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Let's work on our sports vocabulary today :)
Wednesday, June 07, 2017
Tuesday, June 06, 2017
The Plural form in Serbian can be tricky. That's why I'd like to start with really easy Singular - Plural pairs for you to enjoy learning it :D
More examples:
Animals
Delfin - Delfini
More examples:
Animals
- pingvin - pingvini (penguins)
- konj - konji (horses)
- jelen - jeleni (deer)
Buildings
- muzej - muzeji (museums)
- neboder - neboderi (skyscrapers)
- stadion - stadioni (stadiums)
I have always enjoyed doing short tasks based on authentic news and fun texts. That is why I want to create and share with you the same kind of exercises based on daily news, both in the Latin alphabet and Cyrillic script. Today I'm sharing with you one of the common news section called "Dogodilo se na današnji dan" - "On this day in history" from KratkeVesti :)
Cyrillic version Latin alphabet version
Friday, June 02, 2017
Odakle je ova lasta?
Where is this sparrow from?
Odakle leti ova lasta?
Where does this sparrow fly from?
Ona leti od Beograda do Londona.
It (she) flies / is flying from Belgrade to London.
Ma neee, ona leti od Afrike do Evrope.
Nooo, it flies/ is flying from AFrica to Europe.
Ova deca nemaju pojma!!!
These kids have no clue!!!
Ona leti od kuće do reke.
It flies/ is flying from the house to the river.
Ova deca nemaju pojma!!!
These kids have no clue!!!
Ona leti od kuće do reke.
It flies/ is flying from the house to the river.
It's really complicated. Does anyone know the answer?
I think there is no correct answer, but we can enjoy learning Serbian by playing with this sentence using the Genitive case.
Genitive in Serbian
With the prepositions "from - to", you'll use the Genitive case. In the singular it changes as we have described before:
Singular
- London - od LondonA Masc. Sg. adds an -A
- Moskva - od MoskvE Fem. Sg. changes an -a into -E
- Selo - od selA Neut. Sg. changes an -o into -A
Practicing Genitive in Serbian
Your task is to think about these places and give your own answer about the sparrow using the same form:
Lasta leti od ... do ...
- Lisabon - Budimpešta
- Madrid - Atina
- Kopenhagen - Ankara
- Zagreb - Ljubljana
- Boston - Peking
- Moskva - Oslo
- Lima - Kairo
- Čikago - Berlin
- Subotica - Niš
- Temišvar - Bratislava
Photo Serbian with Gavrilo
If you are wondering who took this wonderful photo of a sparrow, OR "Od koga je ova slika?", let me tell you that the author is Gavrilo!
He has been my dear friend since forever and he has allowed me to use his beautiful photos in my photo lessons of Serbian. He is doing a great job promoting Serbia and its beauties and I invite all of you to thank him on his Pixoto page by liking and leaving comments under his photos :) Хвала Гојко!
Thursday, June 01, 2017
I am sure you are confident using the simple word "lep" thanks to the previous posts about adjectives in Serbian! You learnt that "lep" (beautiful) will change as follows:
Yes, the answers are as follows:
Singular
- Masc. LEP grad = grad je lep (beautiful city - the city is beautiful)
- Fem. LEPA zgrada = zgrada je lepa (beautiful building)
- Neut. LEPO dete = dete je lepo (beautiful child)
Plural
- Masc. LEPI mostovi = mostovi su lepi (beautiful bridges)
- Fem. LEPE zgrade = zgrade su lepe (beautiful buildings)
- Neut. LEPA deca = deca su lepa (beautiful kids)
That's why I'm sure you will be able to decide which forms of "lep" are missing in the gaps:
- _______ nebo (sky)
- _______noć (night)
- _______ dan (day)
Yes, the answers are as follows:
- lepo
- lepa
- lep
If you are still wondering why "noć" is "lepa", check out my video explanation and translation :D
Monday, May 29, 2017
The aim of the first two blog posts about the Serbian adjectives was to introduce you to the feminine/masculine change in adjectives in Singular:
You can practice answering the following questions as well:
In the background you can see some objects in plural and I invite you to think how the same adjective "lep" ends when describing:
Today, I'd like to introduce a new adjective "LEP" which means "beautiful". It is universally used for people (men, women, children), animals, plants, objects as well as abstract concepts.
This time you can see that the word in neuter singular is introduced and you can see how the adjective changes along with it.
This time you can see that the word in neuter singular is introduced and you can see how the adjective changes along with it.
- LEP MOST (a beautiful bridge)
- LEPA ZGRADA ( a beautiful building)
- LEPO DRVO (a beautiful tree)
You can practice answering the following questions as well:
- Kakav je Kip slobode? (What is the Statue of Liberty like?)
- Kakva je reka? (What is the river like?)
- Kakvo je nebo? (What is the sky like?)
In the background you can see some objects in plural and I invite you to think how the same adjective "lep" ends when describing:
- zgradE (buildings)
- balonI (baloons)
Friday, May 26, 2017
Tramp brutalno odgurnuo Markovića
Thursday, May 25, 2017
While in the previous simple Serbian cartoons we ppractised the prepositions followed by the Genitive:
Serbian Genitive Task
I'm going to write the translations of these captions. Your task is to match them with colours :)
Boje (colours) su: narandžasta (1), crvena (2), tamno plava (3), ljubičasta (4), tamno ljubičasta (5), zelena (6)
today we are revising the same case, with words, both in Masc. and Feminine Singular, such as:
- Rim, London, Pariz >>> iz RimA, iz LondonA, od ParizA - Sg. Masc.
- Srbija, Engleska >>> iz SrbijE, iz EngleskE - Sg. Fem.
However, this time I am also introducing demonstrative adjectives this and these in Serbian:
This and These in Serbian
- for "she" (like in "this girl" - devojčica) >>> Ova devojčica
- for "he" (like in "this boy" - dečko) >>>Ovaj dečko
- for "it" (like in "this sun" - sunce) >>> Ovo sunce
- for they Masc. Pl or Masc. and Fem. Pl. together (like in "these people" - ljudi) >>>Ovi ljudi
- for "they" Fem. Pl.(like in "these women" - žene) >>> Ove žene
- for "they" Neut. Pl. (like in "these kids" - deca) >>> Ova deca
Serbian Genitive Task
I'm going to write the translations of these captions. Your task is to match them with colours :)
Boje (colours) su: narandžasta (1), crvena (2), tamno plava (3), ljubičasta (4), tamno ljubičasta (5), zelena (6)
- a) My village is more beautiful than Paris (the preposition "than" in comparison always requires the Genitive case)
- b) This one with an umbrella is from London for sure (the preposition "from" requires the Genitive)
- c) If they are from Rome, we are from Paris!
- d) If this sun sees me, it must think I am from Paris!
- e) This little one (=a girl) is surely from Serbia!
- f) These postcards from Italy are funnier than the ones from France!
Tuesday, May 23, 2017
Giving Directions in Serbian
- Izvinite = excuse me (although izvinite can mean sorry as well)
- da li = the way to start "yes -no" question
- ovo = this
- put = way
- za = to
- aerodrom = airport (masc. sg.)
- ali = but
- na raskrsnici = at the crossroads
- skrenite = turn (formal, informal is "skreni")
- desno = right
Saturday, May 20, 2017
Let me introduce you to one of my pets, a guinea pig called Beba. If it is a boy or a girl, you'll find out in our future lessons with it :)
The idea is for you to practice this short dialogue asking each other what you are having for breakfast:
a: Šta radiš = What are you doing?
b: Doručkujem = I'm having breakfast.
a: Šta doručkuješ? = What are you having for breakfast?
b: Doručkujem (travu) = I'm having grass for breakfast. (trava = grass)
For this, you'll need some knowledge about food & the accusative case. I'm sure this video will help:
Have fun!
The idea is for you to practice this short dialogue asking each other what you are having for breakfast:
a: Šta radiš = What are you doing?
b: Doručkujem = I'm having breakfast.
a: Šta doručkuješ? = What are you having for breakfast?
b: Doručkujem (travu) = I'm having grass for breakfast. (trava = grass)
For this, you'll need some knowledge about food & the accusative case. I'm sure this video will help:
Have fun!
Friday, May 19, 2017
If you mastered the word hungry: gladAN - gladNA, you are ready to deal with happiness :D
He is happy = On je srećan.
She is happy = Ona je srećna.
They are happy = Oni su srećni.
Now, for a more difficult task! How would you say the following phrases:
He is happy = On je srećan.
She is happy = Ona je srećna.
They are happy = Oni su srećni.
Now, for a more difficult task! How would you say the following phrases:
- I am happy (said by a girl)
- I am happy (said by a boy)
- We are happy (for a boy and girl)
Thursday, May 18, 2017
One of the frequent questions is how to translate Serbian "hteti" into English?
Hteti - Will or Want?
The simple truth is that the verb "hteti" can be translated into English in both ways, either will or want to, or even wish. The best way is to learn through some examples.Želeti vs. Hteti
- Hoćeš li mi pomoći? Will you help me? (pure future ) - Hoću! Pomoći ću ti (Yes, I'll help you)
- Hoćeš li prestati već jednom? Will you stop it once and for all? - Neću! (I won't)
- Hoćeš li da mi pomogneš? Do you want to help me? (a bit stronger than "want") - Naravno! Of course! Svakako! Sure!
- Da li hoćeš da idemo u Beograd? Do you want us to go to Belgrade?
- Želiš li da mi pomogneš? Do you wish/want to help me? (a bit more like "wish" than "want") - Kako da ne! Sure!
- Šta želiš da ti kupim u Beogradu? What do you want me to buy you in Belgrade?
Accepting and Declining
The other set of useful phrases which we can learn from is how to best respond to questions starting with "Will you?" or "Do you want to....?"
Prihvatanje/potvrđivanje = Accepting
- Naravno
- Svakako
- Nema problema
- Kako da ne
- Hoću (if the question starts with Hoćeš li...?)
- Želim (if the question starts with Želiš li...?)
- Da
- Jašta (colloquial + archaic, but fun)
Odbijanje = Declining
- Nema šanse (no way)
- Nikako (no way)
- Neću / Ne želim
- Ne, hvala (no, thanks)
- Jok (colloquial + archaic, but fun)
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
Many of my students have asked me to create a series of video lessons or similar teaching materials dedicated only to adjectives contrasting Masculine and Feminine forms. Here comes the first one in this series - something reeeeaaaaally simple:
Masculine Sg. of hungry>>> gladAn
Feminine Sg. of hungry >>> gladnA
Neuter Sg. of hungry >>> gladNo
Here comes a trick question: Da li sam JA dečko ili devojčica? Am I (JA in sentence 4) a boy or a girl?
Masculine Sg. of hungry>>> gladAn
Feminine Sg. of hungry >>> gladnA
Neuter Sg. of hungry >>> gladNo
Exercise with this photo lesson
- Ko je gladan? Who is hungry?
- On je gladan! He is hungry!
- Ona je gladna! She is hungry!
- Ja nisam gladan! I am not hungry!
Here comes a trick question: Da li sam JA dečko ili devojčica? Am I (JA in sentence 4) a boy or a girl?
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
If you really had fun learning Genitive yesterday, I'm sure you'll have a blast today:
As you can see, there's a bunch of characters speaking to you in Serbian (written both in the Cyrillic and Latin alphabet :) Because they are talking about where they are right now, they are using (guess what?) the Genitive case. Now, I have a few tasks for you. Let's find out:
A. Who is saying what? = Ko šta kaže?
As you can see, there's a bunch of characters speaking to you in Serbian (written both in the Cyrillic and Latin alphabet :) Because they are talking about where they are right now, they are using (guess what?) the Genitive case. Now, I have a few tasks for you. Let's find out:
A. Who is saying what? = Ko šta kaže?
- Sunce kaže:
- Majmun kaže:
- Ptica kaže:
- Dečko kaže:
B. Where are = Gde su...
- dečko (a boy)
- devojčica (a girl)
- pingvin (a penguin)
- ptica (a bird)
- majmun (a monkey)
- sunce (the sun)
- mačka (a cat)
C. One Cyrillic text is missing - which one? Write it in the comment below:
Serbian Genitive with Sg. Feminine Nouns
I hope you have mastered your Genitive with Sg. Masc. nouns. That's why we are working on the nouns which are Fem. Sg. today. Look at the examples:
- Ja sam iznad zgrade! Ko sam ja? Da li sam ja ptica?
- Danas sam ispred zgrade! Ko sam ja? Da li sam ja mačka?
- Oni su iznad mene! Ko su oni? Ko sam ja?
- On nije iznad mačke! Ja sam iznad mačke! Ko sam ja?
What happens with the following nouns?
- zgrada = building
- ptica = bird
- mačka = cat
- devojčica = girl
- voda = water
when they follow the prepositions:
- iznad = above or over
- ispod = below or under
- iz = from
- pored = near or beside
By looking the examples, you can see that the final -a disappears, becoming an -e:
- Iznad zgradE = above the building
- Ispod pticE = under the bird
- Pored mačkE = beside the cat
- Iza devojčicE = behind the girl
- Iznad vodE = above the water
Asking simple questions with the verb TO BE in Serbian
I am sure you have noticed two types of questions in this exercise:
- Wh-? questions: Ko sam ja = Who am I and Ko su oni? Who are they?
- Yes-no questions: Da li sam ja pingvin? = Am I a penguin?
With the verb to be=biti, it is obvious that there is
- a wh-? question word before an inversion (ja sam becomes KO sam ja)
- da li question phrase before an inversion (ja sam becomes DA LI sam ja)
Yes, it's that simple :)
Rešenje = Solution
Now that you understand EVERYTHING, it's time to solve the mystery...
Monday, May 15, 2017
What a lovely morning for such an easy Serbian Genitive photo lesson:
Dobro jutro iz sunčanog LondonA! Pogodite odakle šaljem pozdrave: ispod ili iznad mostA?
Добро јутро из сунчаног ЛондонА! Погодите одакле шаљем поздраве: испод или изнад мостА?
Good morning from sunny London! Guess where I am sending the greetings from: under or above the bridge?
Dobro jutro iz sunčanog LondonA! Pogodite odakle šaljem pozdrave: ispod ili iznad mostA?
Добро јутро из сунчаног ЛондонА! Погодите одакле шаљем поздраве: испод или изнад мостА?
Good morning from sunny London! Guess where I am sending the greetings from: under or above the bridge?
Serbian Genitive with Masculine Singular
London and most (bridge) are two Masc. Sg. nouns in this case. What endings showed up when we used them after the prepositions:
- iz = from
- under / below = ispod
- above / over = iznad
- Ja sam iz Londona / Beograda / Lisabona / Bostona / Čikaga (Čikago) / Sidneja / Frankfurta /Minhena / Beča / Pariza
- Moja mama je iz Perua / Irana / Iraka / Luksemburga / Portugala /Izraela
Sunday, May 14, 2017
What do you want to do TODAY?
Šta želite da radite DANAS?
Today I am in Paris. I want to see the Mona Lisa.
DANAS sam u Parizu. Želim da vidim Mona Lizu.
While in the previous lesson we noticed that the Locative Singular ending was only -i, it was like that simply because we were in places which are in Feminine Singular (U Moskvi, Aziji, Evropi, Budimpešti...)
However, today we are in having fun in places which are Masculine Singular and that's why we add the suffix -u at the end of each place:
Šta želite da radite DANAS?
Today I am in Paris. I want to see the Mona Lisa.
DANAS sam u Parizu. Želim da vidim Mona Lizu.
While in the previous lesson we noticed that the Locative Singular ending was only -i, it was like that simply because we were in places which are in Feminine Singular (U Moskvi, Aziji, Evropi, Budimpešti...)However, today we are in having fun in places which are Masculine Singular and that's why we add the suffix -u at the end of each place:
- Ja sam danas u Parizu. = Danas sam u Parizu.
- ...Beograd >>> Beogradu
- ...Lisabon >>> Lisabonu
- ... Sidnej >>> Sidneju
- ... Niš >>> Nišu
- ...muzej >>> muzeju
- ... centar >>> centru
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