Greetings & politeness lexis

Lesson opening

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

Greetings and politeness

Serbs greet readily and warmly: a greeting here is not an empty formality but the opening of a small conversation. And some of these words will feel half-familiar. Ćao is the Italian “ciao”; Dobar dan is built exactly like the English “good day”. The hard part is not the words themselves but knowing which one belongs where.

This lesson is about the words themselves: greetings, thanks, apologies and forms of address, each marked as informal (ti) or formal (Vi). How to put them together into a conversation, from “hello” through “how are you?” to “goodbye”, and what to answer to Kako ste? (“How are you?”), belongs to the companion lesson “Greeting & leave-taking”. Here we collect the vocabulary; there we learn to use it.

Hello by the time of day

Notice dobro jutro but dobar dan: the word for “good” changes its ending to match the word after it, so learn the three phrases just as they stand. Besides the time-of-day greetings there are two for any time. Zdravo is a friendly “hello, hi” for friends, acquaintances and people your own age. Ćao is the fully casual “hi” among friends, and it doubles as “bye”, just like the Italian “ciao”.

Cheat sheet

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

Greetings and politeness

The politeness vocabulary: greetings, thanks, apologies, forms of address, each labelled by tone. Serbian splits “you” in two: ti for one friend, child or relative; Vi for strangers, elders, officials and more than one person. The hard part is not the words but knowing which one belongs where.

Greeting by the time of day

Any time: Zdravo, a friendly “hello, hi” (friends, acquaintances, people your age); Ćao, the casual “hi” among friends, also “bye” (Italian “ciao”).

Thank you, please, excuse me

Words of meeting and parting

Address and introductions

At work: at the counter