Serbian differs slightly in both form and content from both the Croatian and the Bosnian variants of what was once called Serbo-Croat. It uses the Cyrillic alphabet, (while Bosnian uses the Latin alphabet). A few letters vary slightly from both Russian and Bulgarian cyrillic but the basics are the same. We will shortly have more information available on Serbian cyrillic but if you are interested please refer to the Bulgarian Cyrillic page for a taster.
If you are travelling around a bit while you are in the Balkans, Lonely Planet do a very useful (though not hugely extensive) phrasebook (Eastern Europe) which has all the local languages in.
Below are a few words and phrases which may be useful -written in the latin alphabet to give you an idea of the pronounciation
Essential things to know
| Serbian | English |
| da | yes |
| ne | no |
| hvala | thank you |
| ne, hvala | no, thank you |
| molim | please, (and/or thank you) |
| dobar dan | hello (good day) |
| dobro jutro | good morning |
| dobro vece | good evening |
| Ja se zovem (…) | my name is (…) |
| Kako se vi zovete? | what is your name? (polite form) |
| Govorite li Engleski? | do you speak English? |
| govorim Engleski | I speak English |
| ne razumijem | I don’t understand |
| Ja sam Englez/Engleza (m/f) | I am English |
| mogu li dobiti jedno pivo? | I’d like a beer, please |
| Pivo! | Beer! |
| Dovi denja | goodbye |
| Izvinite | please excuse me |
| Kako ste? | How’s it going? (plural, or more polite) |
| Kako si? | How’s it going? (to friends and children) |
| Dobro! | Great! |
Very useful words
| samo | only |
| malo | a little |
| samo malo | just a bit |
| mali | little children |
| zasto? | why? |
| kako? | how? |
| kado? | when? |
| koji? | which? |
| tko? | who? |
| Gdje je …? | Where is …? |
| Posto he …? | How much is …? |
| Sir | Cheese |
| Mlijeko | Milk |
| Kafa | Coffee |
| Hleb (Serbian Hlijeb) | Bread |
| Secer | Sugar |
| Pizza | Pizza |
| Čaj | Herbal Tea |
| Indianski Čaj | Recognisable tea (no milk though) |
| i | and |
| sta? | (yer)what? (not polite) |
| molim? | what? (polite) |
| jucer | yesterday |
| danas | today |
| sutra | tomorrow |
| sada | now |
| ovdje | here |
| tamo | there |
| ovo | this |
| ono | that |
| Molim vas… | please… |
Directions
| Gdje je …? | Where is? |
| prvo | first |
| onda | then |
| lijevo | left |
| desno | right |
| pravo | straight on |
| okolo | around |
| ispred | in front of |
| iza | behind |
| semafor | traffic lights |
| trg | square |
| ulica | street |
| grad | city |
| zgrada | building |
| kuča | house |
| Embassija Britanska | British Embassy |
Numbers
| jedan/jedna/jedno (m/f/n) | one |
| dva | two |
| tri | three |
| četriri | four |
| pet | five |
| šest | six |
| sedam | seven |
| osam | eight |
| devet | nine |
| desset | ten |
| jedanaest | eleven |
| dvanaest | twelve |
| trinaest | thirteen |
| četrnaest | fourteen |
| petnaest | fifteen |
| šestnaest | sixteen |
| sedamnaest | seventeen |
| osemnaest | eighteen |
| devetnaest | nineteen |
| dvadeset | twenty |
| dvadeset i jedno | twenty-one |
| dvadeset dva | twenty-two |
| etc. | etc. |
| trideset | thirty |
| četrdeset | forty |
| pedeset | fifty |
| šezdeset | sixty |
| sedamdeset | seventy |
| osamdeset | eighty |
| devedeset | ninety |
| sto | one hundred |
Basic Grammar
TO BE - BITI
ja sam - I am
ti si - you are
on/ona/ono je - he/she/it is
mi smo - we are
vi ste - you are
oni/one/ona - they are
for NOT to be, just put ni in the middle:
ja nisam, ti nisi, on/ona/one nije, mi mismo, vi niste, oni/one/ona nisu
TO HAVE - IMATI
imam - I have
imas - you have
ima - he/she/it has
imamo - we have
imate - you have
imaju - they have
To make a verb negative stick “ne” in front.
The pronoun (e.g. ja, si, on mi, vi, oni) isn’t essential (see imati above), but is used for emphasis.
There are four kinds of verbs, all similar. The endings are the same, but the vowels are different.
1) like probati (try) 2) like govoriti (speak) 3) like razumijeti (understand) 4) like zvati (call)
probam | govorim | razumijem | se zovem
probas | govoris | razumijes | se zoves
proba | govori | razumije | se zove
probamo | govorimo | razumijemo | se zovemo
probate | govorite | razumijete | se zovete
probaju | govore | razumiju | se zovu
If in doubt just use the infinitive. People will understand on the whole.
Useful verbs (which all follow these patterns) are:
Help - pomoci
Buy - kupiti
Know - znati
Act - glumiti
Sleep - spavati
Agree - dogovoriti
Eat - jesti
Drink - piti
Take - uzeti
Give - dati
Carry - nositi
Go - ici
Wash - prati
Last updated: December 24th, 2008