Colours are one of the most satisfying early vocabulary sets in any language - short, versatile words that pop up everywhere, from describing clothes to talking about sunsets. Today we are going to learn Serbian colours in a way that is a little different: through a poem. A poem about eyes, to be precise - and if you have ever had your heart broken by a pair of beautiful eyes, you will find this one relatable in any language.
The colour poem (fill the gaps)
Read the poem below. Wherever you see a blank line, the missing word is a colour. Try to guess from context or from the colour table further down the page. There is no single "correct" answer for every line - the poem uses colour as a metaphor for types of love, so be creative.
Ljubio sam ___ oko,
i bilo je duboko.
Ljubio sam ___ oko,
i nebo je bilo blisko.
Ljubio sam ___ oko,
i šuma je šaptala.
Ljubio sam ___ oko,
i magla me je zvala.
Ljubio sam ___ oko,
i sunce je gorelo.
Sad ljubim tvoje oko -
kakve li je boje?(Suggested colour fills: crno, plavo, zeleno, sivo, žuto - but experiment with your own choices and see how the poem changes!)
A few notes on vocabulary: ljubio sam means "I kissed" or "I loved" (masculine past tense of ljubiti). Duboko means "deep." Magla means "mist" or "fog." Kakve li je boje? - "What colour is it?" - is a lovely phrase to take away from this poem.
Hear it (carried forward)
Listen to this audio-visual companion to the poem and notice how the colour words sound when spoken. Serbian vowels are pure and consistent, so colours like plavo and zeleno are easy to pronounce once you have heard them once.
The colours you may need
Serbian adjectives agree in gender with the noun they describe. The table below gives you the feminine and neuter forms (masculine is the base form without the -a/-o ending). For the poem above, which uses oko (eye) - a neuter noun - you need the neuter form.
| English | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| black | crn | crna | crno |
| blue | plav | plava | plavo |
| green | zelen | zelena | zeleno |
| grey | siv | siva | sivo |
| yellow | žut | žuta | žuto |
| brown | braon | braon | braon |
| red | crven | crvena | crveno |
Note that braon (brown) is an indeclinable loan word from French brun - it does not change its ending regardless of gender or case. That makes it one of the easiest colour words to use!
A listening tip
When you listen to the video, try to pause after each colour word you catch and repeat it out loud, paying special attention to the vowel sounds - Serbian vowels are shorter and "cleaner" than English ones, without the glides we tend to add. So plavo is "PLAH-vo," not "PLAY-vo." That small adjustment will make your pronunciation noticeably more natural to Serbian ears.
Frequently asked questions
Do colour adjectives always change ending depending on gender?
Yes - in Serbian, adjectives agree with the noun in gender, number, and case. For colours, the pattern is quite regular: most end in a consonant (masculine), -a (feminine), or -o (neuter) in the nominative singular. The exception is braon, which stays the same in all genders. Once you learn the three gender endings for one colour, you largely know the pattern for all of them.
Is "žut" the right word for yellow, or "žuta"?
Both - it depends on the noun. Žut (spelled with a caron: žut) is the masculine form, žuta is feminine, and žuto is neuter. So you would say žuta limun... wait, limun (lemon) is masculine, so it would actually be žuti limun. You will get a feel for this quickly with practice. The important thing is to keep the caron on the z - žut, not "žut" - so your spelling is correct.
I hope this colourful little poem made today's vocabulary lesson feel a bit more alive. Language and poetry go hand in hand - and Serbian poetry is rich and worth exploring as your skills grow. Until next time, keep adding colour to your Serbian!
- Marina Petrovic