Serbian Lesson 1
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Prva Lekcija: Glagol "Biti".
Lesson 1: The Verb "To Be"
In our first lesson we will learn how to conjugate the verb biti ("to be") in the present tense. This verb is really a special case: Not only its present forms have nothing to do with its infinitive, but it also has two form: the stressed (or the long) form and the unstressed (or the short) form. Today we will learn only the short (unstressed) one and the negation of the whole verb. (which again is build differently from other verbs)
BITI = TO BE
Ja sam = I am
Ti si = You are (sg.)
On je = He is
Ona je = She is
Ono je = It is
Mi smo = We are
Vi ste = You are (pl.)
Oni su = They (pl. of "He") are
One su = They (pl. of "She") are
Ona su = They (pl. of "It") are
As you can see we've also introduced the personal pronouns. :) I hope they're not hard to remember. Unlike in English, Serbian has different pronouns for the singular and plural of the 2nd person. Also Vi is used for formal addressing (like Vous, Usted, Sie, etc.), but in that case it's always spelt with a capital letter. Ono (and the plural Ona) is not the exact equivalent to the english "it", it's used rather to replace nouns of the neuter gender. The biggest surprise might be the fact that we use 3 pronouns for the 3rd person plural: Oni, One and Ona. Simply put:
On + On = Oni
Ona + Ona = One
Ono + Ono = Ona
In the general case (when the gender is unknown) or when the case is mixed (e.g. On + Ona), we use Oni.
Now lets get back to our verb "Biti". For bulding the negative form, just add the preffix "ni-" to the present form.
Ja nisam = I am not
Ti nisi = You are not (sg.)
On nije = He is not
Ona nije = She is not
Ono nije = It is not
Mi nismo = We are not
Vi niste = You are not (pl.)
Oni nisu = They (pl. of "He") are not
One nisu = They (pl. of "She") are not
Ona nisu = They (pl. of "It") are not
Isn't that easy?
