бели лук
“бели лук” (beli luk) — garlic in Serbian. Noun, level A2, topic — food and drink. Literally white onion. A plain luk is the onion; the full name of the onion is crni luk. A clove is cecen belog luka. In a live sentence: “Додај два чена белог лука на крају” — Add two cloves of garlic at the end. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters б, е, л, и, л, у, к.
In short
| Written in Serbian | бели лук |
| Read in Latin letters | beli luk |
| Translation | garlic |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A2 |
- бели лукbeli lukgarlic
Why it looks that way
Literally white onion. A plain luk is the onion; the full name of the onion is crni luk. A clove is cecen belog luka.
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.
- Додај два чена белог лука на крајуDodaj dva čena belog luka na krajuAdd two cloves of garlic at the end
Nearby words: food and drink
A menu, a market, a shop sign, the question “what is this?”. Food is the most frequent subject of the first weeks and the safest excuse to start talking.
- кафаkafacoffeeFeminine — jedna kafa. Domaca kafa is the kind boiled in a small pot, Turkish-style; ordering just kafa gets you exactly that.
- чајčajteaHerbal by default: order caj in Serbia and you will likely get chamomile or mint. Black tea must be asked for: crni caj — "black tea".
- водаvodawaterStress on the first syllable. The menu trap: kisela voda is not sour — it is sparkling mineral water.
- хлебhlebbreadIn Croatia and Bosnia the same loaf is kruh. At the bakery specify the color: beli — white, or crni — dark.
- сирsircheeseSpelled and pronounced almost as simply as it looks — one of the friendliest words in the course. Beli sir is the soft white kind.
- месоmesomeatFirst-syllable stress: ME-so. Beef is junetina, pork svinjetina, lamb jagnjetina — the animal plus -etina.
- рибаribafishOn the menu it is always fish. In street talk riba can also mean "a girl" — mildly rude, often heard, never formal.
- салатаsalatasaladSrpska salata is tomatoes and onions; sopska adds white cheese on top. The word also means the lettuce plant itself.
- супаsupasoupA clear broth. A thick, roux-based soup is corba — on the menu they are two different lines, so order the right one.
- соsosaltOne short syllable and masculine: so, soli. Posoli — "add salt" — is the verb you will meet at the stove.
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “food and drink”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “garlic” in Serbian?
Literally white onion. A plain luk is the onion; the full name of the onion is crni luk. A clove is cecen belog luka.
- How do you say “fish” in Serbian?
On the menu it is always fish. In street talk riba can also mean "a girl" — mildly rude, often heard, never formal.
- How do you say “water” in Serbian?
Stress on the first syllable. The menu trap: kisela voda is not sour — it is sparkling mineral water.
- How do you say “salt” in Serbian?
One short syllable and masculine: so, soli. Posoli — "add salt" — is the verb you will meet at the stove.
- How do you say “meat” in Serbian?
First-syllable stress: ME-so. Beef is junetina, pork svinjetina, lamb jagnjetina — the animal plus -etina.
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 “garlic” in Serbian?
«бели лук», read “beli luk”. In a live sentence: “Додај два чена белог лука на крају” — Add two cloves of garlic at the end. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A2, from the set “food and drink”; written with the characters б, е, л, и, л, у, к.
How is “бели лук” written in Latin letters?
beli luk. 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?
Literally white onion. A plain luk is the onion; the full name of the onion is crni luk. A clove is cecen belog luka. 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.