STUDY GUIDE

Learn Serbian. Have fun.

LESSON 17

GRAMMAR
VOCABULARY
PRACTICE
ANSWER KEY

www.serbianlanguagepodcast.com
GRAMMAR
PROFESSIONS AND GENDER OF NOUNS

In this lesson you will learn how to say what you do. For example, I am Chris. I am a
doctor. You already know how to say I am Chris. You say it Ja sam Kris. Now, we need
to know how to say the word doctor in Serbian. In Serbian the word for doctor is
doktor if it’s a man, and doktorka if it’s a woman.
So, how do you say I am Chris. I am a doctor? You say Ja sam Kris. Ja sam doktor.
And, how would you say I am Christina. I am a doctor? You say Ja sam Kristina. Ja
sam doktorka.
In Serbian, articles are implied. In English we say I am a doctor. But in Serbian the
word a is already implied in the noun, so you don’t have to say it.
Do you remember how to say the word and in Serbian? It’s i. So, how would you say I
am Chris and I am a doctor? You would say Ja sam Kris i ja sam doktor.
Let’s learn a few new vocabulary words to describe different professions.
Masculine form ends in a consonant and feminine form ends in -a
English Serbian

Journalist Novinar, novinarka

Professor Profesor, profesorka
Director Direktor, direktorka
Manager Menadžer, menadžerka
Designer Dizajner, dizajnerka
Model Maneken, manekenka
Doctor Doktor, doktorka

Study Guide 2
www.serbianlanguagepodcast.com © Serbian Language Podcast
GENDER CATEGORY & SUFFIXATION

It is important to know that all professions and titles (occupations) are nouns in
Serbian language as nouns they reflect gender. In our future lesson we will learn more
about this. For now, it is useful to know that Serbian language distinguishes 3 genders:
masculine, feminine and neuter. Most masculine nouns in Serbian end in a consonant,
most feminine nouns end in -a, and neuter nouns have the -e or -o ending.
Do you notice what all of these feminine gender words have in common? They all
have the -ka (In short, - ka is a suffix used to make masculine nouns feminine. For
example, a masculine noun doktor + ka gives us the feminine noun doktorka (it ends
in -a)). All Serbian nouns do not behave in this way and we will learn more about the
gender of nouns and adjectives in our future lessons.
For now, when it comes to our professions and occupations in Serbian, all we need to
do is to transform the masculine nouns (nouns that ends in a consonant) into the
feminine nouns by adding the suffix -ka.

Doctor: doktor (masculine noun) + ka = doktorka (feminine noun)

Dentist: zubar (masculine noun) + ka = zubarka (feminine noun)
Painter: slikar (masculine noun) + ka = slikarka (feminine noun)
Baker: pekar (masculine noun) + ka = pekarka (feminine noun)
Vet: veterinar (masculine noun) + ka = veterinarka (feminine noun)
Doctor: doktor (masculine noun) + ka = doktorka (feminine noun)

So, how do you say She is a painter? You say Ona je slikarka.
How do you say He is a baker? You say On je pekar.
How do you say She is a dentist? You say Ona je zubarka.

Study Guide 3
www.serbianlanguagepodcast.com © Serbian Language Podcast
 Note: Other professions, occupations or titles in Serbian will have different suffixes.
One of them is -ica.
For example:
Singer: pevač (masculine noun) + ica = pevačica (feminine noun)
Teacher: učitelj (masculine noun) + ica = učiteljica (feminine noun)
Friend: prijatelj (masculine noun) + ica = prijateljica (feminine noun)

VOCABULARY
PROFESSIONS - ZANIMANJA

Serbian Serbian
masculine feminine English
novinar novinarka journalist
profesor profesorka professor
direktor direktorka director
menadžer menadžerka manager
dizajner dizajnerka designer
maneken manekenka model
zubar zubarka dentist
pekar pekarka baker
slikar slikarka painter
veterinar veterinarka vet

Study Guide 4
www.serbianlanguagepodcast.com © Serbian Language Podcast
LESSON EXAMPLES

Serbian English
Ja sam pekar I am a baker
On je zubar He is a dentist
Ona je dizajnerka She is a designer
Ona je Maja i ona je slikarka She is Maya and she is a painter
On je Kris i on je novinar He is Chris and he is a journalist

PRACTICE
SENTENCES

# Serbian English Vocabulary

1. Ona je novinarka She is a journalist novinarka – journalist
(feminine)
2. Kris je pekar Chris is a baker pekar – baker
(masculine)
3. Maja je manekenka Maya is a model manekenka – model
(feminine)
4. On je zubar He is a dentist zubar – dentist
(masculine)
5. Ona je Maja i ona je manekenka She is Maya and she is a model i – and
6. On je Kris i on je pekar He is Chris and he is a baker

Study Guide 5
www.serbianlanguagepodcast.com © Serbian Language Podcast
EXCERCISE #1
Guess the gender of the word and add a “plus” sign in the correct column

# Serbian noun masculine feminine

1. zubarka (example) +

2. doktor
3. pekar
4. dizajnerka
5. slikarka
6. veterinar
7. menadžerka
8. profesor

EXERCISE #2
Write the feminine form of the following nouns:

# masculine feminine English

1. doktor (example) doktorka doctor

2. zubar dentist
3. menadžer manager
4. slikar painter
5. veterinar vet
6. direktor director

Study Guide 6
www.serbianlanguagepodcast.com © Serbian Language Podcast
EXCERCISE #3
Use the correct gender of the nouns and fill in the blanks:

# Serbian English
1. Maja je pekarka (example) Maja is a baker
2. Stiven je ___________ Steven is a painter
3. Ona je _____________ She is a model
4. On je ______________ He is a manager
5. Kristina je ___________ Christina is a dentist

EXCERCISE #4
Use the nouns for the opposite gender in a sentence:
Example: On je slikar – Ona je slikarka

Serbian masculine Serbian feminine English

1. On je veterinar He is a vet

2. Ona je manekenka She is a model

3. On je pekar He is a baker

4. Ona je profesorka She is a professor

Study Guide 7
www.serbianlanguagepodcast.com © Serbian Language Podcast
ANSWER KEY

EXCERCISE #1

(The answer is underlined and in bold)

Guess the gender of the word and add a “plus” sign in the correct column

# Serbian noun masculine feminine

1. zubarka(example) +
2. doktor +______
3. pekar +______

4. dizajnerka +______
5. slikarka +______
6. veterinar +______
7. menadžerka +______
8. profesor +______

EXCERCISE #2

(The answer is underlined and in bold)

Write the feminine form of the following nouns:
# masculine feminine English

1. doktor(example) doktorka doctor

2. zubar zubarka dentist

3. menadžer menadžerka manager
4. slikar slikarka painter
5. veterinar veterinarka vet

Study Guide 8
www.serbianlanguagepodcast.com © Serbian Language Podcast
 # masculine feminine English

6. direktor direktorka director

EXCERCISE #3

(The answer is underlined and in bold)

Use the correct gender of the nouns and fill in the blanks:
# Serbian English
1. Maja je pekarka(example) Maja is a baker
2. Stiven je _slikar_____ Steven is a painter
3. Ona je _manekenka_ She is a model

4. On je _menadžer____ He is a manager
5. Kristina je _zubarka___ Christina is a dentist

EXCERCISE #4
(The answer is underlined and in bold)

Use the nouns for the opposite gender in a sentence:

Example:On je slikar – Ona je slikarka

Serbian masculine Serbian feminine English

1. On je veterinar Ona je veterinarka He is a vet

2. On je maneken Ona je manekenka She is a model

3. On je pekar Ona je pekarka He is a baker

4. On je profesor Ona je profesorka She is a professor

Vidimo se! Ćao, drugari!

Study Guide 9
www.serbianlanguagepodcast.com © Serbian Language Podcast