Learning Serbian /Croatian/Bosnian

'no, duh' has absolutely no meaning in croatian, I mean there is meaning but if we take each word separately because duh means 'ghost' in croatian, but that 'no' has no sense there...

Originally Posted by Dangerous & Moving

'no, duh' has absolutely no meaning in croatian, I mean there is meaning but if we take each word separately because duh means 'ghost' in croatian, but that 'no' has no sense there...

Infact I though what kind of meaning it could have, I knew that duh in serbian is soul or spirit, but I don't see a sense here. Maybe it could be a type of exclamation, but I don't know... Is there any serb that confirm me if 'no' exists in serbian, or only nego or ali?

i think"duh" most uses for "ghost","spirit",coz when u mean soul u ll say"duša"

Duh is ghost but it also has other meanings ... 'imati duha' - to have spirit
'sveti duh' - the holy ghost
etc..

As for the rest, I guess there is no difference in Serbian when it comes to the "no duh" question...
It sounds entirely meaningless.

To try to explain the word "no"...

"lepsa no (nego) ikad" = more beautiful than ever
"no, nije ni vazno" = "but it doesn't matter"
"Danas je bio uzasan dan, no..." = Today was a dreadful day, but... whatever!
"Danas je bio uzasan dan, no... to je duga prica" = Today was a dreadful day, but... it's a long story!

And finally... the meaning of "no duh" .. it's probably English! lol

Yes it's true, making a search on google i've found that 'no, duh' is english, they say that when happen something you don't like. Sorry!

it is used as a an exclamation when someone says or does something stupid like homer simpson only he say doh

Hello guys!

First of all THANK YOU so much for this thread.... there's some really helpful stuff in here and I've just started to read through it... I want to ask you for your advice: I've wanted to learn Serbian since I was 12 cause I find the language very fascinating.... after this quite long time (I'm 22 now ) of wanting to learn I finally decided to start. I was searching for helpful literature in a couple of bookshops but the result was.. disappointing All I found was a book that lists more or less simple words and phrases and is addressed mainly at people who want to travel to Serbia and are in need of some basic communication skills... also, the words aren't spelled properly but the way they should be pronounced (which looks really weird sometimes)......well and I bought a dictionary of course.
So my question is if anybody of you knows/can recommend me a book that includes more than simple phrases (grammar!, exercises,...). Cyrillic letters would be awesome, but I don't want to ask for too much My native language is German but both German and English would be just fine


Thanks a lot in advance!!!!
Mimi

Originally Posted by Mimi0920

also, the words aren't spelled properly but the way they should be pronounced (which looks really weird sometimes)

I wish I could be of more use but: As far as I know Serbian like Bosnian follows the basic rule that things are written the way they are pronounced (except for stresses, these are not marked, although I except they would be in a dictionary- like for most languages.) But maybe you mean that "čaj" is written "chay" or something like that. I'd avoid that style of dictionary, it may help in the beginning but it will ultimately hamper your efforts and always make you sound like a foreigner hell-bent on butchering the language as much as humanly possible (also you wont be able to resort to written communication if words fail you.) Learn the Cyrillic azbuka and how to pronounce the letters (some don't exist in German others are pronounced differently.) It's a bother, but you (and people who will have to talk to you) will thank yourself latter on. Viel Gluck!

Hi, I'm trying to pick up Serbo-Croatian I'll start reading the posts in this thread more often, and ask a lot of questions!!

Hi Spring, it's been a while!

Well, I wish to help anyone with questions about Serbian language as other great ppl here do

Salute

First, sorry for my english, it is nightmare Then, good job everyone, this is not easy language at all, so great work. Наравно, при том мислим и на све људе са ових простора, без обзира из које су државе, који се труде да приближе другима наш језик, или наше језике, како вам је воља. (Naravno, pri tom mislim i na sve ljude sa ovih prostora, bez obzira iz koje su države, koji se trude da približe drugima naš jezik, ili naše jezike, kako vam je volja).

Common mistakes in serbian language:

It is not good to say:

пуно радити (puno raditi), пуно хвала (puno hvala). It is much naturaly to say: напорно радити (naporno raditi), стално радити (stalno raditi), много радити (mnogo raditi), много хвала (mnogo hvala), or just: хвала (hvala).
If you say: баш ти хвала (baš ti hvala), it is mostly sarcastic

срећно (srećno), it is not: сретно (sretno). You can say that, but it is not naturaly.

пети се (peti se), попети се (popeti se), it is wrong: пети се горе (peti se gore), попети се горе (popeti se gore) - горе is wrong, you can not say: climb up, just say: climb.

силазити (silaziti), not силазити доле (silaziti dole), седати (sedati), not седати доле (sedati dole) - just sit, it is wrong: sit down, you can not sit up, right?)

снеси (књигу, слику...) it is not санеси
snesi (knjigu, sliku...) it is not sanesi

метак, меци it is not metak, metkovi
metak, meci it is not metak, metkovi

почеци (počeci) it is not: почетци(početci)

you can say: српског (srpskog) or српскога (srpskoga)

you can not say: ово је филм Брус Лија (ovo je film Brus Lija), it is : ово је филм Бруса Лија (ovo je film Brusa Lija). Hоминатив (Nominativ) is Брус Ли, but you must change everything, not just lastname)

Србија, Србин (Srbija, Srbin), but: српски (srpski), it is not: србски (srbski)

код куће сам (kod kuće sam), it is not у кући сам (u kući sam), кући сам (kući sam).

most beautiful, the best etc. is always one word:
најлепше, најбоље, најпаметније, најскупље (najlepše, najbolje, najpametnije, najskuplje) ... it is not нај лепше, нај боље (naj lepše, naj bolje)...

It si најјаче (najjače), it is not најаче (najače)

If verb start with NOT then it is не могу (ne mogu), it is wrong: немогу (nemogu).
4 еxceptions: нећу, немој, немам, нисам (neću, nemoj, nemam, nisam).
Нисам (nisam) start with НИ (ni), not HE (ne) but it mean i am NOT

Немој it is not не мој (није мој). Немој да ме нервираш. Није мој телефон него је твој.
Nemoj it is not ne moj (nije moj). Nemoj da me nerviraš. Nije moj telefon nego je tvoj.

Да ли it is not дали. Да ли си добро? Дали су ми књигу.
Da li it is not dali. Da li si dobro? Dali su mi knjigu.

Јел`it is not јер. Јел`mean јеси ли (да ли си), јер mean because. Јел` си добро? Није отишао на посао јер је (зато што је) болестан.
Jel` it is not jer. Jel` mean jesi li (da li si), jer mean because. Jel` si dobro? Nije otišao na posao jer je (zato što je) bolestan.

Да ли (Da li) rather then је ли, јел` (je li, јеl`)

јели it is not је ли. Управо смо јели (ручали, вечерали). Јел` (да ли) ти треба ауто?
jeli it is not je li. Upravo smo jeli (ručali, večerali). Jel`(da li) ti treba auto?

Ја треба да (or just треба да) прочитам књигу ... ти треба да (or just треба да ) прочиташ књигу ... они треба да (or just треба да) прочитају књигу. It is wrong: требам, требаш, требају

Ja treba da (or just treba da) pročitam knjigu ... ti treba da (or just treba da) pročitaš knjigu ...oni treba da (or just treba da) pročitaju knjigu. It is wrong: trebam, trebaš, trebaju.

пишем rather then ја пишем (pišem rather then ja pišem)
пијем rather then ја пијем (pijem rather then ja pijem)
читам rather then ја читам (čitam rather then ja čitam)...



хладно (hladno) - cold
зима (zima) - winter
You can not say: зима ми је (zima mi je). I will say: хладно ми је ... напољу је хладно... долази (ближи се) зима.
hladno mi je ... napolju je hladno ... dolazi (bliži se) zima.

for most words:
If word start with пред (pred) or под (pod), then is important next letter. If С (S) or Ш (Š) is after Д (D), then you must say: преДседник, преДстава, подшишати (preDsednik, preDstava, poDšišati), you will never say: преТседник, преТстава, поТшишати (PreTsednik, preTstava, poTšišati), but if any other letter is after Д (D) then you will say: поТписати (poTpisati), not поДписати (poDpisati)

Again, sorry for my english ... pozz

I've been studying serbian for years now, but I can never understand when to use the imperfect tense instead of the present tense. Honestly I don't know if it's even called the imperfect tense-- like ostavljati and ostaviti, resiti and resavati, nastaviti and nastavljati, itd. I tend to use the "imperfect" when I'm currently doing it like I am leaving you Ja te ostavljam, but I've noticed others using it in other cases and I can't figure out the exact use. For example, I thought with the word "uvek" it is always the present tense, but I've seen it many times "uvek ostavljam", which just throws me off. Moze li neko da mi pojasni, Can any one make this clear for me?

@opasna mala

1. Uvek (увек) is just word, for past, futur and present.

Uvek sam putovala ovim autobusom or ovim autobusom sam uvek putovala (Увек сам путовала овим аутобусом; овим аутобусом сам увек путовала). - past
Uvek se tako ponašaš (Увек се тако понашаш). - present
Uvek će padati kiša u ovo doba godine or kiša će padati uvek u ovo doba godine (Увек ће падати киша у ово доба године ... киша ће увек падати у ово доба године) - futur


2. Ostavljam cigarete(Остављам цигарете) - in this moment
Ostaviću cigarete (Оставићу цигарете) - I will ...
Decak rešava zadatak (Дечак решава задатак) - in this moment
Dečak će rešavati zadatak (Дечак ће решавати задатак) - He will...
Nastavljam da perem auto (Настављам да перем ауто) - in this moment
Nastaviću da perem auto (наставићу да перем ауто) - futur


3. When you speaking serbian don`t say: Ja ostavljam just ostavljam, ja čitam just čitam, because everybody understand what you want to say when you say verb.

čitaM (читаМ) - I
čitaŠ (читаШ) - You
čita (чита)- he, she ...

Sorry for my english ... pozz

Can the nesvrseni glagoli be used for actions that are habitually repeated?
i imam jos jedno pitanje za tebe-- jel trenutno zivis u beogradu? Ja sam razmisljala da provodim jedan semester fakulteta tamo da dobro naucim srpski. Da li postoje neki casovi srpskog jezika u beogradu koji se predaju na engleskom?

It is not important. Danas čitam knjigu or trenutno čitam knjigu.

Da, živim u Beogradu. Svakako da postoje časovi za strance koji žele da nauče srpski, mada ti to već odlično radiš.

Samo dve male ispravke: ... razmišljala da provedem (provodim je sadašnje vreme) ...

U srpskom se ne koristi pasiv, pa nećemo reći časovi koji se predaju, jer bi to značilo da časovi sami sebe predaju, već: ... srpskog jezika u Beogradu na engleskom, ili: da li neko u Beogradu predaje srpski na engleskom

Opasna mala,
Our imperfect is not much in the use. You won't hear it much, but, it is a tense that says something has happened recently in the past (something like present perfect in English). We build the imperfect from the verb that points act that "didn't end yet" (nesvrseni glagol) and add suffixes: h,še,še, smo, ste,hu or ah, aše, aše, asmo aste ahu (depends of the vocal that ends the root).

So, if you have a verb pevati (to sing), you cut the infinitive part "ti", and get yourself that nesvrseni glagol and on that base you add the matching suffix:

1. Ja pevah
2. Ti pevaše
3. On/ona/ono pevaše

1. Mi pevasmo
2. Vi pevaste
3. Oni/one/ona pevahu

As I said, instead of this tense everyone just use perfect.

Nesvrseni glagol (verb that didn't end, or permanent verb) only tells you that one act didn't end yet. It is one of three verb forms we have (along with verb that ended and frequent verb), but it is not the time - it is only a variation of a verb and it is used to build times.

Hvala vam na odgovorima!

One last thing:

What's the difference between za tebe and za tobom, za mene and za mnom? When do you use za tobom/ mnom/ itd?

Words TEBE, TOBOM are forms of the word (pronoun) TI, and they are changed trough cases. Pronoun TEBE is in genitive, and (sa) TOBOM is instrumental. "Tebe" answers to a question whom or what (I am listening to you - slusam tebe (te)), and "tobom" answers a question with whom or with what (I am with you - Ja sam sa tobom, or in your example it can go like this I am following you - Idem za tobom).

It is same with mene and mnom. Those words are form of pronoun Ja (I), also in genitive and instrumental.

Cases singular
N: Ja/ti (who, what)
G: Mene (me)/tebe (te) (from whom/what)
D: Meni (mi)/ tebi (ti) (to whom/what)
A: Ja/ti (whom, what)
V: -/ti (Ej!) (no first person, because you can't call yourself)
I: (Sa) mnom/(sa) tobom (with whom/with what)
L: (O) meni/ (o) tebi (about whom/what)

Hope I helped

I knew the difference between tebe and tobom, but I don't know the difference between "za tebe" and "za tobom"

Like "luda za tobom" (song from lepa brena)
why is it tobom and not tebe?

There are a few other cases where I have heard it "za tobom" as well.

or "mnogi placu za mnom" iz neke druge pesme

my cry for me, would it be za mene ?