Serbian Textbook
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Serbian language textbook

A linear course: part → lesson → exercises. We go strictly in order.

Explanations in English. Serbian in Latin, with Cyrillic in parentheses.

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1 The alphabet and sounds

  1. 1 Meet Serbian. Two alphabets
  2. 2 Serbian Latin Alphabet: Familiar Letters
  3. 3 Special letters: č, ć, š, ž
  4. 4 Special letters: đ, dž, lj, nj, j
  5. 5 Serbian Cyrillic: what matches Russian
  6. 6 Serbian Cyrillic: ј, љ, њ, ћ, ђ, џ
  7. 7 Vowels a, e, i, o, u — always the same
  8. 8 A word without a vowel: syllabic r
  9. 9 Stress: where it never falls
  10. 10 Part 1 review: reading simple words

2 First Words and Phrases

  1. 11 Hello and Goodbye
  2. 12 What's your name?
  3. 13 Yes, no, thank you, please
  4. 14 My family
  5. 15 Numbers 1 to 10
  6. 16 Colors
  7. 17 How old are you?
  8. 18 I like / I don't like
  9. 19 Food and drinks
  10. 20 House, room, school
  11. 21 Animals
  12. 22 Days of the week
  13. 23 Months and seasons
  14. 24 The weather
  15. 25 Part 2 Review: Dialogue and Test

3 The noun: gender and number

  1. 26 What is grammatical gender
  2. 27 Masculine gender
  3. 28 Feminine gender
  4. 29 Neuter gender
  5. 30 Plural: masculine nouns
  6. 31 Plural: feminine gender
  7. 32 Plural: neuter gender
  8. 33 The fleeting “a”
  9. 34 Animate and inanimate
  10. 35 Part 3 Review: gender and number

4 The Verb biti and Simple Present

  1. 36 The Verb 'to be': Full Forms
  2. 37 Short Forms: sam, si, je, smo, ste, su
  3. 38 Negation: nisam, nisi, nije…
  4. 39 This and That: ovo, to, ono
  5. 40 Verbs ending in -am (čitati)
  6. 41 Verbs ending in -im (raditi)
  7. 42 Verbs Ending in -em (pisati, piti)
  8. 43 Questions: da li…? and je li…?
  9. 44 Verb Negation: ne radim, ne znam
  10. 45 Part 4 Review

5 Nominative Case

  1. 46 What Is a Case and Why Do We Need Them
  2. 47 Nominative Singular: Three Genders
  3. 48 Nominative Plural
  4. 49 Nominative with Adjectives
  5. 50 Nominative Case Review
  6. 51 Accusative Case: "whom? what?"
  7. 52 Accusative: Feminine
  8. 53 Accusative: Masculine Inanimate
  9. 54 Accusative: Masculine Animate
  10. 55 Accusative: Neuter Gender
  11. 56 Prepositions u and na (where to?)
  12. 57 Accusative Plural: Masculine
  13. 58 Accusative Plural: Feminine and Neuter
  14. 59 Adjectives in the Accusative
  15. 60 Accusative Review
  16. 61 Genitive: 'Whose? What of?'
  17. 62 Genitive singular: masculine and neuter
  18. 63 Genitive singular: feminine
  19. 64 Genitive Plural
  20. 65 Numbers and Genitive
  21. 66 Negation and Genitive
  22. 67 Possession: Whose House Is This?
  23. 68 Prepositions with Genitive
  24. 69 Adjectives in the Genitive
  25. 70 The Genitive Reviewed
  26. 71 Dative: «to whom? to what?»
  27. 72 Dative: Masculine and Neuter
  28. 73 Dative: Feminine
  29. 74 Dative Plural
  30. 75 Prepositions k and prema
  31. 76 Verbs with the Dative
  32. 77 Adjectives in the Dative
  33. 78 Dative Review
  34. 79 The Instrumental: 'with whom? with what?'
  35. 80 Instrumental: Masculine & Neuter
  36. 81 Instrumental: Feminine Nouns
  37. 82 Instrumental Plural
  38. 83 Prepositions with the Instrumental
  39. 84 Instrumental and Time
  40. 85 Adjectives in the Instrumental
  41. 86 Instrumental Case Review
  42. 87 Locative: About whom? About what? Where?
  43. 88 Locative: masculine and neuter
  44. 89 Locative Case: Feminine Gender
  45. 90 Locative plural
  46. 91 u and na: where vs towards
  47. 92 Talking about Someone: Preposition o
  48. 93 Adjectives in the Locative
  49. 94 Locative Case Review
  50. 95 Vocative Case: Addressing Someone
  51. 96 Vocative: Endings
  52. 97 When the Vocative is Required
  53. 98 Vocative Practice
  54. 99 All 7 Cases Together
  55. 100 Final Test: All Cases

6 Adjectives

  1. 101 Adjective: gender and number
  2. 102 Short and long forms
  3. 103 Full declension of the adjective
  4. 104 Possessive adjectives
  5. 105 Comparative degree
  6. 106 Superlative: naj-
  7. 107 Irregular comparatives
  8. 108 Adjectives Used as Nouns
  9. 109 Ordinal numbers
  10. 110 Adjectives review

7 Pronouns

  1. 111 Personal pronouns
  2. 112 Personal pronouns: full forms
  3. 113 Short pronouns
  4. 114 Reflexive se
  5. 115 Possessive pronouns
  6. 116 Demonstrative Pronouns
  7. 117 Question pronouns
  8. 118 Indefinite pronouns
  9. 119 Negative pronouns
  10. 120 Pronouns review

8 Tenses

  1. 121 Past tense (perfect): introduction
  2. 122 Perfect: Forming the Participle
  3. 123 Perfect: plural
  4. 124 Perfect: negation
  5. 125 Perfect: questions
  6. 126 Future Tense (futur I)
  7. 127 Future tense: word order
  8. 128 Future: negation and questions
  9. 129 Future II (exact future)
  10. 130 All tenses together
  11. 131 Conditional: “would”
  12. 132 The imperative mood
  13. 133 Perfect and future in speech
  14. 134 A big dialogue with all tenses
  15. 135 Tenses review

9 Numerals

  1. 136 Numbers 11–100
  2. 137 Hundreds and thousands
  3. 138 What time is it
  4. 139 The date
  5. 140 Numerals review

10 Verb aspect, aorist, imperfect

  1. 141 Verb aspect: perfective and imperfective
  2. 142 Aspect pairs
  3. 143 Which aspect to choose
  4. 144 Aorist: Introduction
  5. 145 Aorist: endings
  6. 146 Aorist: where you meet it
  7. 147 Imperfect: recognition
  8. 148 In the modern language
  9. 149 A story: tying all the tenses together
  10. 150 Review: aspect, aorist, imperfect

11 Syntax and clitics

  1. 151 Word order in Serbian
  2. 152 Clitics: Second Position
  3. 153 The order of clitics among themselves
  4. 154 Questions
  5. 155 Negation: rules and double negation
  6. 156 The imperative in speech
  7. 157 "There is / there isn't": ima vs nema
  8. 158 Passive and impersonal constructions
  9. 159 Conjunctions and connectors
  10. 160 Syntax review

12 Complex sentences

  1. 161 Complex sentence: two types
  2. 162 Subordinate clauses with da
  3. 163 Clauses with što
  4. 164 The relative pronoun koji (which / who)
  5. 165 Kada, dok, čim — time
  6. 166 Conditionals: ako, da
  7. 167 Reported speech
  8. 168 Reason: jer, zato što, pošto
  9. 169 A complex dialogue
  10. 170 Complex Sentences Review

13 Vocabulary and false friends

  1. 171 The city and transportation
  2. 172 The store and money
  3. 173 The body and health
  4. 174 Travel
  5. 175 Nature
  6. 176 False friends: part 1
  7. 177 False friends: part 2
  8. 178 False friends: part 3
  9. 179 Set Expressions
  10. 180 Feelings and emotions
  11. 181 Professions
  12. 182 Countries and Nationalities
  13. 183 Sports and hobbies
  14. 184 Proverbs and sayings
  15. 185 Vocabulary review

14 Reading Texts

  1. 186 Text: My Day
  2. 187 Text: My Family
  3. 188 Text: At the park
  4. 189 Text: At school
  5. 190 Dialogue: At the Market
  6. 191 Dialogue: At the Doctor
  7. 192 Text: A Trip to Belgrade
  8. 193 Fairy tale: The Golden Fish
  9. 194 A letter to a friend
  10. 195 Text: Winter in the Mountains
  11. 196 Folk tale: The Shepherd and the Wolf
  12. 197 A Fairy Tale: The Clever Daughter
  13. 198 A Diary Page
  14. 199 Story: My Teacher
  15. 200 The Finale: I know Serbian!

Part 1. The alphabet and sounds

  1. 1. Meet Serbian. Two alphabets
  2. 2. Serbian Latin Alphabet: Familiar Letters
  3. 3. Special letters: č, ć, š, ž
  4. 4. Special letters: đ, dž, lj, nj, j
  5. 5. Serbian Cyrillic: what matches Russian
  6. 6. Serbian Cyrillic: ј, љ, њ, ћ, ђ, џ
  7. 7. Vowels a, e, i, o, u — always the same
  8. 8. A word without a vowel: syllabic r
  9. 9. Stress: where it never falls
  10. 10. Part 1 review: reading simple words

Part 2. First Words and Phrases

  1. 11. Hello and Goodbye
  2. 12. What's your name?
  3. 13. Yes, no, thank you, please
  4. 14. My family
  5. 15. Numbers 1 to 10
  6. 16. Colors
  7. 17. How old are you?
  8. 18. I like / I don't like
  9. 19. Food and drinks
  10. 20. House, room, school
  11. 21. Animals
  12. 22. Days of the week
  13. 23. Months and seasons
  14. 24. The weather
  15. 25. Part 2 Review: Dialogue and Test

Part 3. The noun: gender and number

  1. 26. What is grammatical gender
  2. 27. Masculine gender
  3. 28. Feminine gender
  4. 29. Neuter gender
  5. 30. Plural: masculine nouns
  6. 31. Plural: feminine gender
  7. 32. Plural: neuter gender
  8. 33. The fleeting “a”
  9. 34. Animate and inanimate
  10. 35. Part 3 Review: gender and number

Part 4. The Verb biti and Simple Present

  1. 36. The Verb 'to be': Full Forms
  2. 37. Short Forms: sam, si, je, smo, ste, su
  3. 38. Negation: nisam, nisi, nije…
  4. 39. This and That: ovo, to, ono
  5. 40. Verbs ending in -am (čitati)
  6. 41. Verbs ending in -im (raditi)
  7. 42. Verbs Ending in -em (pisati, piti)
  8. 43. Questions: da li…? and je li…?
  9. 44. Verb Negation: ne radim, ne znam
  10. 45. Part 4 Review

Part 5. Nominative Case

  1. 46. What Is a Case and Why Do We Need Them
  2. 47. Nominative Singular: Three Genders
  3. 48. Nominative Plural
  4. 49. Nominative with Adjectives
  5. 50. Nominative Case Review
  6. 51. Accusative Case: "whom? what?"
  7. 52. Accusative: Feminine
  8. 53. Accusative: Masculine Inanimate
  9. 54. Accusative: Masculine Animate
  10. 55. Accusative: Neuter Gender
  11. 56. Prepositions u and na (where to?)
  12. 57. Accusative Plural: Masculine
  13. 58. Accusative Plural: Feminine and Neuter
  14. 59. Adjectives in the Accusative
  15. 60. Accusative Review
  16. 61. Genitive: 'Whose? What of?'
  17. 62. Genitive singular: masculine and neuter
  18. 63. Genitive singular: feminine
  19. 64. Genitive Plural
  20. 65. Numbers and Genitive
  21. 66. Negation and Genitive
  22. 67. Possession: Whose House Is This?
  23. 68. Prepositions with Genitive
  24. 69. Adjectives in the Genitive
  25. 70. The Genitive Reviewed
  26. 71. Dative: «to whom? to what?»
  27. 72. Dative: Masculine and Neuter
  28. 73. Dative: Feminine
  29. 74. Dative Plural
  30. 75. Prepositions k and prema
  31. 76. Verbs with the Dative
  32. 77. Adjectives in the Dative
  33. 78. Dative Review
  34. 79. The Instrumental: 'with whom? with what?'
  35. 80. Instrumental: Masculine & Neuter
  36. 81. Instrumental: Feminine Nouns
  37. 82. Instrumental Plural
  38. 83. Prepositions with the Instrumental
  39. 84. Instrumental and Time
  40. 85. Adjectives in the Instrumental
  41. 86. Instrumental Case Review
  42. 87. Locative: About whom? About what? Where?
  43. 88. Locative: masculine and neuter
  44. 89. Locative Case: Feminine Gender
  45. 90. Locative plural
  46. 91. u and na: where vs towards
  47. 92. Talking about Someone: Preposition o
  48. 93. Adjectives in the Locative
  49. 94. Locative Case Review
  50. 95. Vocative Case: Addressing Someone
  51. 96. Vocative: Endings
  52. 97. When the Vocative is Required
  53. 98. Vocative Practice
  54. 99. All 7 Cases Together
  55. 100. Final Test: All Cases

Part 6. Adjectives

  1. 101. Adjective: gender and number
  2. 102. Short and long forms
  3. 103. Full declension of the adjective
  4. 104. Possessive adjectives
  5. 105. Comparative degree
  6. 106. Superlative: naj-
  7. 107. Irregular comparatives
  8. 108. Adjectives Used as Nouns
  9. 109. Ordinal numbers
  10. 110. Adjectives review

Part 7. Pronouns

  1. 111. Personal pronouns
  2. 112. Personal pronouns: full forms
  3. 113. Short pronouns
  4. 114. Reflexive se
  5. 115. Possessive pronouns
  6. 116. Demonstrative Pronouns
  7. 117. Question pronouns
  8. 118. Indefinite pronouns
  9. 119. Negative pronouns
  10. 120. Pronouns review

Part 8. Tenses

  1. 121. Past tense (perfect): introduction
  2. 122. Perfect: Forming the Participle
  3. 123. Perfect: plural
  4. 124. Perfect: negation
  5. 125. Perfect: questions
  6. 126. Future Tense (futur I)
  7. 127. Future tense: word order
  8. 128. Future: negation and questions
  9. 129. Future II (exact future)
  10. 130. All tenses together
  11. 131. Conditional: “would”
  12. 132. The imperative mood
  13. 133. Perfect and future in speech
  14. 134. A big dialogue with all tenses
  15. 135. Tenses review

Part 9. Numerals

  1. 136. Numbers 11–100
  2. 137. Hundreds and thousands
  3. 138. What time is it
  4. 139. The date
  5. 140. Numerals review

Part 10. Verb aspect, aorist, imperfect

  1. 141. Verb aspect: perfective and imperfective
  2. 142. Aspect pairs
  3. 143. Which aspect to choose
  4. 144. Aorist: Introduction
  5. 145. Aorist: endings
  6. 146. Aorist: where you meet it
  7. 147. Imperfect: recognition
  8. 148. In the modern language
  9. 149. A story: tying all the tenses together
  10. 150. Review: aspect, aorist, imperfect

Part 11. Syntax and clitics

  1. 151. Word order in Serbian
  2. 152. Clitics: Second Position
  3. 153. The order of clitics among themselves
  4. 154. Questions
  5. 155. Negation: rules and double negation
  6. 156. The imperative in speech
  7. 157. "There is / there isn't": ima vs nema
  8. 158. Passive and impersonal constructions
  9. 159. Conjunctions and connectors
  10. 160. Syntax review

Part 12. Complex sentences

  1. 161. Complex sentence: two types
  2. 162. Subordinate clauses with da
  3. 163. Clauses with što
  4. 164. The relative pronoun koji (which / who)
  5. 165. Kada, dok, čim — time
  6. 166. Conditionals: ako, da
  7. 167. Reported speech
  8. 168. Reason: jer, zato što, pošto
  9. 169. A complex dialogue
  10. 170. Complex Sentences Review

Part 13. Vocabulary and false friends

  1. 171. The city and transportation
  2. 172. The store and money
  3. 173. The body and health
  4. 174. Travel
  5. 175. Nature
  6. 176. False friends: part 1
  7. 177. False friends: part 2
  8. 178. False friends: part 3
  9. 179. Set Expressions
  10. 180. Feelings and emotions
  11. 181. Professions
  12. 182. Countries and Nationalities
  13. 183. Sports and hobbies
  14. 184. Proverbs and sayings
  15. 185. Vocabulary review

Part 14. Reading Texts

  1. 186. Text: My Day
  2. 187. Text: My Family
  3. 188. Text: At the park
  4. 189. Text: At school
  5. 190. Dialogue: At the Market
  6. 191. Dialogue: At the Doctor
  7. 192. Text: A Trip to Belgrade
  8. 193. Fairy tale: The Golden Fish
  9. 194. A letter to a friend
  10. 195. Text: Winter in the Mountains
  11. 196. Folk tale: The Shepherd and the Wolf
  12. 197. A Fairy Tale: The Clever Daughter
  13. 198. A Diary Page
  14. 199. Story: My Teacher
  15. 200. The Finale: I know Serbian!