Lingoflyблизу
- близуblizuclose by
“близу” (blizu) — close by in Serbian. Adverb, level A1, topic — asking the way. Both an adverb and a preposition with the of-form: blizu stanice — "close to the station". The comparative is bliže — "closer". In a live sentence: “Хотел је близу станице” (Hotel je blizu stanice) — The hotel is close to the station. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters б, л, и (i), з, у (u). One of 18 words in the set “asking the way” in the Serbian course.
In short
| Written in Serbian | близу (blizu) |
| Read in Latin letters | blizu |
| Translation | close by |
| Part of speech | adverb |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
Both an adverb and a preposition with the of-form: blizu stanice — "close to the station". The comparative is bliže — "closer".
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.
Nearby words: asking the way
Right, left, straight on, how far. You ask the way rarely — and always at the moment when there is no time to work it out.
- где је?gde je?where is...Literally "where is": the linking je is compulsory where English manages without it. For plurals the link changes: gde su? — "where are...?".
- овдеovdehereBosnia and Montenegro say ovdje. The pair to know: onde — "over there", a bit farther than tamo.
- тамоtamothereCovers both "there" as a place and "there" as a direction — one word where English needs two. Tamo-amo means "back and forth".
- десноdesnoto the rightFrom desnica, the right hand. English keeps the same ancient idea in "dexterous" and "dexterity" — the right side as the skillful side.
- левоlevoto the leftGives levak, "a left-hander". Next to it the great trap: pravo is not "right" — it is "straight ahead".
- правоpravostraight aheadThe classic trap: pravo means STRAIGHT. For the right-hand side you need desno — check before you turn.
- далекоdalekofarNot stressed on the last syllable: dictionaries give dalèko, and in everyday speech dàleko is heard too. With a preposition: daleko od centra — "far from the center".
- како да дођем доkako da dođem dohow do I get to...Literally "how do I walk up to": Serbian builds it with da plus the present tense. Do demands the of-form after it.
- доћи доdoći doto get toDoći do is getting somewhere by any means, on foot included. The close stići do stresses that the goal was reached. Both take the of-form.
- на другој страниna drugoj stranion the other sideThe at-form after na: strana gives strani. For movement it would be the other case — na drugu stranu, "to the other side".
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “asking the way”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “close by” in Serbian?
Both an adverb and a preposition with the of-form: blizu stanice — "close to the station". The comparative is bliže — "closer".
- How do you say “far” in Serbian?
Not stressed on the last syllable: dictionaries give dalèko, and in everyday speech dàleko is heard too. With a preposition: daleko od centra — "far from the center".
- How do you say “there” in Serbian?
Covers both "there" as a place and "there" as a direction — one word where English needs two. Tamo-amo means "back and forth".
- How do you say “on the other side” in Serbian?
The at-form after na: strana gives strani. For movement it would be the other case — na drugu stranu, "to the other side".
- How do you say “straight ahead” in Serbian?
The classic trap: pravo means STRAIGHT. For the right-hand side you need desno — check before you turn.
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 “close by” in Serbian?
«близу» (blizu), read “blizu”. In a live sentence: “Хотел је близу станице” (Hotel je blizu stanice) — The hotel is close to the station. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Adverb, level A1, from the set “asking the way”; written with the characters б, л, и (i), з, у (u).
How is “близу” (blizu) written in Latin letters?
blizu. 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?
Both an adverb and a preposition with the of-form: blizu stanice — "close to the station". The comparative is bliže — "closer". 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.