Learning Serbian /Croatian/Bosnian

Originally Posted by Zahal

A ovo?
"Arijadna joj se OBISNU oko vrata, a onda, zgrabivši brzo svoju liru, potrča ka vratima".

hm.. I suppose it can only be from

obesiti
*~ se nekome o vrat = to embrace smb. with great feeling

Zahal, it's seems your're reading a love novel

I think it should be said: "joj se obesi oko vrata", but "joj se OBISNU oko vrata" - she did it quickly and suddenly, I guess.

He's probably reading something from Greek mitology or some Ancient Greek drama so I think that's reason why translator used "obisnu" instead "obesi". It's more archaic word.

Exactly, I grabbed 5-6 books from this series "Mračne Priče iz Mitologije" when I stopped by the book shop Kultura in Banja Luka last time. Thought that would be some good preparation for the coming year, but they seem to be pretty hard due to the archaic language
Bilo kako bilo – barem sad znam kako aorist radi, a to nije malo
Ali priznajem da jedva čekam da počnem čitati tu biografiju o Ceci. Verovatno je lakše razumeti! A možda je i to na neki način jedna ljubavna priča...

Pa jezik ćeš razumeti, a valjda ćeš osetiti razumevanje za "ljubavnu priču"....

Evo, jedna nova reč:

1. Ona požele da se baci na Dedala, da ga udari, ZASPE najgorim uvredama... Umesto toga, zari lice u ruke i pokuša da se pribere.

The only verb I can figure out is 'zaspati' (to fall asleep), but it doesn't make any sense at all here so it must be another verb.

i guess it comes from "zasipati"- "pour" - like pouring sand into a whole to fill it up.
there is the expression "zasipati uvredama" - to throw all kinds of insults on somebody.

Originally Posted by Zahal

Evo, jedna nova reč:

1. Ona požele da se baci na Dedala, da ga udari, ZASPE najgorim uvredama... Umesto toga, zari lice u ruke i pokuša da se pribere.

The only verb I can figure out is 'zaspati' (to fall asleep), but it doesn't make any sense at all here so it must be another verb.

Yea, ZASIPATI - ona ga zaspe..
ZASPATI - ona zaspi... would be

I'm sorry if I offended anyone when asking about nationality a few weeks ago. I know this is a sore issue, but I didn't meen it that way.

I spend most of the summertime on an isolated island without an internet line, thus I'm only able to pop in here every now and then. But I keep struggling with my language studies. It's so hard! I never ever tried to learn a language all by myself before, and maybe it's a stupid idea.

I just loved the language because of the phonetic spelling, and it's quite easy to pronounce because no one knowing the language can hear me but all the cases really makes me confused.

I'm following Celia Hawkesworth and from the beginning I think it was good, but now I'm getting more and more confused. Sometimes in the exercises she uses words and grammar that haven't been introduced. I happened to see an earlier edition, and yes, she's been changing the order of the chapters.
Also it' s really useless to have a lot of exercises without a key, it's so easy to write what I think is the right case, but without the key, how should I know?

Well, I keep on struggling, for what it's worth..

I have no major problems with the English, but sometimes words differ just slightly. So if anyone knows Swedish - can you translate "izvolite" to "varsågod"?

And about pronounciation: can you say that č is like tj in "atjoo" and ć like k in "kärlek"?

When I have the book in front of me, a lot of questions turn up, but now my head is totally blank. I guess I just have to study more and try to get to know more words.

I don't think you did anything of the sort.. just stirred some old waters..

Isolated island? Do you have a spare room? LOL

I'm not sure anyone here speaks Swedish .. I've found different translations of varsågod..
If it means: here you are, then it should be something like izvolite
but if it means: you are welcome, then SR/CR.. equivalent is "nema na čemu"

Izvolite is what you would say to someone with whom youre not on first name basis and to a group of ppl instead of izvoli

izvoli, izvolite = izvolite sesti = please sit down; izvolite, poslužite se = please help yourself; izvolite? = how can I help you?
Pass me the salt please. Here you are (izvoli/izvolite)

Well I hope that helps a bit.. just take it easy
When it comes to kärlek.. judging by this song, it kinda sounds like a mixture of š and č to me lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vh9V-96p3Ss
but.. in this song however, it sounds just like š (english sh)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8QhasoR0dU

Have you seen this topic? --> click

don't worry about the differences between č and ć,
even most native-speakers don't make a distinction between them (well, at least in croatia)

Originally Posted by Kejo

And about pronounciation: can you say that č is like tj in "atjoo" and ć like k in "kärlek"?

When I have the book in front of me, a lot of questions turn up, but now my head is totally blank. I guess I just have to study more and try to get to know more words.

Don't worry Kejo, 90% of my knowledge I learnt alone. Even when I have a book, I don't like to follow it, I usually create my own ways of learning. I like to start with children books, for example, with a lot of pictures, simple texts, without some hard grammar - because I think beginners need words firstly, to recognize the words and then you'll hear how grammar modifies them. Then you'll start repeating them by speaking. Afterwards, you'll learn to recognize the language patterns and then you can write and compose texts, as your knowledge grows. Then return to grammar books and read them again. I learn like that.

Our language is very easy for writing and reading once you master the letters. Many people really mix č and ć, my professor of biology used to say "čelija" instead of "ćelija" (cell)

I think in Eng they have something between č and ć, like in chat, chap....
and a letter which is between đ and dž... like in Jack

č - chair, Chicago
ć - you can learn it like č, but soften. In Spanish - chica (girl)
dž - rajah, jeep, bridge
đ - some Spanish say it in llave (key), yo (I)... or Italian name Giuseppe (Giuseppe Verdi)

Originally Posted by Spring

Isolated island? Do you have a spare room?

Yes we have, you're welcome (Imamo slobodana soba??)


And thanks for the explanations of izvoli/izvolite, I think it's quite close to our "varsågod" which is a word I miss in English.

If you give buy something and give money to the person you buy from, do you say "izvolite" when giving it? We do (say varsågod) and the person that gets the money should also say thankyou.

Originally Posted by Miki444

don't worry about the differences between č and ć,
even most native-speakers don't make a distinction between them (well, at least in croatia)

Thankyou, that solves a lot. But I liked Springs comparisons to Swedish songs, maybe our "kärlek" is more š than ć, but anyway I think my pronounciation will be "good enough" the problem is that I have nothing to say

Kärlek means ljubav anyway

And Ina - nice idea about childrens books, I will try to get hold on some next time I come back to civilization! As I'm addicted to Regina music, I listen to their texts and read the lyrics, but it's a bit restricted vocabulary wise.

Originally Posted by Kejo

Yes we have, you're welcome (Imamo slobodana soba??)

imamo slobodnu sobu (one)
imamo slobodnih soba (pl.)

Originally Posted by Kejo

And thanks for the explanations of izvoli/izvolite, I think it's quite close to our "varsågod" which is a word I miss in English.

If you give buy something and give money to the person you buy from, do you say "izvolite" when giving it? We do (say varsågod) and the person that gets the money should also say thankyou.

exactly

Originally Posted by miki444

imamo slobodnu sobu (one)
imamo slobodnih soba (pl.)

Ok, this is so hard! But is this case accusative?
Imamo malu slobodnu sobu (only one room)

Otok je vrl lijep

it's apparently accusative for singular and genitive for plural, but why that would be, I don't know. Why isn't it "imamo slobodne sobe"?

Originally Posted by pthalo

it's apparently accusative for singular and genitive for plural, but why that would be, I don't know. Why isn't it "imamo slobodne sobe"?

oh, when i think about it has probably something to do with numbers, amount,
i think from 5 to more it is "slobodnih soba" and 2,3,4 is "slobodne sobe".
I must confess i don't know which plural is correct if you don't use specific numbers, probably both ? maybe an expert on grammar-rules can enlighten us ? (Spring?)

*btw. i deducted this from my czech-lessons, not sure about it at all.

Jel ti to mene malo zezas? hehe

Me and grammar rules are defo not on a first name basis.. I translate based on "how it sounds". However, you are right
Imamo 2 (3;4) slobodne sobe
Imamo 5 slobodnih soba

When the speaker doesn't imply how many rooms, he'd probably say
Imamo slobodnih soba
If a person comes and asks for 2 rooms, in that case it might be
Imamo (za vas) slobodne sobe

Hi everyone. It has been a while since I last visited the site. I am still looking for help with my Serbian. I am always trying to learn on my own but it never compares to having a native speaker teach you. When visiting my family they don't want to spend time teaching me when it is easier to just speak to me in english so I was wondering if anyone knows of someone in Scotland who could help me learn? I had a tutor a few years back but she moved back to Serbia.

vežbam malo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMaohlRLYVw