: "Ne nosim se mišlju da su gradjani Krusevca rasisti.Nasim gradom slobodno se krecu prpadnici svih manjna pa i oni koji se razlikuju po boji..." (from a FaceBook page)

If you enjoyed reading the previous post about different meanings of the verb " nositi " in Serbian, I am sure you'll find this list of common phrases and idioms with the same verb quite interesting :

• Vreme nosi svoje (breme) / sve u svoje vreme (а)= everything is good in its season

Svako vreme nosi svoje breme koje ga karakteriše i identifikuje. To breme ga u isto vreme razlikuje i čini sličnim prethodnim epohama. Tako i dvadeset prvi vek, poput svojih prethodnika, donosi pregršt pitanja, problema i nedoumica, stavlja ih pred savremenog čoveka kao izazove, kao svojevrsne zadatke koje ovaj treba da reši.

Vreme nosi svoje. Sedamdesetih godina ljudi su se najviše družili sa gitarom i ljudsko uho je bilo neverovatno naklonjeno zvuku tog angažovanog pesničkog izražavanja uz gitaru koja nije tražila nikakva elektronska pomagala.

• Nositi glavu u torbi (б)= to live in constant danger, to tempt fate, to stick one's neck out. For example: 

Uprkos visokoj sigurnosti bolida Formule 1 i staza, piloti najbržeg cirkusa na svetu ne smatraju se bez razloga najhrabrijim sportistima današnjice koji, iz trke u trku, nose glavu u torbi.

ili

Oni nose glavu u torbi da bi mi bili sigurni. 

• Zaklati gusku/koku koja nosi zlatna jaja (в) = to destroy a source of income, to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. For example:

Šta god da se priča, malo je verovatno da će kineski vodji ubiti "koku koja nosi zlatna jaja", odnosno odustati od 9,5 procenata godišnjeg ekonomskog rasta od 1979.

ili

...ova vlada ce nam dati svakome gusku koja nosi zlatna jaja samo da dobiju izbore,a ako dobiju ostaje nam samo perje od guske jer i guska i jaja odose...

• Nositi zmiju u nedrima & Gajiti guju u nedrima (г) = to befriend a treacherous person, to nurse a viper in one's bosom. For example:

p.s. ovo na dobro ne može da ispadne ima iz istorije poznata epioda koja je sažeta u sintagmi "gajiti zmiju u nedrima Rima"! Taj datum ama baš ništa neće značiti, ja malo pratim medije, i trovanje naroda ponovo ušlo u 4 brzinu.

or

Above the title: "Zmija" u nedrima vlasti 

As you have noticed I added the examples ranging from current affairs articles, folk songs to ordinary people's comments, just to show that these idioms are frequently used. Since there is a list of eight more phrases with the verb "nositi", I'll divide this post into three parts in order to give you as many examples as possible.

Ако учите српски већ дуже време и већ сте на напредном нивоу, сигурно ће вам се свидети вежба да за сваки пример дате различито значење речи "носити" из претходног поста. На пример значење речи "носити", у примеру  а,  је исто као и у примеру б, док је различито од значења у примерима в и г :)

Part 2:

• Ne zna se šta nosi dan, a šta no
• Koja kokoš mnogo kokodače, malo jaja nosi
• Nositi svoj krst
• Nositi se mišlju

• Idi gde te (oči vode i) noge nose
• Pas laje, vetar nosi
• Plati pa nosi
• Nositi breme

The verb "nositi" in Serbian has many different translations into English :

• nositi odeću = to wear clothes
• nositi  torbu   = to carry a bag
• nositi dete   = to bear a child
• nositi se sa problemima = to cope with problems

If you liked the first part about how to describe people's age in Serbian, I'm sure you'll enjoy practising following features with the people & places video below:

• age (godište)
• clothes (odeća)

1. ... je prosečne visine = ... is average height.
2. ... je visok = ... is tall.
3. ... je nizak = ... is short.
4. ... je debeo / punačak =... is fat / overweight
5. ... je mršav = ... is thin
6. ... je vitak  = ... is slim

 

• hair (kosa):

1. duga kosa: ... ima dugu kosu = ...has long hair
2. kratka kosa: ... ima kratku kosu = ... has short hair
3. kosa srednje dužine ... ima kosu srednje dužine = ... has medium-length hair
4. crna kosa ... ima crnu kosu = ...has dark hair
5. plava kosa ... ima plavu kosu = ... has fair hair
6. crvena kosa ... ima crvenu kosu = ... has red/ginger hair
7. (svetlo / tamno) smeđa kosa ... ima (svetlo /tamno ) smeđu kosu = ... has (light / dark) brown hair
8. seda kosa ... ima sedu kosu = ... has gray hair
9. kovrdžava kosa ... ima kovrdžavu kosu = ... has curly hair
10. talasasta kosa ... ima talasastu kosu = ... has wavy hair
11. ravna kosa ... ima ravnu kosu = ... has straight hair
12. ... je ćelav = ... is bald
13. ... je proćelav  ... has a receding hairline.
14. ...ima šiške (pluralia tantum) = ... has a fringe (in Serbian this word is always in plural, like "vrata"=door)
15. ...nosi pletenice = ... is wearing her hair in plaits
16. ...nosi kikice = ... is wearing her hair in pig-tails
17. ...nosi rep = ... is wearing her hair in a pony-tail
18. ...nosi puštenu kosu = ...is wearing her hair loose
19. ...nosi razdeljak (na stranu / u sredini) = ... has a (side / centre) parting