папир
“папир” (papir) — paper (the material) in Serbian. Noun, level A2, topic — shopping and money. Masculine: beli papir. The word hartija also exists but stayed in offices and in hartije od vrednosti, securities. In a live sentence: “Треба ми лист папира за списак” — I need a sheet of paper for the list. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters п, а, п, и, р. One of 87 words in the set “shopping and money” in the Serbian course.
In short
| Written in Serbian | папир |
| Read in Latin letters | papir |
| Translation | paper (the material) |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A2 |
- папирpapirpaper (the material)
Why it looks that way
Masculine: beli papir. The word hartija also exists but stayed in offices and in hartije od vrednosti, securities.
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.
- Треба ми лист папира за списакTreba mi list papira za spisakI need a sheet of paper for the list
Nearby words: shopping and money
How much it costs, whether there is a smaller one, whether cards are accepted. A shop forgives mistakes: miss a word and they will show you the thing with their hands anyway.
- колико кошта?koliko košta?how much does it cost?For several items the verb agrees with the goods: koliko kostaju? — the tomatoes cost, not you.
- динарdinardinarFrom the Roman denarius — the same coin that gave several European currencies their name. After numbers: sto dinara, "one hundred dinars".
- продавницаprodavnicashopFrom prodavati, "to sell". The corner shop is prodavnica or, colloquially, radnja — two names, same shelves.
- пијацаpijacamarketFrom Italian piazza — the market really does take the square. One word, market and plaza at once.
- тезгаtezgamarket stallThe counter at a pijaca. A Turkish loanword — like half the market vocabulary.
- продавацprodavacvendorThe fleeting a survives only in this form: prodavac, but prodavca, prodavcu.
- купацkupaccustomerFrom kupiti, "to buy". The grand old word for a merchant shares the root, but here it is simply the buyer.
- вагаvagascaleSingular in Serbian, unlike the English pair of scales: vaga je tu — "the scale is here".
- килограмkilogramkilogramIn speech usually just kilo: dva kila paradajza — "two kilos of tomatoes".
- свежsvežfreshGenders: sveža, sveže. About weather, sveže has drifted to mean "cool, chilly".
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “shopping and money”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “paper (the material)” in Serbian?
Masculine: beli papir. The word hartija also exists but stayed in offices and in hartije od vrednosti, securities.
- How do you say “customer” in Serbian?
From kupiti, "to buy". The grand old word for a merchant shares the root, but here it is simply the buyer.
- How do you say “shop” in Serbian?
From prodavati, "to sell". The corner shop is prodavnica or, colloquially, radnja — two names, same shelves.
- How do you say “fresh” in Serbian?
Genders: sveža, sveže. About weather, sveže has drifted to mean "cool, chilly".
- How do you say “vendor” in Serbian?
From prodavati, "to sell". The woman behind the stall is prodavačica.
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 “paper (the material)” in Serbian?
«папир», read “papir”. In a live sentence: “Треба ми лист папира за списак” — I need a sheet of paper for the list. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A2, from the set “shopping and money”; written with the characters п, а, п, и, р.
How is “папир” written in Latin letters?
papir. 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?
Masculine: beli papir. The word hartija also exists but stayed in offices and in hartije od vrednosti, securities. 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.