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 there is good news: some of these words you half-know already. Ćao is the Italian "ciao"; Dobar dan is built from "good" + "day", exactly as in English. The difficulty is not the words themselves but knowing which one belongs where.

This lesson is about the words themselves: the full set of greetings, thanks, apologies and forms of address, each marked as informal ("ti") or formal ("Vi"). How to weave them into a living conversation — from "hello" through "how are you" to "goodbye", how to choose "ti" or "Vi" in a given situation, what to answer to Kako ste? — all that has its own twin lesson, "Greeting and leave-taking". Here we assemble the politeness vocabulary; there we learn to use it.

Hello by the time of day

Besides the time-of-day greetings there are two universal ones: Zdravo — a warm, informal "hello" that works with almost everyone, and the fully casual Ćao — "hi" among friends (it doubles as a goodbye, 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 word labelled by register (informal "ti" or formal "Vi"). The difficulty is not the words themselves (ćao you know already; dobar dan is "good" + "day") but knowing which one belongs where.

Greeting by the time of day

Outside the clock: Zdravo — a warm informal "hello" that works with almost everyone; Ćao — the fully casual "hi" among friends, doubling as a goodbye (like the Italian "ciao").

Thank you, please, excuse me

Words of meeting and parting

Address and introductions

At work: by the counter