Lingoflyконтролор
- контролорkontrolorticket inspector
“контролор” (kontrolor) — ticket inspector in Serbian. Noun, level A1, topic — transport. Ends in the Latin suffix -or, like the international word. The feminine is kontrolorka. In a live sentence: “На станици је ушао контролор” (Na stanici je ušao kontrolor) — A ticket inspector got on at the stop. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters к, о (o), н, т, р, о (o), л, о (o), р. One of 13 words in the set “transport” in the Serbian course.
In short
| Written in Serbian | контролор (kontrolor) |
| Read in Latin letters | kontrolor |
| Translation | ticket inspector |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
Ends in the Latin suffix -or, like the international word. The feminine is kontrolorka.
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: transport
Bus, metro, taxi, stop, station. These are words you need to recognize in writing — off a departure board and off a sign.
- аутобусautobusbusThrough au, not av — Serbian reads every letter it writes: AU-to-bus. The spelling tells you exactly how to say it.
- таксиtaksitaxiUnlike the English noun, it declines: čekam taksi — "I am waiting for a taxi", but idem taksijem — "I am going by taxi". The case does the work.
- станицаstanicastationOne word for the railway station and the bus stop; the adjective in front decides: železnička stanica, autobuska stanica.
- стајалиштеstajalištestopStanica is the station; the place where a bus stands for a minute is stajalište, from stajati, "to stand".
- путникputnikpassengerFrom put, "road". One word for the passenger and the traveler — Serbian does not split them.
- седиштеsedišteseatEkavian sedište; ijekavian sjedište. A second meaning: the headquarters of a firm.
- рукохватrukohvathandrailRuka plus hvatati: the thing you grab with a hand. Stress on the first syllable.
- цена вожњеcena vožnjefareLiterally "the price of the ride". Vožnja comes from voziti with the z softening to zh. Ijekavian: cijena vožnje.
- пренатрпанprenatrpanpackedTwo prefixes on trpati, "to stuff": pre- and na-. Feminine: prenatrpana.
- слободно местоslobodno mestofree seatSlobodan drops its fleeting a in the neuter: slobodno. Ekavian mesto; ijekavian mjesto.
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “transport”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “ticket inspector” in Serbian?
Ends in the Latin suffix -or, like the international word. The feminine is kontrolorka.
- How do you say “handrail” in Serbian?
Ruka plus hvatati: the thing you grab with a hand. Stress on the first syllable.
- How do you say “station” in Serbian?
One word for the railway station and the bus stop; the adjective in front decides: železnička stanica, autobuska stanica.
- How do you say “free seat” in Serbian?
Slobodan drops its fleeting a in the neuter: slobodno. Ekavian mesto; ijekavian mjesto.
- How do you say “seat” in Serbian?
Ekavian sedište; ijekavian sjedište. A second meaning: the headquarters of a firm.
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 “ticket inspector” in Serbian?
«контролор» (kontrolor), read “kontrolor”. In a live sentence: “На станици је ушао контролор” (Na stanici je ušao kontrolor) — A ticket inspector got on at the stop. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A1, from the set “transport”; written with the characters к, о (o), н, т, р, о (o), л, о (o), р.
How is “контролор” (kontrolor) written in Latin letters?
kontrolor. 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?
Ends in the Latin suffix -or, like the international word. The feminine is kontrolorka. 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.