Requests & politeness

Lesson opening

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

Requests and politeness

You collected the polite words in the lesson “Greetings & politeness lexis”: molim, hvala, izvinite, izvolite. Now let’s use them: ask for something politely, say thank you and answer a thank-you, and apologise in the way the situation calls for. For a newcomer this is daily life: asking for the bill, letting someone go first, asking them to repeat, apologising for the bother.

The four pillars of politeness

A quick reminder of who does what. Molim is "please" (literally "I ask"), hvala is "thank you" (h as in Scottish loch), izvinite is "excuse me, sorry", and izvolite is the most versatile of all: "please, here you are, go ahead", said when something is handed over, when you are invited in, or when someone asks what you would like. Hear Izvolite? at a counter and it means "What can I get you?"; hear Izvolite as a form is passed to you and it means "Here you are."

How to ask for something

A request in Serbian is a ladder of politeness, from a short command to a markedly courteous turn of phrase. Here are the rungs, from the bottom up:

Cheat sheet

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

Requests and politeness

Four words at work: molim "please, I ask", hvala "thank you", izvinite "excuse me, sorry", izvolite "please, here you are". To a friend (ti): izvoli.

Izvolite: a word for every occasion

Molim: five jobs

A request (Molim vas, jednu kafu), a tagged-on "please" (Jednu kafu, molim), "you're welcome", "sorry?" when you didn't catch something, "yes?" when called or on the phone.

The request ladder, bottom to top

Thanks and the reply

Apologies: two kinds of "sorry"

Ready-made lines