Serbian for Beginners: Verb "To Be"

My name is Nikola, I'm online Serbian language tutor with almost two years of

experience.

We're coming in a bit late, but we're still continuing with the podcast.

I'll try to post the episodes more frequently, but until then you can always

check out the previous ones.

If you have any questions or you want to book a first lesson, feel

free to write me on my Instagram page, Learn Serbian, or write me at

my email, which you can find in the description of this podcast.

Last time, we learned about personal pronouns and how to match them with the

verb to be in present tense.

We learned about greetings and how to say I am.

Today, we will dig a bit deeper into the grammar and we will have

a short text as a comprehension exercise.

We showed that the verb to be is probably the most important verb in

Serbian language. Today, we will learn how to change it through the system and

how to use it when speaking.

Let's take a look at the table.

The table verb to be in present tense in Serbian sounds like this.

Ja sam, which means I am.

Ti si, which means you are.

On, ona, ono, je, which means he, she, it, is.

If you go to the plural, first person plural sounds like mi smo, we

are. Vi ste, you are.

Oni, one, ona, su.

There is important thing here.

when pronouncing these verbs, when you speak them, you should not emphasize

the verb. You should always emphasize the personal pronoun.

Ja sam, ti si, on je.

Not ja sam, ti si.

That's kind of the rule.

First thing that we can notice is that the Serbian has different word for

each person. while English has some that are the same, for example in plural.

There is one word that is same in all three person, are.

While in Serbian we have three different ones for three different person, smo, ste,

su.

It is quite useful to have all different verb forms for different person, but

it can also be annoying to learn and memorize all of them.

Because of this, we can say only one word, for example, sam.

And Serbian speaker would know that it is used in first person.

It corresponds to ja sam or I am.

There are some rules to follow and learn here, but that is the essence

of why we have all different verb forms.

Now, although this is a base or bone structure of our sentence in Serbian,

it's still not enough for making a logical sentence.

We would need some nouns, adjectives or adverbs to throw in there.

Here's a few of them that you might already know.

Nouns. Učenik, which means a student.

Mama, tata, which means mom and dad.

brat which means brother and sestra which means sister

some adjectives Srećan, which means happy.

Veliki, which means big.

Mali, which means small.

And umoran, which means tired.

Adverbs. Ovde, which means here.

Tu, which means there.

Tamo, which also means there, but in a different context.

Napolju, which means outside.

All of these nouns, of course, and

adjectives and adverbs would be learned through the lessons gradually.

Let's try to use these words and combine them with the stuff that we

learned so far.

Here's a dialogue.

Do you have a teacher here?

No, I am not a teacher here.

I am a mom.

Aha, you are a happy mom.

I am happy and happy.

and your intentions when communicating.

For better communication, we will need more of the basic grammar covered.

Adjectives, other verbs and tenses, adverbs, etc.

All of that is included in my lessons.

If you want, you can message me through Instagram or on Preply website where

you can find me as a tutor, Nikola Pujić.

Now, let's practice comprehension by listening to these conversations and texts that will progressively

get more complex, but still at the beginner level.

These exercises will be a bit longer than a previous dialogue.

Pasoška kontrola. Dobro jutro.

Good morning. Your passage, please.

Excuse me. You are Mr.

Marković? Yes, I am Nenad Marković.

You are a tourist?

No, I am a businessman.

Your address in Beograd?

Hotel Metropol. Excuse me.

Thank you.

You can find a translation of this dialogue in the transcript.

Let's listen to another dialogue.

to a short text which consists of one paragraph.

It is used to introduce yourself.

The title is Ja se zovem, which means my name is.

Let's listen to this.

Здраво. Ja se zovem Novak, imam 25 годina i živim u Beogradu, u Srbiji.

Ja igram tenis, I love this sport.

Volim da treniram svakog dana.

Također, ja volim futbal, ali ja ne igram futbal, samo volim da gledam.

Mnogo volim da jedem voće, a najviše banane.

Ne volim da pijem kafu.

Moja sestra se zove Vera, on ima 26 godina i ona je advokat.

Mi ćemo da idemo zajedno u Ameriku, u New York.

Ja hoću da vidim Manhattan i da jedem hot dog.

This text is a bit more complex than the dialogues we had before.

After this text, in the transcript, you can find a vocabulary, a list of

verbs used in this last text.

It's a simple guide or helping list to note down the unfamiliar words.

You can try and repeat them when you can.

Sviđa!

Hvala što pratite kanal.