Serbian 801 — an idiom that means the same thing in both languages, and a set of others that do not.
Hladan tuš is a cold shower, and in Serbian as in English it means the sudden unpleasant discovery that reality is not what you hoped. Bio je to hladan tuš za sve nas.
Idioms like this one, that survive the crossing intact, are the exception. Most do not, and the ones that do not are where Serbian starts to feel like a different way of seeing things:
| Srpski | Bukvalno | Znači |
|---|---|---|
| pasti s Marsa | to fall from Mars | to have no idea what is going on |
| trla baba lan | granny rubbed flax | pointless busywork |
| nema veze | there is no connection | never mind, it doesn’t matter |
| bacati pare | to throw money | to waste money |
| izaći na crtu | to come out to the line | to face someone directly |
The practical rule with idioms is that they are fixed. You cannot improve them, pluralise them, or swap a word for a synonym. Hladan tuš does not become hladno kupanje. Learn each one whole, with the case it comes in, and the preposition if it has one.
And use them sparingly. Nothing marks a foreign speaker faster than an idiom deployed one notch too enthusiastically.
Prevuci reči u prazna polja
Drag the words from the top into the gaps, then press Submit.
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SR (lat): Prevuci reči odozgo u prazna polja, pa pritisni Submit.
СР (ћир): Превуци речи одозго у празна поља, па притисни Submit.
EN: Drag the words from the top into the gaps, then press Submit.