Lingoflyпијаца
- пијацаpijacamarket
“пијаца” (pijaca) — market in Serbian. Noun, level A1, topic — shopping and money. From Italian piazza — the market really does take the square. One word, market and plaza at once. In a live sentence: “Недељом идем на пијацу” (Nedeljom idem na pijacu) — On Sundays I go to the market. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters п, и (i), ј, а (a), ц, а (a). One of 87 words in the set “shopping and money” in the Serbian course.
In short
| Written in Serbian | пијаца (pijaca) |
| Read in Latin letters | pijaca |
| Translation | market |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A1 |
What it is
A covered green market where people go every morning for vegetables, white cheese and kajmak. The vendors are regulars with their own stalls, and prices are not posted: there is little haggling, and none with a loyal customer.
This word does not reduce to a translation: the thing it names is not part of everyday life here, so a “translation” would end up a description in brackets. The easiest way to learn it is together with its surroundings — where you meet it and what it is for.
Why it looks that way
From Italian piazza — the market really does take the square. One word, market and plaza at once.
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: shopping and money
How much it costs, whether there is a smaller one, whether cards are accepted. A shop forgives mistakes: miss a word and they will show you the thing with their hands anyway.
- колико кошта?koliko košta?how much does it cost?For several items the verb agrees with the goods: koliko koštaju? — the tomatoes cost, not you.
- динарdinardinarFrom the Roman denarius — the same coin that gave several European currencies their name. After numbers: sto dinara, "one hundred dinars".
- продавницаprodavnicashopFrom prodavati, "to sell". The corner shop is prodavnica or, colloquially, radnja — two names, same shelves.
- тезгаtezgamarket stallThe counter at a pijaca. A Turkish loanword — like half the market vocabulary.
- продавацprodavacvendorThe fleeting a survives only in this form: prodavac, but prodavca, prodavcu.
- купацkupaccustomerFrom kupiti, "to buy": simply the one who buys. The seller is prodavac.
- вагаvagascaleSingular in Serbian, unlike the English pair of scales: vaga je tu — "the scale is here".
- килограмkilogramkilogramIn speech usually just kilo: dva kila paradajza — "two kilos of tomatoes".
- свежsvežfreshGenders: sveža, sveže. About weather, sveže has drifted to mean "cool, chilly".
- зреоzreoripeTwo syllables: zre-o. In the feminine the l returns: zrela.
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “shopping and money”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “market” in Serbian?
From Italian piazza — the market really does take the square. One word, market and plaza at once.
- How do you say “scale” in Serbian?
Singular in Serbian, unlike the English pair of scales: vaga je tu — "the scale is here".
- How do you say “shop” in Serbian?
From prodavati, "to sell". The corner shop is prodavnica or, colloquially, radnja — two names, same shelves.
- How do you say “ripe” in Serbian?
The everyday word for fruit at its peak. The verb is zreti, "to ripen".
- How do you say “customer” in Serbian?
From kupiti, "to buy": simply the one who buys. The seller is prodavac.
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 “market” in Serbian?
«пијаца» (pijaca), read “pijaca”. In a live sentence: “Недељом идем на пијацу” (Nedeljom idem na pijacu) — On Sundays I go to the market. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Noun, level A1, from the set “shopping and money”; written with the characters п, и (i), ј, а (a), ц, а (a).
How is “пијаца” (pijaca) written in Latin letters?
pijaca. 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?
From Italian piazza — the market really does take the square. One word, market and plaza at once. 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.