List of verbs taken from English

Some verbs we took from English and adapted to our language by adding some typical endings: angažovati  – to engage atakovati – to attack  bombardovati – to bomb debatovati – to debate demantovati – to deny (to confute) diskreditovati – to discredit formalizovati  -to formalize  garantovati – to guarantee interesovati – to be interested in…

Genitive singular and plural (exceptions)

Masculine Feminine Neuter Singular -og/eg*  (adj.)   -a (n.) -e     -e -og/eg*  -a Plural -ih                -a -ih    -a -ih   -a Note that masculine and neuter adjectives whose stem ends in đ, j, lj, nj, ć, č, š, dž and ž tahe grammatical endings with -e instead of -o. Basic rules: Numbers 2,3, 4 take genitive singular.…

Pluralia tantum

The nouns that have only plural form are called pluralia tantum. Most of these nouns are made of two parts which make the whole. They require verbs and adjectives in plural.  They are either feminine or neuter gender, but used in plural. Some of them are: makaze, vrata, djeca, jasle, pantalone, farmerice, naočare, novine, merdevine (stube),…

Proverbs – part 2

P 1.Ide kao alva.                                 To sell very fast 2. Ko o čemu, baba o uštipcima.  To harp forever on the same string 3. Ni po babu, ni po stričevima.      Without fear or favor 4. Nekad bilo, sad se pripoveda.     It’s only a memory now. 5. Bolje ikad, nego nikad.                 Better late than never. 6. Obećavati…

Sayings, proverbs and phrases

Kad na vrbi rodi grožđe.                          When pigs fly. Ko prvi – tome djevojka.                          First come – first served. Ko rano rani dvije sreće grabi.                Early bird catches the warm. Od inata nema goreg zanata.                Spite is the worst characteristics. Dići prašinu.                                              To kick up dust. To make a fuss. Svakog gosta tri dana dosta.            After 3 days guest…

Fleeting A (nepostojano A)

The so-called “fleeting A” or “movable A” refers to the phonetic alternation in which short a makes an appearance and loss in certain inflected forms of nouns. Historically, Montenegrin did not tolerate any final consonantal clusters except st, zd, št, žd, šć, žđ, šč, and dž, as they were often difficult to pronounce in the…

Instrumental (6th case)

I Endings of the instrumental singular are the same for all three genders. For masculine nouns ending in a consonant add – om, and for neuter ending in – o, and feminine ending in –a replace the last letter with –om. Some neuter nouns, such as more, end in – e. For these nouns change…