#busylearning

We did nouns gender and number. There are small group of male gender nouns which ends on vowel –o or on a consonant but they have only one syllable, so they have a bit different way to make plural.

In the plural, masculine gender nouns, end on -i, so we get:

muškarac – muškarci dečak – dečaci

Feminine gender nouns in plural (which in singular end in –a), end in –e:

žena – žene devojčica – devojčice

Neuter gender nouns in plural get ending –a:

dete – deca selo – sela (a village) pismo – pisma (a letter)

Also, it is very important to know demonstrative pronouns that go with nouns of each gender:

This – ovaj, ova, ovo These – ovi, ove, ova That – taj, ta, to Those – ti, te ta

For example:

Ovaj muškarac, ova žena, ovo dete Ovi muškarci, ove žene, ova deca Taj muškarac, ta žena, to dete Ti muškarci, te žene, ta deca

There are three grammatical genders in the Serbian language: masculine, feminine and neuter. Each noun has its own grammatical gender, while adjectives correspond to the gender of the noun.

Masculine, singular – muškarac, dečak (a man, a boy)

Feminine, singular – žena, devojčica (a woman, a girl)

Neuter, singular – dete (a child)

If a noun ends in a consonant, most probably it is the masculine noun. Some of masculine nouns end in a vowel, but those are mostly personal names as Marko, Nikola etc. If it ends in a vowel –o or –e in singular, mostly it is a neuter noun. If the noun ends on a vowel –a, it is a feminine noun. There are also feminine nouns which end in a consonant. How then to distinguish those masculine nouns from feminine nouns? Those nouns typically denote abstract objects, for example – ljubav (love), smrt (death), /bolest (illness), mladost (youth) etc.

So, I’ve decided to cease posting the words and phrases of the Serbian language that I learn. Instead, posts shall be dedicated to the more interesting tid-bits of information that the course covers, or those that I stumble upon myself.

Serbian National Anthem -  “Боже правде’' / ''Bože pravde “

Bože pravde (”God of Justice”)

The Serbian national anthem as it is now, was constitutionally adopted November 8, 2006. That said, it was first developed by Davorin Jenko (music) and Jovan Đorđević (lyrics) in 1872 for the Kingdom of Serbia. Since it’s manifestation, the words have regularly been altered to some slight degree to suit the reigning body at the time. 

I will admit, that I was quite fond of the American national anthem (speaking as a Canadian) - it’s quite beautiful. This blows it out of the water, though. Perhaps there isn’t the same level of imagery, you can really sense the longing for release; the relief of freedom from Ottoman occupation; and the appreciation and glory they give unto God. And I’m quite fond of the rhyming scheme - though it doesn’t translate out quite as well into English.

A Little Bit of Serbia

Da li govoriš srpski? --- Do you speak Serbian? Da, ja govorim srpski. --- Yes, I speak Serbian. Ne, ja ne govorim srpski. --- No, I don’t speak Serbian. Pomalo --- a little bit

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