Greeting & leave-taking

Lesson opening

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

Greeting and leave-taking

In the lesson "Greetings and politeness" you gathered the vocabulary: zdravo, dobar dan, hvala, doviđenja and the other words of meeting and parting, each with its register label. Now let's learn to use them — to assemble a living conversation from "hello" to "goodbye". You have the words; this lesson is about how to arrange them.

Any short encounter in Serbia — at a counter, in a lift, on the street — runs along one and the same simple arc. Master it, and you will carry a conversation from start to finish without once stumbling over a word choice.

Step 2: "How are you?" and what to answer

You can ask "how are you" formally — Kako ste? — or informally — Kako si?. It is not an empty formula: a Serb always has an answer ready, and one is expected of you too. Here is a stock of answers for every mood:

Cheat sheet

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

Greeting and leave-taking

The arc of a short encounter — four steps: 1) a greeting (Dobar dan / Zdravo); 2) "how are you" and the answer (Kako ste? — Dobro, hvala); 3) the matter at hand; 4) a farewell (Doviđenja / Ćao). One frame for both formal and friendly talk — only the words you fill it with change.

"How are you?" and the answers

Formal — Kako ste?, informal — Kako si?. Not an empty formula: a real answer is expected — from you too.

Inside Kako si? and Dobro sam ("I'm fine") hides the verb biti ("to be"): for now memorize the short forms sam, si, ste inside the phrases.

"ti" or "Vi"

• "Vi" — Dobar dan, Kako ste?, Doviđenja — with strangers, elders, bosses, officials, doctors, shop assistants (anyone you meet for the first time).
• "ti" — Zdravo / Ćao, Kako si? — with friends, peers, children, inside the family.
• The pronouns ja, ti, Vi are usually dropped: people say simply Kako si?

The first meeting

The ritual is three words: Drago mi je ("pleased to meet you"), said while shaking hands. The reply — the same, Takođe ("likewise") or Takođe mi je drago.

A farewell to fit the situation

On the phone

Halo? — hello? (picking up). Molim? — "I'm listening" / "sorry, what?". Ovde Marko. — "this is Marko" (how callers introduce themselves). Ko je to? — who is this? Samo trenutak. — one moment. Da li je tu Ana? — is Ana there? Farewells are the same as in person.

The arc at work