Most Recent Messages of Each Discussion |
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Ailenna D.
January 2, 2005
# Msgs: 1
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Re:*Arabic lesson (0) *
Thanks Sarah, shukraan, your lessons would be appreciated.
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Language pair: Arabic, Egyptian; English
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S M.
December 29, 2004
# Msgs: 1
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SERBIAN/CROATIAN/BOSNIAN (7)
VERBS (Cont.) We have more than one form of the past tense, but in daily communication people tend to use just one form composed of the verb “to be” and the past participle of the proper verb. You remember: Ja sam, ti si, om,ona,ono je, mi smo, vi/Vi ste, oni,one,ona su means: I am, you are, he,she,it is, we are, you are, they are. The past participle in English remains unchanged regardless of the person who it concerns. I played or you played, I have played or you have played doesn’t affect the participle “played”. We make it much more complicated. Each gender demands a different ending: Masc. Ja sam igra-o, ti si igra-o, on je igra-o, mi smo igra-li, vi ste igra-li, oni su igra-li Fem. Ja sam igra-la, ti si …, ona je …, mi smo igra-le, vi ste …, one su … Neut. Ja sam igra-lo, ti si …, ono je …, mi smo igra-la, vi ste …, ona su … The rule is that the verb ending „ti“ is replaced by the participle ending: Govori-ti / govori-o, govori-la, govori-lo … (spoken) Uèi-ti / uèi-o, uèi-la, uèi-lo … (learned) Vole-ti / vole-o, vole-la, vole-lo … (loved) Volje-ti / voli-o, voli-la, voli-lo … (loved)
Ima-ti / ima-o, ima-la, ima-lo … (had)
The verb “biti” (to be) constructs its participle the same way: Bi-ti / ja sam bi-o, ti si …, on je …, mi smo bi-li, vi ste …, oni su ... (be, been) ja sam bi-la, ti si ... ja sam bi-lo, ti si ...
But nothing is quite simple in Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian. If the verb ends in –sti or in –æi, the past participle is always irregular: I-æi / ja sam i-šao, ti si i-šao, on je i-šao, mi smo i-šli, vi ste i-šli, oni su i-šli (go, gone) ja sam i-šla, ti si …, ona je …, mi smo i-šle, vi ste ..., one su ... ja sam i-šlo, ti si …, ono je …, mi smo išla, vi ste ..., ona su ... Se-sti / ja sam se-o, ti si …, on je …, mi smo seli, vi ste …, oni su … (sit, sat) ja sam se-la, ti si ..., ona je ..., mi smo sele, vi ste ..., one su ... ja sam se-lo, ti si ..., ono je ..., mi smo sela, vi ste ..., ona su ... Sje-sti / ja sam sje-o, ti si ... etc. (In Croatia and Bosnia they insert an „j“ or „ij“ in front of „e“).
We omit usually the personal pronoun (ja, ti, on,ona,ono, mi, vi/Vi, oni,one,ona) unless it is necessary to declare precisely who is or who was doing something. This brings for the learner of our language additional problem of the word order: Instead of “Ja sam video, ti si video, …” we say “video sam, video si, video je…”
For the negative form of the past tense we take the negative form of the verb to be and the past participle. The omission of the pronoun in the negative form doesn’t affect the word order:
Ja nisam leteo / nisam leteo, ti nisi leteo / nisi leteo, on nije leteo / nije leteo Ti nisi letela / nisi letela etc.
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Language pair: Serbian; English
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Aleksandar D.
December 29, 2004
# Msgs: 1
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SERBIAN/CROATIAN/BOSNIAN (6)
VERBS Good news is that we have just one form of the present tense. “I speak” and “I’m speaking” is the same for us. Bad news is that each person demands different ending and that there are three different sets of those endings.
Ja imam, ti imaš, on,ona,ono ima, mi imamo, vi/Vi imate, oni,one,ona imaju Ja govorim, ti govoriš, on,ona,ono govori, mi govorimo, vi/Vi govorite, oni,one,ona govore Ja idem, ti ideš, on,ona,ono ide, mi idemo, vi/Vi idete, ono,one,ona idu There is no simple way to know, which ending corresponds to the verb you want to use. So try to remember it. And try to be restrictive in the usage of pronouns.
The negative form is made by placing “ne” in front of the verb.
Ne govorim, ne govoriš, ne idem, ne ideš, ne letimo, ne dolazimo, ne igrate, ne igraju, ne takmièi se, ne volim, ne voliš etc.
The negative form of the verb “imati” is nowadays nemam, nemaš, nema, nemamo, nemate, nemaju. But if you should say “ne imam”, everybody would understand you.
Learn those useful expressions: Sreæa!: What a luck!, Sreæan/Sretan praznik: Happy Holyday, Sreæni praznici: Happy Holydays, Sreæno Badnje veèe!: Happy Christmas Eve!, Sretan Božiæ: Merry (Happy) Christmas, Sreæan rodjendan: Happy Birthday, Sretna Nova godina: Happy New Year, Sreæno; Sa sreæom: Good luck, Sreæo moja!: Darling, Honney! Sreæom: luckily.
There is a personal name Sreæko and the family name Sreækoviæ. Actually, the most our family names derive from first names: Jovan – Jovaniæ, Jovanoviæ; Ivan – Ivaniæ, Ivanoviæ; Ibrahim – Ibrahimoviæ.
CONVERSATION U petak idem u New York: On Friday I go to New York A tvoj brat: And your brother? On je u sredu/srijedu u Dallasu: He is on Wednesday in Dallas. U èetvrtak dolazi u Michigan: On Thursday he comes to Michigan. Njegova devojka/djevojka studira jezike u Detroitu: His girlfriend studies languages in Detroit. Ona djevojka iz Bosne? That girl from Bosnia? Da, njegova stara ljubav. Yes, his old love Ona i on lete/ljete u Chicago, a u petak iz Chicaga za New York: She and he fly to Chicago and on Friday from Chicago to New York. Za Božiæ idemo skupa autom u Newark, a u ponedeljak/ponedjeljak ja letim za San Francisko: For Christmas we go all together to Newark, and on Monday I fly to San Francisco. Ja volim taj kraj. U San Francisku nije hladno kao u New Yorku, ali moja velika ljubav je Los Angeles: I love that corner. In San Francisco is not so cold like in New York, but my great love is Los Angeles. Hajde! Tvoja velika ljubav je tvoj momak u Los Angelesu: Come on! Your great love is your boyfriend in Los Angeles. Vidim da imaš dobar nos: I see that you have a good nose. I oštro oko: And a sharp eye. OK. Previše prièamo. Imam da uèim: OK, we are talking too much. I have to learn. A ja idem u kino. Danas je subota: And I go to the cinema. Today is Saturday. Sreæan praznik!: Happy holyday(s)! Da, sreæan/sretan Božiæ!: Yes, Merry Christmas!
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Language pair: Serbian; English
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Aleksandar D.
December 21, 2004
# Msgs: 1
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SERBIAN/CROATIAN/BOSNIAN (Dictionary 1-5)
ali: but Amerikanac(m), amerièki: American auto(m): car avion(m): airplane baklja(f), baterijska lampa(f): torch Bosna(f) : Bosnia brada(f): chin brat(m): brother brod(m): ship car(m): Tsar èelo(n): forehead èetvrtak(m): Thursday èesto: often èiji: whose èovek/èovjek(m), muž(m): man Crna Gora(f): Monte Negro da: yes dan(m): day danas: today dete/dijete(n): child devojka/djevojka(f): girl dobar,dobr-a, o: good doæi, dolaziti (dolaz-im, iš, i, imo, zite, e): to come džet(m), mlaznjak(m): jet film(m): film glumica (f): actress godina(f): year govoriti (govorim): to speak groždje(n): grape hajde!: Come on! halo!: Hello! hitan, hit-na, no: urgent hladan, hlad-na: cold Hrvatska(f): Croatia iæi (id-em, eš, e, emo, ete, u): to go igrati (igr-am, aš, a, amo, ate, aju): to play, to dance imati (im-am): to have interesantan, interesantn-a, no: interesting iz: from ja: I jaje(n): egg jedan: one jezik(m): language Kanadjanin(m), kanadski: Canadian kao: like kap(f): drop kapljica(f): (small) drop kino(n): cinema ko: who koji: which knjiga(f): book kraj (m): end kraj(m): part of the counrty, region leteti/letjeti (let-im): to fly lice(n): face ljubav(f): love ljudi(m): men, people luk(m): onion majka(f): mother mali, a, o: small mera/mjera(f): measure mesec/mjesec(m): moon mi: we mir(m): peace miš(m): mouse mleko/mlijeko(n): milk moj, a, e, i, e, a: my, mine momak(m): boy, chap ne: no nedelja/nedjelja(f): Sunday neko/netko: somebody neki: some, someone, something nešto: something nièiji: nobody’s nijedan: none niko/nitko: nobody ništa: nothing nizak, nisk-a, o: low njegov: his, its njen: her njezin: her noæ(f): night nos(m): nose nula(f)/ništica(f): zero o: about od: from oko(n): eye on(m): he ona(f): she onaj, ona, ono: that oni, one, ona: they oni, one, ona: those ono(n): it otac(m): father ovaj, ova, ovo: this ovi, ove, ova: these petak(m): Friday pilot(m): pilot pismo(n): letter plav: blue poljubac(m): kiss ponedeljak/ponedjeljak(m) : Monday posao(m): job prema: towards, to prijatelj(m): friend, -s radio(m): radio raj(m): paradise rastvoriti, otopiti: to dilute rodan,rodn-a, o, i, e, a: native s, sa: with sad, sada: now selo, sela (n): village sestra(f): sister skupa: together Srbija(f): Serbia sreda/srijeda(f): Wednesday srpski: Serbian star: old sto/stol(m): table stolica (f)/stolac(m): chair student(m): student studentkinja/studentica(f): student subota(f): Saturday suviše: too much šta, što: what taj, ta, to: that takmièiti se/natjecati se; to compete ti, te, ta: those ti: you tko: who tužan: sad tvoj: your, yours u: in uèiti (uèim): to learn usta(f): mouth utorak(m) : Tuesday uvo/uho(n): ear velik: big Vi, vi: you videti/vidjeti (vidim): to see visok: high vojvoda(m): duke voleti/voljeti (volim): to love vrednost/vrijednost(f): value vrlo: very zelen: green žena(f): woman
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Language pair: Serbian; English
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Aleksandar D.
December 17, 2004
# Msgs: 1
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SERBIAN/CROATIAN/BOSNIAN (5)
ARTICLES There are no articles like “a, an, the”, but people tend to use jed-an, -na, -no as a substitute for “a, an”. Equally there is a tendency to use taj, ta, to, ti, te, ta instead of “the”. But it would make your conversation impossible, if you would set those pronouns everywhere you feel necessary to use “a” or “the”. You can say: Vidi, miš! (Look, a mouse!) or: Vidi, jedan miš. Now, you can ask: Gde/gdje je miš? Or: Gde/gdje je taj miš. In the further conversation you don’t need either “jedan” nor “taj”. Once the mouse is gone, you can use “onaj” to precise that you are speaking of the mouse you and the other person had seen, but as soon as both of you know which mouse you are speaking about, no article would be necessary. The problem of articles should not be so important for you. On the contrary, it is pretty uncomfortable for me, because I surely use them incorrectly in my English sentences.
CONVERSATION Hej! Ono je vojvoda od Edinburga: Hey! That’s the Duke of Edinburgh. Ima zelen auto: He’s got a green car. Ne, zeleni auto je od onog Amerikanca: No, the green car belongs to that Ametrican. Amerikanac govori s jednom ženom: The American talks with a woman. Ah, to je velika glumica NN. Ah, that’s the great actress NN . Da, vrlo dobro igra u filmu „Selo i mesec/mjesec“: I njena majka igra u tom filmu. Vrlo tužan film. Ali vrlo interesantan.
INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS ko/tko: who, šta/što: what, koji which, èiji whose Their counterparts are: Neko/netko: somebody, nešto: something, neki: one of, neèiji: somebody’s Niko/nitko: nobody, ništa: nothing, nijedan: none, nièiji: nobody’s
But, alas, they all change in accordance with their function in the sentence (the inevitable declension): Ko/Tko je to? : Who’ that? Od koga je pismo?: From whom is the letter? Kome govoriš?: To whom are you speaking? Koga volimo: Whom do we love? S kime se takmièite?: With whom do you compete? O kome govori? From whom does he/she/it speak?
Neko/netko i niko/nitko follow the same rules.
Što/što declines irregulary: Šta/što igrate? Wtat are you playing? Od èega ima tako plavo oko? What from has he/she/it so blue(black) eye? U èemu vidiš vrednost knjige? In what do you see the value of the book? Šta uèi? What does he/she/it learn? Èime dolazite u New York? How (with which transportation mean) do you come to NY? O èemu govore?: What about are they talking?
Nešto i ništa follow the same rules except except that “nešto” in the accusative (fourth case) has the form “nešto”, like the first case ( nominative).
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Language pair: Serbian; English
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Aleksandar D.
December 16, 2004
# Msgs: 1
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SERBIAN/CROATIAN/BOSNIAN (1a)
Sorry for too late publication of the first lesson. I submitted it already four times and it never appeared. Maybe it was to long. I tried to split it in parts A and B, but there appeared only the part B. I suppose the special letters of our alphabet could be the part of the problem. The part A of the lesson is now reorganized, and I hope to see finally the initial part of the course.
ALPHABET We use almost the same Alphabet like the English one. The letters Q, W, X, and Y appear only in foreign words. Additionally we use the letters È, Æ, Š, Ž. Each letter represents only one sound. Always, and in every position. There are four exceptions. The combined letters: Dj, Dž, Lj, Nj. They represent each one a single sound. Here is the approximate pronunciation:
A like a in father B like b in but C like ts in Tsar È like ch in chap Æ like ci in italian ciao D like d in drop Dj like du in duke Dž like j in jet E like e in egg F like f in face G like g in grape H like h in Hello I like ee in green J like y in year K like k in kiss L like l in love Lj like lu in dilute M like m in mouse N like n in no Nj like ni in onion O like o in torch P like p in peace R like r in radio S like s in sad Š like sh in ship T like t in table U like oo in moon V like v in value Z like z in zero Ž like s in measure
NOUNS, PRONOUNS, ADJECTIVES have in common the system of number (singular, plural), gender (masculine, feminine, neuter), and declension (changes in accordance with what happens with the object).
NOUNS are the names of living and non-living objects or ideas like otac(m): father, luk(m): onion, žena(f): woman, godina(f): year, dete(n): child, jaje(n): egg.
PERSONAL PRONOUNS represent me, you, us, and other persons or objects, when no names are used: ja: I, ti: you (familiar), on: he, ona: she, ono: it, mi: we, vi/Vi: you/You (polite); oni(m): they, one(f): they, ona(n): they. DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS represent persons and objects we are talking about and their relative nearness to me or to you. ovaj(m), ova(f), ovo(n), ovi(m), ove(f), ova(n): this, these. It’s nearer to me than to you. taj(m), ta(f), to(n); ti(m), te(f), ta(n): that, those. It’s nearer to you than to me. onaj(m), ona(f), ono(n), oni(m),one(f), ona(n): that, those. Neither near to me nor to you.
DICTIONARY (1a) ali: but car(m): Tsar kap, kapljica(f): drop vojvoda(m): duke džet, mlaznjak: jet lice(n): face groždje(n): grape halo!: Hello! zelen: green poljubac(m): kiss ljubav(f): love rastvoriti, otopiti: to dilute miš(m): mouse ne: no baklja(f), baterijska lampa(f): torch mir(m): peace radio(m): radio tužan: sad brod(m): ship sto(m), stol(m): table mesec/mjesec(m): moon vrednost/vrijednost(f): value nula(f), ništica(f): zero mera/mjera(f): measure
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Language pair: Serbian; English
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Aleksandar D.
December 13, 2004
# Msgs: 1
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SERBIAN/CROATIAN/BOSNIAN (1b)
DICTIONARY (1b)
uèiti (uèi-m, -š, -, -mo, -te, uèe): to learn, to study jezik (m): language student, -i (m): student studentkinja/studentica, studentkinje/studentice (f): student srpski: Serbian doæi, dolaziti (dolaz-im,-iš,-i,-zimo,-zite,-e): to come Bosna, Hrvatska, Srbija, Crna Gora, all femenine: Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Monte Negro moj, -a, -e, -i, -e, -a: my, mine mleko or mlijeko (n): milk suviše: too much hladan (hald-an, -na, -no, -ni, -ne, -na): cold èovek/èovjek, ljudi (m): man, men pilot, piloti (m): pilot, -s žena, žene (f): woman, women dete/dijete, deca/djeca (n): child, children vrlo: very mali (mal-i,-a,-o,-i,-e,-a): small imati (im-am,-aš,-a,-amo,-ate,-aju): to have plav,-a,-o,-i,-e,-a: blue oko, oèi (n): eye, eyes Amerikanac, Amerikanci (m): American, -s Kanadjanin, Kanadjani (m): Canadian, -s momak, momci (m): boy devojka/djevojka, devojke/djevojke (f): girl iz: from prijatelj, -i (m): friend, -s kao: like selo, sela (n): village auto, auta/auti (m): car, -s knjiga, knjige (f): book, -s star, -a, -o, -i, -e,- a: old pismo, pisma (n): letter, -s hitan, hitn-a, -o, -i, -e, -a: urgent sto, stolovi (m): table, -s nizak, nisk-a, -o,- i, -e, -a: low stolica (f)/stolac (m), stolice, stolci: chair visok, -a, -o, -i, -e ,-a: high jaje, jaja (n): egg, -s velik, -a, -o, -i, -e ,-a: big, high ljubav, -i (f): love, -s
CONVERSATION Ja sam Petar I am Peter: Ja sam student. I am student Ja uèim srpski jezik: I study Serbian Ti si Silvija? : You are Sylvia? Ja dolazim iz Bosne: I come from Bosnia On dolazi iz Hrvatske, a ona iz Crne Gore: He comes form Croatia, and she from Monte Negro Ovo je moje mleko, ali ono je suviše hladno: This is my milk, but it is to cold Ovaj èovek je pilot: This man is pilot Ova žena je glumica: This woman is actress: Ovo dete je vrlo malo: This child is very small Ono ima plave oèi: It has blue eyes Mi smo Amerikanci, a vi ste Kanadjani: We are Americans and you are Canadians Ovi momci su iz Srbije, a ove devojke su iz Hrvatske: These boys are from Serbia and these girls are from Croatia Oni su prijatelji: They are friends Ova sela su kao ona u Bosni: These villages are like those in Bosnia Taj auto je mali: That car is small Ta knjiga je stara: That book is old To pismo je hitno: That letter is urgent Ti stolovi su niski: Those tables are low Te stolice su visoke (or Ti stolci su visoki): Those chairs are high: Ta jaja su velika: Those eggs are big
In Croatia and Bosnia they often pronounce in front of E an additional I or IJ. So we have MLIJEKO / MLEKO; DIJETE / DETE; DJEVOJKA / DEVOJKA and so on.
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Language pair: Serbian; English
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Aleksandar D.
December 12, 2004
# Msgs: 1
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SERBIAN/CROATIAN/BOSNIAN (4)
GENDER (cont.) All nouns, pronouns and adjectives are either masculine, feminine or neuter. Nobody knows, why the plate (tanjir or tanjur) is masculine and the fork (viljuška ili vilica) femenine), nor why the letter is neuter. Anyway, you can guess the gender pretty well according to following rules:
The masculine words end in a consonant, but some end in “o”: Ponedeljak/ponedjeljak : Monday Utorak : Tuesday Èetvrtak: Thursday Brat: brother Stol: table Stolac: chair Nos: nose Sto: table Dan: day
The feminine words end in “a”, but some end in consonant: Sestra: sister Brat: Brother Majka: mother Brada: chin, bearth Stolica: chair Usta: mouth Stolica: chair Sreda/srijeda: Wednesday Subota: Saturday Nedelja/nedjelja: Sunday Ljubav: love Noæ: night
The neuter words end in “o”, but some end in “e”: Oko: eye Uvo/uho: ear Èelo: forehead Dete/dijete: child Lice: face
The adjectives agree with the corresponding noun in gender (but not necessarily in ending), in number and case. The feminine adjectives end in “a”, the neuter adjectives in “o”. The masculine ones end in “i” in front of the noun. After the noun the ending is usually a consonant, but sometimes the vocal “o” or “i”.
Taj niski sto/stolac je moj: this low table is mine Njegov veliki brat je visok: His big brother is high Onaj mali stolac je tvoj: That little chair is yours Moj dobri otac voli rodni kraj : My good father loves (his) native region Taj sto/stolac je nizak: This table is low Njen brat je velik: Her brother is big Onaj plavi stolac je mali: That blue chair is little Vaš otac je dobar: Your father is good
Moja mala sestra je u kinu: My little sister is in cinema Tvoja sestra je mala: Your sister is little Ti uèiš srpski jezik: You lear serbian language Ova stara hrvatska knjiga je vrlo dobra: This old Croatian book is very good. Ta bosanska glumica je stara ali dobra: That Bosnian actress is old but good
Imaš dobro oko: you have good/sharp eye Hej, tvoje oko je plavo: Hi, your eye is black; (but “plav,-a,-o” means blue) Njeno èelo je visoko; Her forehead is high Vaše pismo je vrlo interesantno: Your letter is very interesting Ona ima interesantno lice: She has interesting face
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Language pair: Serbian; English
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Aleksandar D.
December 12, 2004
# Msgs: 1
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SERBIAN/CROATIAN/BOSNIAN (3)
POSSESIVE PRONOUNS My: moj, moja moje, moji, moje, moja (depending on gender and number)
My father: moj otac; My mother: moja majka; My milk: moje mleko/mlijeko; My friends: moji prijatelji; My girls: moje devojke/djevojke; my children: moja deca/djeca.
In the future the different forms will be reduced to suffixes if the stem of the word doesn’t change
Your: tjoj, a, e, i, e, a His: njegov, a, o, i, e, a Her: njen, a, o, i, e, a. There is also a form: njezin,a,o,i,e,a Its: njegov, a, o, i, e, a
A lot of possibilities to chose the wrong form. Don’t you agree?
NEW WORDS
Kino(n): cinema danas: today to go: iæi (you’ll see some day how the verbs conjugate). Da: yes Ne: no Iz: from Bosna(f): Bosnia Srbija(f): Serbia Hrvatska(f): Croatia Otac(m): father Majka(f): mother Govoriti: to speak Uèiti: to learn Doæi: to come Žena(f): woman Muž, èovek/èovjek(m): man Skupa: together Dobar,dobra,o,i,e,a : good Glumica(f): actress Interesantan,interesantna,o,i,e,a: interesting Posao(m): job Hajde!: Come on!
CONVERSATION
Danas je petak. Idem u kino. / Today is Friday. I’m going to cinema. Ideš i ti? / Are you going to? Da. Ide I moj prijatelj Petar. / Yes. My friend Peter goes to Tvoj prijatelj iz Bosne? / Your friend from Bosnia? Ne, on nije iz Bosne nego je iz Srbije. / No, he is not from Bosnia but rather from Serbia. Ali njegov otac je iz Bosne./ But his father iz from Bosnia. Moj otac je Amerikanac, a moja majka je iz Hrvatske./ My father is American, but my mother is from Croatia. Tvoj otac govori Hrvatski? / Your father speaks Croatian? Ne, ali uèi./ No, but he learns. Danas dolazi njegov prijatelj Ivo i njegova žena Ana da skupa uèe./ Today comes his friend Ivo and his wife Ana to learn together. Njegova žena je dobra glumica. Vidim je èesto na televiziji./ His woman is good actress. / I sea her often on TV. A on je pilot. / And he is pilot. To je interesantan posao./ That’s an interesting job. Hajde! Idemo u kino./ Come on! We go to cinema. Film je takodje vrlo interesantan. / The film is also very interesting.
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Language pair: Serbian; English
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Aleksandar D.
December 11, 2004
# Msgs: 1
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