бадње вече
“бадње вече” (badnje veče) — Badnje veče in Serbian. Noun, level A2. The badnjak is that very oak branch; in the churchyard it is burned in a communal bonfire. In a live sentence: “Бадње вече код куће” — Christmas Eve at home. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters б, а, д, њ, е, в, е, ч, е. A word from the everyday Serbian course, level A2.
In short
| Written in Serbian | бадње вече |
| Read in Latin letters | badnje veče |
| Translation | Badnje veče |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A2 |
- бадње вечеbadnje večeBadnje veče
What it is
Christmas Eve, January 6: an oak branch, the badnjak, is brought into the house and burned, and the floor is strewn with straw. The meal is fasting food, and the first visitor in the morning — the polozajnik — brings luck for the whole year.
This word does not reduce to a translation: the thing it names is not part of everyday life here, so a “translation” would end up a description in brackets. The easiest way to learn it is together with its surroundings — where you meet it and what it is for.
Why it looks that way
The badnjak is that very oak branch; in the churchyard it is burned in a communal bonfire.
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- Бадње вече код кућеBadnje veče kod kućeChristmas Eve at home
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “Badnje veče” in Serbian?
«бадње вече», read “badnje veče”. In a live sentence: “Бадње вече код куће” — Christmas Eve at home. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A2; written with the characters б, а, д, њ, е, в, е, ч, е.
How is “бадње вече” written in Latin letters?
badnje veče. This is a practical spelling — you need it to read aloud and be understood, not to meet an academic standard.
Why does this word look the way it does?
The badnjak is that very oak branch; in the churchyard it is burned in a communal bonfire. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
Can I hear how it sounds?
Yes, right on this page: click the word and it will play. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.