премало ми је
“премало ми је” (premalo mi je) — it is too small in Serbian. Phrase, level A2. The same pre- prefix. The two little words mi je stand second, in strict order. In a live sentence: “Премало ми је, треба већи број” — It is too small for me, I need a bigger size. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters п, р, е, м, а, л, о, м, и, ј, е. A word from the everyday Serbian course, level A2.
In short
| Written in Serbian | премало ми је |
| Read in Latin letters | premalo mi je |
| Translation | it is too small |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | A2 |
- премало ми јеpremalo mi jeit is too small
Why it looks that way
The same pre- prefix. The two little words mi je stand second, in strict order.
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.
- Премало ми је, треба већи бројPremalo mi je, treba veći brojIt is too small for me, I need a bigger size
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 “it is too small” in Serbian?
«премало ми је», read “premalo mi je”. In a live sentence: “Премало ми је, треба већи број” — It is too small for me, I need a bigger size. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Phrase, level A2; written with the characters п, р, е, м, а, л, о, м, и, ј, е.
How is “премало ми је” written in Latin letters?
premalo mi je. 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 same pre- prefix. The two little words mi je stand second, in strict order. 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.