LingoflyCalling a repairman in Serbian
A call to a repairman: no hot water in the apartment in Serbian. 7 phrases that the conversation is made of: «Добар дан (dobar dan). Зовем (Zovem) вас (vas) због (zbog) бојлера, не ради (ne radi).» — Good afternoon. I'm calling about the water heater; it's not working; «Да (da) ли (li) цури (curi) вода (voda) или (ili) нема топле воде (Nema tople vode)?» — Is water leaking, or is there just no hot water? Every line can be played right on the page.
How the whole thing sounds
The situation: a call to a repairman: no hot water in the apartment. First the whole conversation, then each line on its own, with a translation.
Lines one by one
| Serbian | Reading | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| Добар дан (dobar dan). Зовем (Zovem) вас (vas) због (zbog) бојлера, не ради (ne radi). | Dobar dan. Zovem vas zbog bojlera, ne radi. | Good afternoon. I'm calling about the water heater; it's not working. |
| Да (da) ли (li) цури (curi) вода (voda) или (ili) нема топле воде (Nema tople vode)? | Da li curi voda ili nema tople vode? | Is water leaking, or is there just no hot water? |
| Не (ne) цури (curi), али (ali) нема топле воде (Nema tople vode) од (od) јуче (juče). | Ne curi, ali nema tople vode od juče. | It's not leaking, but there's been no hot water since yesterday. |
| Разумем (razumem). Могу (mogu) да (da) дођем (dođem) сутра (sutra) ујутру (ujutru). | Razumem. Mogu da dođem sutra ujutru. | I see. I can come tomorrow morning. |
| У колико сати (u koliko sati) ћете (ćete) доћи (doći)? | U koliko sati ćete doći? | What time will you come? |
| Око (oko) девет (devet). На (na) ком спрату (spratu) је (je) стан (Stan)? | Oko devet. Na kom spratu je stan? | Around nine. What floor is the apartment on? |
| На (na) трећем (trećem), лифт не ради (Lift ne radi), идите (Idite) степеницама (stepenicama). | Na trećem, lift ne radi, idite stepenicama. | On the third; the elevator is out of order, take the stairs. |
How to prepare for a conversation like this
Memorizing the lines is not enough: the other person will say their own thing, not what is written. What helps more is catching the key words by ear and keeping three rescue phrases ready: “I don't understand”, “repeat, please”, “slower”.
And one more thing phrasebooks do not mention: awkwardness gets in the way more than not knowing the words.
- Fear of making mistakes gets in the way of learning a language, and noticeably so. The link turns up study after study, and together those studies cover almost twenty thousand people.checked many timesTeimouri, Goetze & Plonsky, 2019, Studies in Second Language Acquisition 41(2) · 19,933 participants from 23 countries; correlation with results r = −0.36.
- That fear can be dealt with — the methods have been tested and they work.checked many timesXiong et al., 2024, Journal of Language and Social Psychology · 37 studies, anxiety reduced by −0.61. Of the seven conditions examined, only age turned out to matter.
Frequently asked
How do you start a conversation in Serbian in this situation?
“Добар дан (dobar dan). Зовем (Zovem) вас (vas) због (zbog) бојлера, не ради (ne radi).” (Dobar dan. Zovem vas zbog bojlera, ne radi.) — Good afternoon. I'm calling about the water heater; it's not working. The first line in such a conversation is almost always the same, and that is the one worth learning: the other person will carry it from there.
What if you did not understand the reply?
Say “I don't understand” and “repeat, please” — both are in the rescue set. Admitting your language is still shaky almost always makes the other person more patient.
Should you memorize the dialogue?
No. It is more useful to catch the key words by ear: the other person will say their own thing, and a memorized line will not always fit their reply.