шест
“шест” (šest) — six in Serbian. Numeral, level A1, topic — numbers and counting. A sound cluster with three faces: sest is "six", sesti is "sixth", and sesti with a long e is "to sit down". One vowel move, three words. In a live sentence: “Радим шест дана недељно” — I work six days a week. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters ш, е, с, т.
In short
| Written in Serbian | шест |
| Read in Latin letters | šest |
| Translation | six |
| Part of speech | numeral |
| Level | A1 |
- шестšestsix
Why it looks that way
A sound cluster with three faces: sest is "six", sesti is "sixth", and sesti with a long e is "to sit down". One vowel move, three words.
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.
- Радим шест дана недељноRadim šest dana nedeljnoI work six days a week
Nearby words: numbers and counting
A price, the change, a house number, the time you agreed on, the floor. Numbers are the first thing you have to catch by ear — and the first thing people say fast.
- једанjedanoneChanges with gender: jedan kafic, jedna kafa, jedno pivo. The word before your order always agrees with it.
- дваdvatwoGender matters up to four: dva stola but dve kafe. From three upward the noun takes a special counting form.
- триtrithreeAfter dva, tri and cetiri the noun stands in a form of its own: tri sata, not tri sati. You will hear it constantly — in hours, days, years.
- четириčetirifourThe last number with its own noun form: cetiri dana. From pet onward the noun goes genitive plural: pet dana — literally "five of days".
- петpetfiveSounds like the animal word "pet" — resist the association; the p is crisp and the e short. From here nouns count in the genitive plural.
- седамsedamsevenEasier to anchor to sedmi, "seventh", than to English "seven" — the se-DA-m rhythm is what you will actually hear.
- осамosameightDo not meet it as osim — "except". One letter turns the number into a preposition: osim mleka — "except milk".
- деветdevetnineThe ordinal is deveti. Devetsto is "nine hundred", but "ninety" is devedeset — the t quietly drops.
- десетdesettenA family root: desetak means "about ten", decenija is "a decade". Ten minutes on foot: deset minuta peske.
- килограмkilogramkilogramIn speech usually just kilo: dva kila paradajza — "two kilos of tomatoes".
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “numbers and counting”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “six” in Serbian?
A sound cluster with three faces: sest is "six", sesti is "sixth", and sesti with a long e is "to sit down". One vowel move, three words.
- How do you say “eight” in Serbian?
Do not meet it as osim — "except". One letter turns the number into a preposition: osim mleka — "except milk".
- How do you say “three” in Serbian?
After dva, tri and cetiri the noun stands in a form of its own: tri sata, not tri sati. You will hear it constantly — in hours, days, years.
- How do you say “kilogram” in Serbian?
In speech usually just kilo: dva kila paradajza — "two kilos of tomatoes".
- How do you say “seven” in Serbian?
Easier to anchor to sedmi, "seventh", than to English "seven" — the se-DA-m rhythm is what you will actually hear.
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 “six” in Serbian?
«шест», read “šest”. In a live sentence: “Радим шест дана недељно” — I work six days a week. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Numeral, level A1, from the set “numbers and counting”; written with the characters ш, е, с, т.
How is “шест” written in Latin letters?
šest. 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?
A sound cluster with three faces: sest is "six", sesti is "sixth", and sesti with a long e is "to sit down". One vowel move, three words. 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.