LingoflyEveryday life and routine in Serbian
12 words in Serbian on the topic “everyday life and routine”: посао (posao) — job, радити (raditi) — to work, пробудити се (probuditi se) — to wake up, устати (ustati) — to get up. 12 words can be played from recordings.
12 words on the topic
- посаоposaojobWork, a job — the everyday word for both. It changes oddly: posao gives posla, the a vanishing.
- радитиraditito workIts second job is "to do": šta radiš? — literally "what do you do?" — the everyday "how are you doing?".
- пробудити сеprobuditi seto wake upWithout se it means "to wake someone else up" — the particle flips the roles.
- устатиustatito get upPresent: ustanem. Waking and getting up are two different deeds with two different verbs.
- умити сеumiti seto wash upFace only. Washing the whole body is okupati se; washing dishes is prati.
- чешљати сеčešljati seto comb one's hairFrom češalj, "a comb". The letter lj is one soft sound, not two letters' worth.
- бријати сеbrijati seto shaveWithout se — "to shave someone". Present: brijem se.
- обући сеobući seto get dressedPresent: obučem se. The trap: obučiti, with č and -iti, is "to train" — a completely different job.
- свући сеsvući seto get undressedThe partner of obući se, built with the same prefix logic: s- takes off what ob- put on.
- сестиsestito sit downPresent: sednem. The trap: sedeti, without the n, is "to sit" — a state, not an action.
- лећиlećito lie downA short infinitive; the present is legnem. Ležati is "to lie" — the state after the action.
- одмарати сеodmarati seto take a restThe vacation word is odmor, same root. Watch it: odmor is also the school recess between classes.
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How it sounds in a sentence
A word list is a blank. Conversation is made of sentences, and these are the ones the words fit into most often.
What is worth knowing about these words
посао (posao) — job. Work, a job — the everyday word for both. It changes oddly: posao gives posla, the a vanishing.
радити (raditi) — to work. Its second job is "to do": šta radiš? — literally "what do you do?" — the everyday "how are you doing?".
пробудити се (probuditi se) — to wake up. Without se it means "to wake someone else up" — the particle flips the roles.
устати (ustati) — to get up. Present: ustanem. Waking and getting up are two different deeds with two different verbs.
Test yourself
First by ear — the way you will meet the word in conversation. Click the speaker and pick the translation.
- What is this word?
It is посао (posao) — job.
- What is this word?
It is обући се (obući se) — to get dressed.
- What is this word?
It is пробудити се (probuditi se) — to wake up.
- What is this word?
It is сести (sesti) — to sit down.
- What is this word?
It is умити се (umiti se) — to wash up.
Now the other way around: recall the spelling from the meaning. That is harder, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “job” in Serbian?
Work, a job — the everyday word for both. It changes oddly: posao gives posla, the a vanishing.
- How do you say “to get dressed” in Serbian?
Present: obučem se. The trap: obučiti, with č and -iti, is "to train" — a completely different job.
- How do you say “to wake up” in Serbian?
Without se it means "to wake someone else up" — the particle flips the roles.
- How do you say “to sit down” in Serbian?
Present: sednem. The trap: sedeti, without the n, is "to sit" — a state, not an action.
- How do you say “to wash up” in Serbian?
Face only. Washing the whole body is okupati se; washing dishes is prati.
How to learn the set instead of just reading it
Work, home, rest, errands. The words the answer to “how are things?” is made of.
A list is read in a minute and forgotten in a day. What works: hide the translation, try to recall, get it wrong — and come back to the same words tomorrow.
- 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.
- Study spread over days wins not only in experiments but in ordinary classrooms, with real students.checked many timesMawson & Kang, 2025, Behavioral Sciences 15(6):771 · 22 studies, d = 0.54 (confidence interval 0.31–0.77). The authors warn that individual studies disagree widely.
Frequently asked
How do you say “job” in Serbian?
«посао» (posao), read “posao”. Work, a job — the everyday word for both. It changes oddly: posao gives posla, the a vanishing. It is one of 12 words in the set “everyday life and routine” — the rest are in the table above.
How many everyday words do you need to start?
The whole set on this page is 12 words, but there is no need to start with all of it: the words you will need in the next few days are enough. Take them a few at a time — five to seven new ones per session.
Is there audio?
Yes, 12 words on this page can be played — click the speaker next to the word. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.