Serbian 101 · Vocabulary
Ten jobs, one question, and a sentence that's shorter in Serbian than in English.
English insists on a little word before a profession: I am a cook. Serbian has no articles at all — not a, not the — so the sentence simply ends: Ja sam kuvar. Two words, done.
You can drop the ja as well, because the verb already tells you who. Kuvar sam is just as correct and sounds more natural in conversation — the pronoun is for emphasis, not for grammar.
Pitanje i odgovor
Koji je tvoj posao? — What's your job? · to a friend
Koji je Vaš posao? — the polite version, to a stranger
Ja sam … — I am …
Deset poslova
Masculine on the left, feminine in red — because in Serbian a woman doesn't borrow the man's word.
| Muški rod | Ženski rod | English |
|---|---|---|
| kuvar кувар | kuvarica | cook |
| apotekar апотекар | apotekarka | pharmacist |
| vodoinstalater водоинсталатер | vodoinstalaterka | plumber |
| profesor професор | profesorka | teacher, professor |
| operater оператер | operaterka | operator |
| pilot пилот | pilotkinja | pilot |
| konobar конобар | konobarica | waiter |
| policajac полицајац | policajka | police officer |
| slikar сликар | slikarka | painter |
| krojač кројач | krojačica | tailor |
Serbian builds the feminine from the masculine, but it uses three different suffixes and there's no reliable way to predict which. Learn the pair, not the rule:
| Suffix | Examples |
|---|---|
| -ica | kuvar → kuvarica, konobar → konobarica, krojač → krojačica |
| -ka | profesor → profesorka, slikar → slikarka, apotekar → apotekarka |
| -kinja | pilot → pilotkinja |
The -kinja group is small but stubborn, and it's the one people get wrong. It also gives you Srpkinja (a Serbian woman) and Engleskinja (an Englishwoman), so it's worth recognising early.
One honest note: vodoinstalaterka is formed correctly, but you'll rarely hear it — plumbing stayed a men's word in everyday speech. Serbian is still arguing about some of these, and different speakers will tell you different things. Profesorka and slikarka, on the other hand, are completely ordinary.
And policajac hides something worth seeing: that final -ac drops its a when the word changes — policajac becomes policajca. The same happens to otac → oca and momak → momka. It's the fugitive a, and you'll meet it in every case from now on.
Play it
Two Wordwall rounds — one to match, one to sort.
Jobs — round one
Poslovi za početnike — round two
Pesma za ovu lekciju
Marina is making her own jobs song for this lesson. It'll appear right here.
Print it
Four PDFs — anagram, matching, quiz and a colouring sheet.
The introductions exercise — name, city, job, all in one short paragraph.
Introductions, Exercise 8 →Serbian 101
Thirty letters, thirty sounds, and not a single silent one.
BasicsNine everyday phrases, and the TI/VI decision behind them.
BasicsOne to ten — nine never change, and then there's jedan.
VocabularyTwelve colours, and the first place grammar becomes visible.
VocabularyThe city, and the words you need to find your way around it.
GrammarThe verb behind ja sam kuvar, in all its forms.