Lingoflyбило ми је драго
- било ми је драгоbilo mi je dragoit was nice talking
“било ми је драго” (bilo mi je drago) — it was nice talking in Serbian. Phrase, level B1. The same formula as at a first meeting, drago mi je, only in the past. The person is in the to-form and there is no subject at all. In a live sentence: “Било ми је драго, чујемо се” (Bilo mi je drago, čujemo se) — It was nice talking, we will be in touch. You can hear how it sounds right here. A word from the everyday Serbian course, level B1.
In short
| Written in Serbian | било ми је драго (bilo mi je drago) |
| Read in Latin letters | bilo mi je drago |
| Translation | it was nice talking |
| Part of speech | phrase |
| Level | B1 |
Why it looks that way
The same formula as at a first meeting, drago mi je, only in the past. The person is in the to-form and there is no subject at all.
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.
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 was nice talking” in Serbian?
«било ми је драго» (bilo mi je drago), read “bilo mi je drago”. In a live sentence: “Било ми је драго, чујемо се” (Bilo mi je drago, čujemo se) — It was nice talking, we will be in touch. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Phrase, level B1; written with the characters б, и (i), л, о (o), м, и (i), ј, е, д, р, а (a), г…
How is “било ми је драго” (bilo mi je drago) written in Latin letters?
bilo mi je drago. 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 formula as at a first meeting, drago mi je, only in the past. The person is in the to-form and there is no subject at all. 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 this 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.