Lingoflyсам
- самsammyself
“сам” (sam) — myself in Serbian. Pronoun, level A1, topic — pronouns. Spelled like sam ("I am") — word order separates them: ja sam to uradio sam, "I did it myself", has both in one sentence. In a live sentence: “То сам урадио сам” (To sam uradio sam) — I did it myself. You can hear how it sounds right here. Written with the characters с (s), а (a), м. One of 26 words in the set “pronouns” in the Serbian course.
In short
| Written in Serbian | сам (sam) |
| Read in Latin letters | sam |
| Translation | myself |
| Part of speech | pronoun |
| Level | A1 |
Why it looks that way
Spelled like sam ("I am") — word order separates them: ja sam to uradio sam, "I did it myself", has both in one sentence.
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: pronouns
I, you, we, they. There is a handful of them, they turn up in every sentence, and politeness rides on them: most of these languages keep a formal “you” apart from a familiar one, and choosing the wrong one is noticed faster than a mispronounced word.
- јаjaIOften dropped in speech: the verb ending already says who acts, so ja appears only for emphasis — like Italian io or Spanish yo.
- тиtiyou (informal)Usually dropped too, since the verb ending names the person. Keep it when contrasting: ja radim, a ti spavaš — "I work and you sleep".
- виviyou (formal or plural)Serbs capitalize polite Vi in writing. One word for a group and for one respected stranger — the same double duty English "you" does.
- онonhePlural forms keep gender: oni for men or a mixed group, one for women, ona for things.
- онаonasheWatch the plural trap: ona is "she", but one is "they" about women, and a plural ona means "they" about things.
- миmiweStress splits the word: stressed MI is "we" (mi idemo), while the little unstressed mi means "to me" (drago mi je).
- ониonitheyFor men or a mixed group only; women are one, things are ona. The plural does not merge genders the way English "they" does.
- мојmojmyBehaves like an adjective: it agrees in gender and case — moja kuća "my house", mog brata "of my brother".
- твојtvojyour (informal)Declines exactly like moj. The polite vaš is written Vaš with a capital V when addressing one person respectfully.
- нашnašourNot to be confused with nas, the "us" form of mi — a single letter s-with-hachek (š) separates "our" from "us".
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “pronouns”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “myself” in Serbian?
Spelled like sam ("I am") — word order separates them: ja sam to uradio sam, "I did it myself", has both in one sentence.
- How do you say “they” in Serbian?
For men or a mixed group only; women are one, things are ona. The plural does not merge genders the way English "they" does.
- How do you say “you (formal or plural)” in Serbian?
Serbs capitalize polite Vi in writing. One word for a group and for one respected stranger — the same double duty English "you" does.
- How do you say “our” in Serbian?
Not to be confused with nas, the "us" form of mi — a single letter s-with-hachek (š) separates "our" from "us".
- How do you say “we” in Serbian?
Stress splits the word: stressed MI is "we" (mi idemo), while the little unstressed mi means "to me" (drago mi je).
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 “myself” in Serbian?
«сам» (sam), read “sam”. In a live sentence: “То сам урадио сам” (To sam uradio sam) — I did it myself. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Pronoun, level A1, from the set “pronouns”; written with the characters с (s), а (a), м.
How is “сам” (sam) written in Latin letters?
sam. 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?
Spelled like sam ("I am") — word order separates them: ja sam to uradio sam, "I did it myself", has both in one sentence. 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.