Asking & giving information

Lesson opening

This is the first part of the lesson. The rest, the exercises and the reviews are in the app.

Asking for information

You already know how to build a question: that was the lesson "Wh-questions", with its ko, šta, gde, kako. Now let's put them to work: find out a price, the time and the way, understand an answer with numbers and, most important for a beginner, politely ask again when a Serb has rattled something off too fast. It is a survival kit: with it you won't get lost in town or freeze mid-conversation.

How much is it? What time is it?

These are a newcomer's two most frequent questions. "How much is it?" is Koliko košta? (literally "how much does it cost?") or, pointing at the thing, Koliko ovo košta? ("How much is this?"). In conversation you'll also hear a short Pošto? ("How much?"). "What time is it?" is Koliko je sati?, literally "how many hours is it?". And "at what time?", about when something happens, is U koliko sati?

Do you have…? Asking whether something is there

Often you need to know whether the thing is there at all. "Do you have…?" is Da li imate…?; the impersonal "Is there…? Are there any…?" is Ima li…? The answer is short, and it repeats the verb instead of saying yes or no: Ima ("there is, we have some") or Nema ("there isn't, we're out"). The same question gets you a free table, a seat or change.

And in a café, the same question about free seats:

Cheat sheet

The cheat sheet — everything essential from the lesson on one page. In the app it opens at any time.

Asking for information

Question words at work: price, time, availability, directions, and the beginner's key skill, asking again politely.

Price and time

Is there any? Yes or no

Directions

Questions: Gde je…? ("Where is…?"; for "which way?" it's kuda) and Kako da dođem do…? ("How do I get to…?").

Prices in dinars

The currency is the dinar. Košta petsto dinara. It costs five hundred dinars. A thousand: hiljadu dinara.

Survival kit