First steps
Say hello, introduce yourself, order a coffee and ask when you don't understand — in German and Serbian at once.
- 1.1Hello & goodbyeGreet people and say goodbye, casually and politely.21 wordsreadinggrammar
- 1.2Who are you?Your name, where you're from, where you live and how you are, with the verb "to be".26 wordsreadinggrammar
- 1.3At the caféOrder coffee, tea and cake, and ask for the bill.18 wordsreadinggrammar
- 1.4Do you speak German?Languages, the present-tense endings, asking someone to repeat or to spell, and both alphabets.16 wordsreadinggrammar
Can you do it?
What this chapter sets out to teach, one line per lesson. Tick what you can do; it's for you, nothing is scored.
Not sure yet? Review the chapter, then take the test.
Grammar in this chapter
- Friendly and polite “you” — A friendly and a polite "you" in both languages, who gets which, and what each one does to the verb.
- Ich bin, ja sam — The verb "to be" in every person: German always says the pronoun, Serbian has short, long and negative forms.
- Aus der Schweiz, iz Srbije — Where you're from and where you live, the countries that need an article, and the words for people and languages.
- Second place is special — German puts its verb second; Serbian puts its short, unstressed words second.
- Three genders that rarely agree — Masculine, feminine and neuter in both languages, shown on the article in German and on the ending in Serbian, and seldom the same.
- Sprichst du …? Da li govoriš …? — Asking questions: German moves the verb to the front, Serbian adds da li or li, and both have a set of question words.
- Ich lerne, učim — The present tense: one set of endings in German, three families in Serbian, and one form for I learn and I'm learning.