Ep.1: Kruševac

I am Maki.

This season of our podcast is a bit different from the previous ones.

I have another friend, also called Ivana, joining me to have short dialogues in

Serbian. Then we will explain them in English.

This new season will be like mini Serbian lessons.

So if you are ready, grab a cup of coffee and enjoy the podcast.

Dobrodošli Sevima! Ja sam Maki.

And I am here with my friend Ivana today.

Today we are going to

share our common stories of moving to Kuruševac in a short dialogue in Serbian.

This dialogue will be in Serbian, but after that we will switch to English

and go over the vocabulary and expressions in detail.

Agreed. Agreed. All right.

And these are not random, you know, made up sentences.

These are real answers from Ivana.

I'm going to be asking her why she has come here and when and

how long has she been here and also about her job.

So let's do the conversation first.

Let's see how much you understand.

Alright, idemo. Idemo.

Odakle i kada si došla ovde, Ivana?

Došla sam iz Beograda,

sada već pre pet godina.

Ovog leta, 2023,

biće pet godina.

Mi nismo baš u Kruševcu, nego smo u selu,

pored Kruševca, koja se zove

Velika Lomnica. Why are you here, Ode?

My husband and I have lived in Beograd very long.

In a moment we decided to travel to some other countries of Serbia because

of the health of life.

We decided to go to Kruševac and make a business.

I understand. Kruševac has a nice nature and a peaceful life.

Can you tell us what you are doing?

We have a beautiful guest house called Silvani Guest House in the Great Lomnici.

We organize bicycle tours in Jasreb and Koponiku.

It is!

We want all the

welcome everyone to our home.

So I put two questions together, which is doable and common in Serbian, right?

Yes, it is.

Yes, it's from where and when, actually.

And it was the idea to put in one sentence, in one question, actually. Yes.

It's okay. Okay.

The first one is this is.

So is means from in English, right?

After is, we have this genitive in Serbian, genitive in English, the padiji.

Yes.

So, Beograd became Beograda.

Yes, yes, yes, you are right.

Because it's a masculine word, is Beograda.

Yes, because it's that Beograd, yes, masculine, and because of that, it is Beograda.

You are right, correct, completely.

Okay, but if it was a city name or a village name, like Velika

Lomnica, which is ending in R, which is female, then I would say is

Velike Lomnice. Bravo, točno.

Upravo, točno. Okay.

But I'm not sure if it was a city name or village name that

ending with O, Sredrni Rod.

Let me think.

Oh, some name on ending with O.

Like, for instance, we can say Selo.

It could be the name of the village.

Selo is in O.

Doshlasam is Sela.

It's the same.

It's the same as masculine one.

Yes. Okay, perfect.

So, two variations.

Ending with O and ending with other consonants or O or E.

It doesn't matter.

Yes. okay explained well thank you great and you said pre pet godina

so before five years or in english

it would be five years ago but yes literal translation is before five years

so this godina

is in plural form can we say yes yes it is in plural form

because it will be one, godina, jedna godina, one year, two

year,

Three years, five years, it's in English, it will be in Serbian.

Jedna godina, dve, tri, četri, pet godina.

All the same.

Pre jedne godine, pre dve godine, pre tri, četri godine.

Everything is on A at the end.

Okay. Why?

If we come to five, it will be pre pet godina.

Six, šest godina.

Okay, that means that something connected with the numbers actually from one till

four. Okay, one till four is pre-jedan godine.

Yes, yes, on a.

Okay, but do we change jedan to another padeži?

Yes, because we said jedan, ali godina, jedna godina.

So pre jedna, but this time pre jedne godine.

Tako, upravo, I just wanted to correct you, but you corrected yourself, yes.

Before one year, pre jedne godine.

All right, okay.

Let's not check this with all the numbers.

That's enough until five.

We don't know why, but it's e.

How about the months?

If I want to say like before three months, like three months ago, the

mesets is the month.

Month. Right.

Yes. So, because this is not godina, which is ending in R, like

sounds like a female noun, but mesec sounds like a masculine noun.

So, do I say pre-jedan mesec?

Pre-2 meseca, pre-1 mesec, pre-2 meseca, pre-3

meseca, pre-4 meseca, now pre-5 meseci.

All right, that's confirming that after 5 we have that change.

I mean, including 5 and the other numbers.

Yes. Well, that's really helpful.

That's connecting numbers, actually, I think.

Okay, yeah, there's this thing.

I know that rule and I can maybe add the explanation from the book

that I have because there is a chapter about it.

Thanks Okay.

Fair thing. And when we tell the years, like you said, ovog leta...

Ovog leta 2023.

Because at the end, it will be treće godine.

But we didn't put godine here.

We just said 2023.

Znači 2023. Without godine, we are not continuing with godine.

We just cut it without godine, meaning the noun we don't want to say.

We just said number.

Ovog leta, 2023.

Okay, thank you.

But even though we don't say godina or godine, still it has the padeži

still there. So that's what I'm underlining here.

Yeah, yes.

All right. Okay.

So you said five years ago you came,

minis mo bašo kruševcu, you said.

Bašte, what does that mean?

We like to use some strange, I don't know, words in the middle of

the sentences that doesn't have some kind of real meaning.

Or function. Da, or function, yes, you are right.

It could be something like uh we are not really in

krushevats uh meaning that we are not uh based really in the crucials but

somewhere else so

bars is not the word that we can uh have some real translation yeah

but in this case it's close to really like we are not really in

Kruševac. Yes, really meaning that in the context of the

place. I see.

And then there is another to me a question mark here.

Nego. I would say as a

learner of Serbian, because I would say, you know, but you use nego.

What does nego mean?

Aha. We are not only in Kruševcu, but we are in the house.

It's not just because.

Because it's something else that could be used

for some other continuation

of this sentence.

But this will be...

Rather than or instead.

Instead, maybe. We are not really in Kruševac.

Instead, we are in the village

next to Kruševac.

Neko Izo

used when you compare two things, right?

Like something, you could share what is smaller

than Belgrade. In this case, you would use Nego or Od, but

Nego would work for comparing as

well, right?

Maybe, yes. Yes, but not in the each

comparison. I don't think so.

Mainly, we use more Od, as you

said, from Belgrade or something from

something, you know.

Nego is, again, something that, not like a bash, not the same word.

I know. Again, yes, a very strange word that we use.

It's not a comparison.

It's a word that you mentioned.

It's better to be instead or rather than.

Yeah, instead. It could be instead.

Something like that, yes.

All right. And then, okay, another padege.

In two sentences, we have, I guess, six pages here.

But anyway, Poret Khrushchevca.

So Poret means near, right?

Near or next, yes.

Next to Khrushchevac or near Khrushchevac.

So Khrushchevac became Kruševca, again genitive probably.

Yes, genitive. If it was near Belgrade, it would be Pored Belgrade.

Great, correct. Okay, good.

Koje se zove Velika Lomnica?

So which is called as Velika Lomnica.

Yes. Perfect. And then I asked you, zašto si došla ovde?

Why did you come here?

Yes. Why is the only word for why, right?

That we use, I think, in most, almost sentences.

Easy. And as you are too, that one, because you answered minismo pašu Kuruševcu,

so you are talking in plural, like as we are not.

So if I wanted to ask you in you, plural you, would I say,

zašto ste došli ovde?

Tako je, that's correct.

That means that me and somebody else, yes, plural, you

used to correct everything, meaning grammatically was correct completely.

Okay.

And I need to say that I'm so happy there is no preposition before

OVDE.

It makes a little bit simpler, you know, the question that I want to...

Yes. All right.

And then you say, I'm a very young person in Belgrade.

Iako is the new word that I'd like to understand because it

has different meanings as far as I know.

But here is such a long time.

Right, Iako, Iako.

Yes, I just wanted to refer to that Iako.

I don't think that's grammatically correct to say jako.

Confession. It's more like everyday conversation that we use jako in

this sentence, in this meaning.

Jako means really strong.

And here it could be more grammatically correct to say mnogo dugo.

Mnogo is something that goes with the timing.

Exactly. When you want to compare something with the timing, how long you've done

something or something like that.

Jako, Dugo is really something like slang.

Not slang, but in real life conversation.

More informal. Can I use Jako for the other adjectives or adverbs in this

case? Jako mnogo.

Oh, my God.

You use jako and mnogo together.

Yes, it's really strange.

Okay, that's funny.

Yes. You can use, for instance...

Jako teško.

Like, Srb say, jako teško.

Jako teško.

Yes, it's really very, very hard.

That means in reals, yes, you can use.

Okay.

jako is really a word that we use

for so many exactly, I hear it all the time that's why I want

to talk about it

and I

read this in the books but

you keep using this and I'm glad

that you use it, I try to understand ujednom trenutku

at one point

right, yes at one point

yes, really at one point

that's super

translation for that, it's not in one moment it at one point.

That's because at one point

because again, regarding the timing,

one point of the time, actually, we decided this and that.

Yes. So normally, that point is trenutak, right?

Yes.

Because of the locative case,

u, it became

Yes, correct.

And there is no other use of trenutku.

Like u jednom trenutku is like an expression that we use all the time.

We don't have any other variation of that, right?

No, you can avoid jednom.

You can say only u trenutku, smorečili.

But it means that you have to have previous sentences regarding this explanation.

then you can continue u trenutku.

I see. It's just one sentence before that.

We want to explain that it was living in Belgrade for such a long

time.

At one point we decided this and that.

Perfect. And then you continued with small rešili.

That rešili to me, here you use it as we decided.

We decided to go to another country of Serbia because of

the health of life.

Very nice explanation.

So you literally say we wanted to move somewhere.

We decided to move some other part of Serbia because of a healthier

life. Yes, yes.

That was a good translation, except that maybe now when I said decided

to move, this neki drugi kraj ve serbiye, that's in plural

all. This is like a plural now.

Neki drugi kraj ve.

It's not neki drugi kraj.

That will be singular.

Next movie, Kraj Serbia, the ending will be the same because of the healthier

life.

So, Kraj has two meanings.

One is end, because at the end of movies there is Kraj, but also

part, right?

It has kind of two meanings.

Also the part of something, yes, that means in the sentence, yes.

That's different meaning, that's true.

So, rešili, smo rešili, was we have decided, kind of, or we decided.

And then in the second sentence, you say, odličil smo da dojemo u kurševats

i da započnemo neki business.

Odličil smo is literally, we decided, right?

Yes, yes, yes, we decided da.

Okay, započnemo means star.

Star, yes. I'm not going to ask you the hard question.

What is the difference?

Zapocznemo i pocznemo.

I pocznemo. I know it's going to take time, so we will leave that

part for now.

Yeah. Okay. And then I said, razumem, I understand you.

Kuruševac ima lepu prirodu i mirniji život.

Yes. Here we have accusative, right?

yes that's accusative yes yes yes yes is

a ending with a život ending as a masculine word

so that's why it doesn't have u at the end yes okay and then

uh like a real interviewer i asked Can you

tell us what you do?

What's your job?

Yes. What is your job or what you do?

Or what is your...

Yes.

Yeah.

Okay. But as I use bavite, that means plural you or polite, but in

this case, plural you I

wanted to use.

You are plural.

Yes.

If I wanted to ask you, can you tell me, then I would say,

right?

Great. Yes, great.

You started with the singular because you are asking me,

means only me, but then you continue in plural because it's

me and husband,

meaning what we are doing something.

Exactly.

Okay. If I wanted to ask you politely, I would say,

right?

Yes, if we are on the, how French says, per tu, per tu, or

something like that, I think.

If we are, yes, more politely, that means, yes, možete nam reči, čime se

vi bavite. Vi is also an option.

You can include also, yeah, it's also the option.

All right. And then you said imamo prelep guest house.

Guest house, I think, also is used in Serbian as guest house, right?

But that started to be used in the last maybe

5-10 years, whatever.

It wasn't so

common. But I didn't

find a really

translation of the guest house.

So we kept the guest house as

an English word.

It could be

But it's very, again, it's very uncommon use of the words.

That's something that we are not pronouncing so easily.

So I think maybe it can be guest house.

And then you used.

So a guest house called Silvani.

In Velika Lomnica. Yes.

Okay. and then uh bicycle tours that

is again is followed by padegi

i think genitive right That will be po dativ.

Dativ. Yes, because dativ is for direction po jastrebcu

i koponiku. The normal words, maybe our listeners do not know, jastrebac and koponik.

So jastrebac became jastrebcu i koponiku.

So both of them are masculine ending.

That's why it was the same.

Great.

Yes. And then I always hear bash cool.

Oh, bash.

Yes.

Again. Cool, I think, is adopted from English, right?

Of course. Of And it could be just like so cool.

Now, the sentence of this sentence will be so cool.

Bash could be so.

Something like that.

And then, oh, can you read, repeat the last sentence?

Okay.

because it's kind of difficult.

Jeste. Svim ljubiteljima prirode želimo dobrodošlicu u našu kuću.

All right. And dobrodošlicu.

What's that word?

That's come from the verb dobrodošli, which means welcome.

And this is the noun of the verb, that will be the noun,

but we use now in again,

we use, yes, so I don't know, in English,

it could be all the natural lovers, we wish welcome to our house, because

we cannot do such a literal translation.

Yes, yes.

But it means we welcome all nature lovers to our house.

Yes, yes. That will be, yes, better.

It's easier in English and, of course, more challenging.

All right. I hope it was good enough explanation.

So after we explained the words, let's read it one more time.

Where

did you come here?

Why are you here?

My wife and I have lived in Beograd very long.

We decided to go to another country of Serbia because of the healthy life.

We decided to get to Kruševac and start some business.

I da započnemo neki biznis.

Razumem. Kruševac ima ljepu prirodu i mirniji život.

I understand. Kruševac has a nice and a safe life.

Možeš li nam reći čime se vi babite?

Can you tell us what you are going to do?

Imamo prelep guest house koji se zove Silvani guest house u velikoj lomnici

i organizujemo biciklističke ture po Jastrcu i Copalonikum.

Pa škol? Jeste.

Svim ljubiteljima prirode želimo dobrodošlicu u našu kuću.

All right. By the way, this is a real message.

They always welcome nature lovers to their home.

This house is really there in Veliko Komnitsi.

I will share the link under this episode so that you can have a

look at it.

You will love their house and their beautiful garden, I'm sure.

Thank you very much, of course.

Okay, hvala ti puno.

Hvala i tebi.

Ok, we will continue with another theme in the next episode in this format.

I hope this is going to help our listeners a lot.

I hope so.

Ok, vidimo se, ciao!

Vidimo se, drago!

Thank you for listening to us today.

We hope you enjoyed our podcast and learned something new.

In case you have any comments, suggestions or questions, make sure to share that.

on our Instagram page, Moje Kafa Podcast.

Prijatno!