General Bosnian Course Outline

Level: Beginner
Course length: 10 hours
Session length: 2 hours
Suggested material: Contemporary Bosnian Croatian Serbian Textbook

Teach Yourself Bosnian

This course is aimed at students with no knowledge of the Bosnian language. Throughout the
course, students will acquire speaking, reading, listening and writing skills. Grammar will be
introduced through different types of exercises, and learners will study verb tenses, nouns,
pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, formal/informal ways of speaking, etc.

Topics:
1 Hello and goodbye
(dialogue, greetings, the alphabet and sounds, verb conjugation, singular and plural you,
nouns and gender, pronouns, speaking practice, exercises)
2 Asking questions
(forming questions, dialogues, vocabulary related to nationalities and professions, types of
adjectives, spelling of proper names, the verb to be, plural of masculine
nouns, exercises)
3 Addressing people, days of the week
(addressing people, days of the week, dialogues, the accusative case, negation, present tense
of verbs, the conjunction da, object pronouns, exercises)
4 Describing things. My family
(describing things, dialogue, vocabulary related to family members, accusative case of
animate nouns, object pronouns full forms, demonstrative pronominal adjectives, vowels in
adjectives, prepositions, adjectives, practical exercises)
5 Times of the day
(dialogues, vocabulary related to times of the day, nominative plural of nouns, nominative
plural of adjectives, conjugation of poznavati, pronouns used for emphasis, adverbs,
exercises)

The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) has created a list to show the approximate time you
need to learn a specific language as an English speaker. After this particular study time
you will reach Speaking: General Professional Proficiency in Speaking and
Reading: General Professional Proficiency in Reading
- Latin vs Cyrillic alphabet

- seven cases in the singular and seven in the plural, plus there are several different declensions
-15 different types of declensions: seven tenses, three genders, three moods, and two aspects.

- the grammar is incredibly complex. There are imperfective and perfective verbs, but when you
try to figure out how to build one from the other, it seems irregular. This is the hardest part of
Bosnian grammar, and foreigners not familiar with other Slavic tongues usually never get it right
(fact)

- pronouns are so rarely used that some learners are surprised that they exist, since
pronimalization is marked on the verb as person and number. Word order is almost free or at
least seems arbitrary.

- has pitch accent low-rising, low-falling, short-rising and short-falling. And when the word
conjugates or declines, the pitch accent can jump around in the word to another syllable and even
changes its type in ways that do not seem transparent. Its almost impossible for foreigners (or
natives) to get this pitch-accent right.

- Write as you speak and read as it is written.

The essence of modern Bosnian writing, reading and speaking
Contemporary Bosnian Croatian Serbian Textbook

KAKO SE ZOVES?

1. Zdravo!
2. Zdravo! Ko si ti?
1. Ja sam student I zovem se ___________. A kako se zoves ti?
2. Zovem se ______________________________

WHAT IS YOUR NAME?

1.HI!
2.HI! How are you?
1.I am a student and I am called _______________. And what is your name?
2.My name is _______________________

* Pronouns *
Subject pronouns are used for emphasis, or when the
person or thing is mentioned for the first time. singular plural
They are omitted otherwise, since the verb form masculine on he, it on i they
alone gives the necessary information. In the 3rd neuter ono it ona they
person, the choice of pronoun is determined by the feminine ona she, it one they
gender of the noun referred to. The plural forms one
and ona are used only to refer to exclusively feminine
or neuter groups, respectively, while the masculine oni refers to masculine only, a mixed group, or the general
idea "they.

Personal Pronouns used in the Bosnian language are as follows:

Ja I, 1st person (sg)
Ti You/you, 2nd person (sg)
On He, 3rd person (sg)
Ona She, 3rd person (sg)
Ono It, 3rd person (sg)
Mi We (plural)
Vi You
Oni They
 SINGULAR & PLURAL YOU

-Use the singular form TI (and the verb form ending in -s) to refer to a single person you known well

-Use the plural form VI (and the verb ending in -te) to refer to a group of people or to a single person you are
more distant, polite terms with

Verb conjugation

The verb TO BE

Nouns and gender

-masculine- pas (dog) usually end in a consonant

-feminine- macka (cat) usually end in -a -

neuter- pitanje (question) end in -e or -o

Possessive pronominal adjectives like moj, tvoj or njihov, have endings similar to the nouns they
agree with. For example moj paS (masculine), moje pitanje (neuter), moj a macka (feminine)
Teach Yourself Bosnian