LingoflyBoli me glava: the body in the plain form, the person as object
One sentence breaks an English habit: boli me glava. The head is the subject here, and the person stands beside it as a short me. Word for word: "it hurts me, the head". For example: “Боле ме леђа (bole me leđa) и (i) врат (vrat), а (a) глава (glava) ме (me) не (ne) боли” (boli) — My back and neck hurt, but my head does not. A rule from the Serbian course: worked out on examples, not memorized as a wording.
How it works
One sentence breaks an English habit: boli me glava. The head is the subject here, and the person stands beside it as a short me. Word for word: "it hurts me, the head".
The row runs boli me, boli te, boli ga, boli je, boli nas, boli vas, boli ih. The verb agrees with the body part, not with the person: bole me leđa, bole me zubi.
That same short me is wanted by a whole group of states. Strah me je — I am scared, stid me je — I am ashamed, briga me — I do not care.
Beside them sits mi, and it is about something else. Muka mi je — I feel sick, hladno mi je, bolje mi je. The classic slip is to say "moja glava boli".
Table
| the phrase | the person's case | example | in English |
|---|---|---|---|
| boli | whom-case | boli me glava | my head hurts |
| bole (pl.) | whom-case | bole me leđa | my back hurts |
| strah je | whom-case | strah me je | I am scared |
| stid je | whom-case | stid me je | I am ashamed |
| muka je | to-case | muka mi je | I feel sick |
| hladno je | to-case | hladno mi je | I am cold |
| bolje je | to-case | bolje mi je | I feel better |
| osećati se | always with se | osećam se bolje | I feel better |
By example
- Muka mi je od leka, ali osećam se bolje nego jučeThe medicine makes me sick, but I feel better than yesterday
- Strah me je od igala, zato sam odlagao vakcinuI am scared of needles, which is why I kept putting off the vaccine
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
Boli me glava: how does it work in Serbian?
One sentence breaks an English habit: boli me glava. The head is the subject here, and the person stands beside it as a short me. Word for word: "it hurts me, the head".
What does it look like in a Serbian example sentence?
“Боле ме леђа (bole me leđa) и (i) врат (vrat), а (a) глава (glava) ме (me) не (ne) боли” (boli) (Bole me leđa i vrat, a glava me ne boli) — My back and neck hurt, but my head does not. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.