STUDY GUIDE

Learn Serbian. Have fun.

LESSON 24

GRAMMAR
VOCABULARY
PRACTICE
ANSWER KEY

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GRAMMAR
ADVERBS - REVIEW

In previous lessons we talked about adverbs and how they describe the degree of
the word they are referring to (usually an adjective or a verb or another adverb).
We said that adverbs belong to the Closed Class Words which means they do not
change like nouns, adjectives or pronouns. They don’t reflect gender and they
always stay the same.
We’ve already learned the adverb vrlo, which means very.
On je vrlo dobar doktor.He is a very good doctor.
Ona je vrlo dobra doktorka. She is a very good doctor.
Ono je vrlo dobro dete. It is a very good child.
Remember, adverbs never change, so the word vrlo will stay exactly as it is
regardless of the gender of the adjective it is associated with.
We’ve learned the adverb izuzetno, which means exceptionally and jako which
means extremely.
Examples:
Izuzetno dobar doktor – exceptionally good doctor (masculine)
izuzetno dobra doktorka – exceptionally good doctor (feminine)
izuzetno dobro dete – exceptionally good child (neuter)

jako dobar doktor – extremely good doctor (masculine)

jako dobra doktorka – extremely good doctor (feminine)
jako dobro dete – extremely good child (neuter)

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ADVERBS - PRACTICE

Example: Ona je vrlo dobra osoba - She is a very good person

Let’s break the sentence down. Ona je means she is (ona is personal pronoun for the 3rd
person singular feminine and je is the verb to be or biti in Serbian for 3rd person singular).
So we see the Word Agreement between the pronoun ona and the verb je - they are
both agree in person and gender). Vrlo is an adverb and It means very (vrlo describes the
degree of the adjective dobra). The feminine singular adjective dobra describes the
feminine singular noun osoba which means person. We see the Word Agreement
between the adjective dobra and the noun osoba (both words are feminine and singular:
osoba is a singular feminine noun because it ends with an a, and dobra is the singular
feminine form of the adjective, the -a ending tells us this). When we put this all together,
we have Ona je vrlo dobra osoba, which means She is a very good person.

Example: Zemlja je izuzetno divna - The country is exceptionally wonderful

Remember, the English article the is implied in Serbian, so you don’t have to worry about
articles here. Zemlja is a singular feminine noun which means country. We see that it
ends with an a. So, it must be paired with a feminine singular adjective divna. Divna
means wonderful and we see the singular feminine ending -a. Since the word izuzetno is
an adverb, it refers to the adjective divna and it doesn’t change. We see the Word
Agreement between the noun zemlja and the adjective divna (both words are feminine
and singular). We also see the Word Agreement between the subject (the feminine
singular noun zemlja) and the predicate (which is je – the verb biti for 3rd person singular)
in the sentence (both words agree in person and number - 3rd person singular). We can
add in some possessive pronouns and we get My country is exceptionally wonderful -
Moja zemlja je izuzetno divna. The pronoun my refers to the noun zemlja and needs to
agree with the noun in gender and number, so we know it needs to be feminine and
singular which is moja in Serbian). When we put this all together, we have Zemlja je
izuzetno divna - The country is exceptionally wonderful

Study Guide 3
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Example: Naši prijatelji su vrlo interesantni - Our friends are very interesting
Prijatelji is a plural masculine noun which means friends. We see that it ends with an -i, so
it must be paired with the masculine plural pronoun naši. The pronoun naši refers to the
noun prijatelji and since the gender & number of the main word (in this case the noun
prijatelji) dictates the gender & number of the pronoun, we know that our pronoun
needs to be in plural masculine form which is naši. Naši prijatelji both have the -i ending
and they agree in gender and number – masculine singular). This is the subject of the
sentence. We know now that the predicate of the sentence needs to agree with the
subject in person and number. Since the subject is naši prijatelji (or they which is the 3rd
person plural masculine) we know that the predicate needs to be 3rd person plural
masculine- the verb biti needs is in the 3rd person plural form, which is su. Su is the first
part of the predicate in our sentence. The second part of the predicate is the adjective
interesting and it needs to agree with su in number and gender. That is why interesting
needs to be in plural masculine form of the adjective which is interesantni (ending in -i).
The adverb vrlo refers to the adjective interesantni. And this is how we get Naši prijatelji
su vrlo interesantni - Our friends are very interesting

This process of making sentences may seem a bit overwhelming to you in the beginning,
but with practice it will become much easier. This won’t happen overnight, and it might
take you some time to learn this, but know that there is a system and it can be done.
Once you know the flow if things and they are connected, it’s just a matter of time before
you can start constructing your own sentences and speaking Serbian really well.
The most important thing to look out for is the Word Agreement when making Serbian
sentences. Remember, Serbian language is a highly inflected language, which means that
words change forms to reflect gender, number, case and tense.

Study Guide 4
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VOCABULARY

ADVERBS

Serbian English
vrlo very
izuzetno exceptionally
jako extremely

LESSON EXAMPLES

Serbian English
izuzetno skup exceptionally expensive (masculine)
izuzetno skupa exceptionally expensive (feminine)
izuzetno skupo exceptionally expensive (neuter)
jako zabavan extremely fun (masculine)
jako zabavna extremely fun (feminine)
jako zabavno extremely fun (neuter)
vrlo fin very nice (masculine)
vrlo fina very nice (feminine)
vrlo fino very nice (neuter)

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PRACTICE
SENTENCES

# Serbian English
1. Ona je vrlo dobra osoba She is a very good person

2. Moja majka je vrlo dobra osoba My mother is a very good person

3. Zemlja je izuzetno divna The country is exceptionally wonderful
4. Moja zemlja je izuzetno divna My country is exceptionally wonderful
5. Tvoj prijatelj je jako fin Your friend is extremely nice
6. Tvoji prijatelji su jako fini Your friends are very (=extremely) nice

EXCERCISE #1
Match the phrases in Serbian with the correct phrase in English:

# Serbian # English match

1. jako fin (example) a) exceptionally clever 1c

2. izuzetno pametan b) extremely good
3. vrlo skup c) extremely nice
4. jako dobar d) exceptionally interesting
5. izuzetno interesantan e) very expensive

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EXERCISE #2
Choose the correct word from the following: sam, fine, otac, njegova, interesantni
# Serbian missing word
1. Moj_______________ je jako dobar otac (example)
2. Tvoji prijatelji su izuzetno ___________
3. ________________ deca su vrlo dobra
4. Ja _______________ izuzetno pametan
5. Naše prijateljice su vrlo _____________

EXCERCISE #3
Please write the full sentences from the previous exercise and translate to English:

# Serbian English
1. Moj otac je jako dobar (example) My father is extremely good.

2.
3.
4.

5.

EXCERCISE #4

Choose the right word and fill in the blanks:

English
1. _Moja_ majka je vrlo fina (example) interesantan/moja/skupa
2. Vaša __________ je izuzetno dobra doktorka naš/divan/sestra
3. Tvoj muž je jako dobar _____________ zubar/vrlo/njena

4. Ona je _____________ divna slikarka pametni/izuzetno/dečko

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ANSWER KEY
EXCERCISE #1

(The answer is underlined and in bold)

Match the phrases in Serbian with the correct phrase in English:

# Serbian # English match

1. jako fin(example) a) exceptionally clever 1c

2. izuzetno pametan b) extremely good 2a
3. vrlo skup c) extremely nice 3e

4. jako dobar d) exceptionally interesting 4b

5. izuzetno interesantan e) very expensive 5d

EXCERCISE #2

(The answer is underlined and in bold)

Choose the correct word from the following: sam, fine, otac, njegova, interesantni
# Serbian missing word
1. Moj ______otac_____ je jako dobar otac (example)

2. Tvoji prijatelji su izuzetno _interesantni_ interesantni

3. ____ Njegova____ deca su vrlo dobra Njegova
4. Ja ______sam ______ izuzetno pametan sam
5. Naše prijateljice su vrlo____fine____ fine

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EXCERCISE #3

(The answer is underlined and in bold)

Please write the full sentences from the previous exercise and translate to English:

# Serbian English
1. Moj otac je jako dobar (example) My father is extremely good

2. Tvoji prijatelji su izuzetno interesantni Your friends are extremely interesting

3. Njegova deca su vrlo dobra His children are very good
4. Ja sam izuzetno pametan I am extremely clever

5. Naše prijateljice su vrlo fine Our friends are very nice

EXCERCISE #4
(The answer is in bold)
Choose the right word and fill in the blanks:
English
1. _Moja_ majka je vrlo fina (example) interesantan/moja/skupa
2. Vaša __ sestra __ je izuzetno dobra doktorka naš/divan/sestra
3. Tvoj muž je jako dobar _ zubar ____ zubar/vrlo/njena
4. Ona je _ izuzetno ___ divna slikarka pametni/izuzetno/dečko

Great job! Ćao, drugari!

Study Guide 9
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