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:


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Would it be funny for you to hear a phrase "Don't argue with mine!", whatever that might mean?

Here comes a short clip with a similar phrase, which is obviously wrong and make people laugh (together with a specific pronunciation of  Mr. Šojić's "ć" in "ćao" :)



- Nemaš! Šta moliš? Imaš (li) kod sebe 350 Evra?
- Ma gospodine Šojiću...
- Ma, ćao! Nemaš! Ćao! Ne raspravljaj se sa mene! Ne raspravljaj se!

Don't argue with me!

 Instrumental of Serbian Pronouns

How to cope with all different forms of Serbian pronouns, in different cases and with all the different endings? Well, there are many different ways, starting with old-fashioned grammar learning;


to using them in phrases, without thinking about grammar at all. What I find really efficient, is to listen to Serbian songs and learn the pronouns in common phrases, by singing :)

Let me share with you the following song: Za Njom by S.A.R.S.

How to Practice Serbian Pronoun SHE in the Instrumental Case

Now that you have heard this song, sang along, and done the exercise, can you tell me which prepositions were there in front of "NJOM"?

In the first episode, there is a short monologue with lots of mistakes, which can be easily corrected by an advanced student of Serbian.


Would you like to give it a try? You can write your suggestion in the comment below!

Example 1:

1:25 min: Kada sam u vaša zemlja ja ovo, a kod kuće imam Volvo.

           *Correction:  Kada sam u vašOJ zmljI

Your task:

3:35 min: Majstor kaže da je teško kvarnost velika. Ili je amortizer ili je može biti da je možda ova …. kako kaže on kod vas… balans štanglica, ili je može biti da je stabilizatorski dio. Kaže popraviće, hitno mi je potrebno auto za sutra.
A auto moram imati jer mater meni stiže. Moram je pokupit. Moja mater je iz naša zemlja, srpska. Moja Mater je iz Vojnić.A otac mi je njihov, on je Lunski La iz Lunski Le, Moj otac je Turstend. Tako da mater moja dolazi. Stara je, ne može da hoda. Kaže više mi je samo  da umrem, samo da umrem, već mi dosta to,  da se sahrani u Vojnići to.
A hitno bi  mi moralo se  prebaciti ja za grad. Ako ima neko dobro da pozove taksi.  Imam krune, plaćam sve, da. Ako može neko da mi nazove taksi, a majstor će se potruditi. Vidim da je dobar čovek.

 You can write your suggestion in the comment below!

Today we are practising three simple questions and three simple answers:

1. Where do you / You live? = Где живиш / живите?= Gde živiš / živite? 
2. What do you / You do? = Шта радиш / радите? (Чиме се бавиш / бавите?)  = Šta radiš / radite? (Čime se baviš / bavite?) 
3. What do you do in your free time? = Шта радиш / радите у слободно време? = Šta radiš / radite u slobodno vreme?

If you are a beginner and want to learn Serbian in the easiest way possible, do join my new & revamped Seriban Activator newsletter!

I'm sure that you find Serbian days of the week easy to pronounce. However, if you still struggle with Thursday (četvrtak), there's a useful introduction in this video to help you pronounce days well.

Since rarely does anyone use days of the week in its Nominative form:

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"

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

• 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).

I need = Treba mi

I guess one of the most needed verbs in a language must be the verb to need = trebati :) It is a really handy word in Serbian, because of the two following reasons:

Firstly, this verb doesn't conjugate, because in its simplest meaning "I need (something)" we actually use "Treba mi" where "mi" means "to me". If you want to say "You need", it will be "Treba Vam" (formal version) or "Treba ti" (informal version). Therefore, you'll simply change the pronoun as follows:

• TREBA mi hamburger
• TREBA ti pica 
• TREBA mu vino (to him / it = mu)
• TREBA joj muzika (to her = joj)
• TREBA  nam restoran (to us =nam)
• TREBA vam /Vam burek (to you - You = vam/Vam)
• TREBA im mleko (to them = im)

Secondly, because in Serbian this phrase sounds like the passive in deep structure, the noun always takes a subject case, which is Nominative. (A hamburger is needed to/by me = Treba mi hamburger). Therefore, you don't need to change its form, i.e. no declension :) Lovely! Take a look at the previous examples and the words which follow "Treba ... " phrase. No cases, at all:

1. hamburger - a hamburger
2. pica - a pizza
3. vino - a wine
4. muzika - music
5. restoran - a restaurant
6. burek - burek (a special kind of pie)
7. mleko - milk

Here comes an exercise for of you who liked the song about colors in Serbian!

While creating another Serbian lesson for kids, I came across a very useful song which can teach you how to pronounce the colours (boje) clearly.

Colours in Serbian

In one of the very first posts I created on this blog, there was a list of the keywords when talking about yourself . It was published back in 2008 and you can find it by clicking on this link.

Now, if we use these words in context, we can see how the personal pronouns referring to the same words can be often heard. Let's practice such sentences together!

Masc./Neuter  Sg Nouns in Accusative >>> Corresponding Pronouns (on / ono  >>> ga/njega)

1. IME = first name.............................................Koje je vaše ime? Možete li da ga ponovite? 
2. PREZIME = surname.....................................Koje je vaše prezime? Možete li da ga ponovite? 
3. DEVOJAČKO PREZIME = maiden name....Koje je vaše devojačko prezimee? Možete li da _____ ponovite? 
4. MESTO ROĐENJA = place of birth...............Gde ste rođeni? Ponovite Vaše mesto rođenja! Možete li da ____ napišete?
5. DATUM ROĐENJA = date of birth...............Kad ste rođeni? Ponovite Vaše datum rođenja! Možete li da ____ napišete?
6. PASOŠ = passport.........................................Da li je ovo Vaš pasoš? Dajte mi ___ molim Vas! 

1. LIČNA KARTA = identity card....................Imate li ličnu kartu? Dajte mi je, molim Vas!
2. STALNA ADRESA = permanent address....Imate li stalnu adresu? Možete li da __ napišete? 
3. MEJL ADRESA = e-mail address................Imate li mejl adresu? Možete li da mi __ pošaljete
4. ZDRAVSTVENA KNJIŽICA = health insurrance...Imate li knjižicu Dajte mi ___, molim Vas!

1. PASOŠI...................Imate li pasošE? Molim vas dajte mi ih!
2. LIČNE KARTE...... Pokažite mi lične karte. Dajte mi ____, molim vas!
3. IMENA .................. Kako se zovete? Koja su vaša imena? Ajde, ponovite mi ___ polako, molim vas!
4. MEJL ADRESE.... Hajde da razmenimo mejl adrese! Možete li da mi ___ pošaljete još jednom, molim vas!

Here comes a  set of commonly used phrases when talking about money and banks:

1. Trošiti novac (imperfective) // potrošiti (perfective) = to spend (money)
2. Dobijati (imp) // dobiti (perf) = to get 
3. Skupljati (imp) // skupiti (perf) = to collect
4. Bacati (imp) // baciti (perf)= to throw
5. Štedeti (imp) // uštedeti  (perf)= to save (money)
6. Davati (imp)// dati (perf) = to give
7. Pozajmljivati (imp) // pozajmiti  (perf)= to borrow/lend
8. Zarađivati (imp) // zaraditi (perf) = to earn

Rešenje i prevod:

Since Državni posao is quite difficult for lower levels, I'll just post a bunch of simple questions for the more advanced learners of Serbian to choose from.

1. Koja se sve hrana / jela pominju u ovoj seriji?

a. mleko
b. parmezan
c. salata
d. rukola
e. goveđi gulaš
f. eurokrem
g. krastavac
h. limun
i. pivo
j. paprikaš od mladih svraka
k. hleb
l. lovorov list
m. rečna riba

In today's "Radni ručak" we can enjoy watching "Piletina lampia" with the chef Samir and  beautiful Milena.

Listen to the video and try to answer the following questions:

1. Jedan sastojak je viška. Koji?

• piletina
• crvena paprika
• tikvica
• crni luk
• so
• pirinač
• med
• ananas
• banana
• šampinjoni
• šargarepa
• pavlaka
• biber
• sirće

In the previous month I posted a few exercises for you to practice how to pronounce rooms in a flat in Serbian. There was an exercise to help you write and read the same words both in the  Latin and Cyrillic script. I hope you liked all the exercises.

 Now it's time to expand the vocabulary and learn about the furniture in different rooms. Here comes an exercise with flash cards to help you hear and pronounce the words correctly!

Furniture in Serbian

Games with Furniture in Serbian 

As usual, there is a vocabulary game, but this time it's a hangman game based on some of the words from the previous exercises.