Bosnian Grammar List

Speakers of the three standards usually understand each other easily. Bosnian has its own usual choices, such as <i>hljeb</i> for bread and <i>sedmica</i> for week.

Where other varieties write e, Bosnian writes ije or je: mlijeko, lijep, dijete, djevojka. Learn each word with its spelling.

Bosnian has two alphabets. Latin letters are what you will see in messages, signs, news sites and shop windows, so this course teaches them.

Pisati is for writing as an activity, and napisati is for writing something to the end. Most everyday verbs have such a partner, but not all of them do.

A word like Amir looks a little different as the subject, the object or the person you call. The ending tells you the job, so word order can move around more than in English.

Bosnian is the language of Bosnia and Herzegovina and of large communities in Germany, Austria, Sweden, Turkey and the USA. It is written in Latin and Cyrillic letters, and this course uses Latin.

Most nouns show their gender in the last letter: a consonant for masculine, -a for feminine, -o or -e for neuter. Adjectives, pronouns and past verbs then copy that gender.

Poppy teaches standard Bosnian in Latin letters, with ijekavian forms such as mlijeko and rijeka.

Adjectives have a masculine, a feminine and a neuter form: dobar dan, dobra kafa, dobro jutro.

Say Gdje je ...? for one thing and Gdje su ...? for more than one.

Use these two questions to learn new words. Kako se kaže "bread" na bosanskom? gets you the Bosnian word, and Šta znači hljeb? gets you the meaning.

Amir pije kafu follows subject, verb, object. Because nouns carry case endings, a speaker can move a word to the front to stress it.

Moći means to be able to. Put the next verb in the infinitive after it: Mogu doći sutra. The g in mogu changes to ž in možeš, može, možemo and možete.

A colour changes its ending for masculine, feminine and neuter nouns. Learn the three forms together: crven, crvena, crveno.

A week is a sedmica. Days of the week are not capitalised in Bosnian, and nedjelja usually means Sunday.

Learn them in pairs of opposites: velik and mali, nov and star, lijep and ružan. The ending changes: velika kuća, mali sto.

Words for family members follow the gender of the person in the sentence, with one surprise: tata ends in -a but is masculine.

Nouns that end in <i>-a</i> are usually feminine and take feminine adjectives. A smaller group ends in a consonant, such as <i>noć</i> (night) and <i>stvar</i> (thing).

Ići is the verb for going. The present forms are irregular in the stem only: idem, ideš, ide, idemo, idete, idu. After it, a place with u or na uses the accusative: Idem u školu.

Imati means to have. It follows the -ati pattern: imam, imaš, ima, imamo, imate, imaju. To say you do not have something, use nemam.

Ask Kako si? and answer Dobro sam, hvala. A ti? Ask Kako ste? to someone you call vi.

Say Ovo je ... to introduce a person or name a thing. For more than one, say Ovo su ...

Znati means to know a fact or a skill: Znam bosanski. For people, the careful choice is poznavati: Poznajem Amira. Everyday speech also says Znaš Amira?

A noun is masculine when it names a man or when it usually ends in a consonant. Adjectives and the word <i>moj</i> then take masculine forms.

Bosnian uses the Latin-based month names, and writes them with a small letter. The word for month is mjesec.

To say no, put ne in front of the verb: Ne znam. The verbs imati, htjeti and biti fuse with it, so you say nemam, neću and nisam.

Neuter nouns usually end in <i>-o</i> or <i>-e</i>. They take neuter adjectives that end in <i>-o</i> or <i>-e</i>: <i>malo selo</i>, <i>moje dijete</i>.

There is no article in Bosnian. The situation shows whether you mean "a" or "the", and you can add <i>ovaj</i>, <i>taj</i> or <i>jedan</i> when you need to be exact.

The nominative is the form you look up in a dictionary. It names the subject: Amir čita. It is also the form after je: Kafa je topla.

These three phrases keep a conversation going when you get lost. Learn them as they are and add molim vas to be polite.

Learn the ten words first. Jedan has three genders (jedan, jedna, jedno), and dva has a feminine form dvije.

Eleven to nineteen add -naest to the unit: jedanaest, dvanaest, trinaest. The tens are dvadeset, trideset, četrdeset, and so on up to sto.

Say what you want and add molim. Use the accusative after molim (Molim kafu), or just name the drink and add molim.

Take off -a and add -e: kuća kuće, sestra sestre, ulica ulice. Feminine nouns ending in a consonant, such as noć, take -i.

Short nouns often take -ovi or -evi (grad gradovi, nož noževi), and longer ones usually take -i (prijatelj prijatelji).

Change the ending to -a: selo sela, pismo pisma, polje polja. A few neuter nouns are irregular, such as dijete djeca.

The ja form ends in -em, and the oni form ends in -u: pišem, pišeš, piše, pišemo, pišete, pišu.

Drop -ati and add the endings: čitam, čitaš, čita, čitamo, čitate, čitaju. Most -ati verbs follow this pattern, though not all do.

Remove -iti and add the endings: radim, radiš, radi, radimo, radite, rade. Note that the oni form ends in -e, not -u.

Use sam, si, je, smo, ste and su to say who or what someone is, and where they are.

Put the question word first, then the verb: Šta radiš? Gdje živiš? Kako se zoveš? You will hear them in almost every conversation.

Proljeće and ljeto are neuter, and jesen and zima are feminine. To say in summer or in winter, Bosnian has the short words ljeti and zimi.

Most words are written as they sound. A few places differ: a voiced sound can turn voiceless before another consonant, and spelling then often follows the root, as in predsjednik.

A subject pronoun names who acts. The verb ending already shows the person, so <i>Radim u Tuzli</i> is a complete sentence. Add the pronoun for contrast: <i>Ja radim, a ti spavaš.</i>

The 30 letters are a b c č ć d dž đ e f g h i j k l lj m n nj o p r s š t u v z ž. The pairs dž, lj and nj are single letters that look like two.

The vowels do not shrink to a lazy sound when they are unstressed. In mama the first and the last a sound the same.

The h is stronger than the English h. It sits between h in hat and the ch in Scottish loch. Say it clearly in hljeb and hvala.

In the accusative, a feminine noun in -a ends in -u: kafa, kafu. Masculine things without life and neuter nouns usually keep their dictionary form.

Dž sounds like the j in jam: džezva, džem. Đ is a softer, lighter sound made with the tongue further forward: đak, Đurđevdan.

Lj sounds like the lli in million, and nj sounds like the ny in canyon. Treat each pair as one letter.

Č sounds like the ch in church. Ć is softer, with the tongue higher and further forward, as in ćevapi. Some speakers say both almost the same, but the spelling keeps two letters.

Hoću means I want. After it, put a noun in the accusative (Hoću kafu) or an infinitive (Hoću jesti). It is a bit direct, so for polite requests use želim or htio bih.

Use želim, želiš, želi for wishes and volim, voliš, voli for likes. A feminine noun in -a changes to -u after them: Želim kafu. Volim muziku.

Say the word with a stronger voice on a syllable that is not the last one: KAfa, MAma, KOmšija.

Da li goes before the sentence and keeps the word order the same. Say it with a rising voice at the end, and answer with da or ne.

Say da for yes and ne for no. Add the verb to make the answer fuller: Da, imam. Ne, nemam.

These small words never change their endings. They sit near the verb and tell the listener whether it is now, later or before.

Three short phrases belong at the table. Say Dobar tek to start eating, and raise a glass with Živjeli.

Pick the greeting by the time: dobro jutro in the morning, dobar dan in the day, dobro veče in the evening.

Say hvala for thanks, hvala lijepa for a warmer thanks, and molim to answer or to ask politely.

Four small words connect ideas. I means and, a is a soft but when you switch to something else, ali is a stronger but and ili offers a choice.

Ima and nema stay the same for one thing or many. The thing that exists or is missing usually goes after them, in the genitive for nema: Nema problema.

Say izvini to one friend and izvinite to a stranger or a group. Oprostite is a polite alternative.

After iz, put the place name in the genitive: iz Mostara, iz Zenice, iz Njemačke.

Say Zovem se and your name. The little word se comes after the first word, never at the start.

These small words go in front of an adjective or an adverb and change how strong it is. They never change their ending.

Use <i>jedan</i> with a masculine noun, <i>jedna</i> with a feminine noun and <i>jedno</i> with a neuter noun. The same word also works like "a certain".

Use ko for a person and šta for a thing or idea. Both take a singular verb: Ko je to? Šta je ovo?

The possessive follows the gender of the thing owned, not of the owner: moja sestra, moj brat, moje selo.

When someone thanks you, answer Nema na čemu. In a relaxed moment you can say Nema problema.

To say something is not so, use <i>nisam, nisi, nije, nismo, niste</i> or <i>nisu</i>. They are written as one word.

Ovaj, taj and onaj change with the gender and number of the noun: ovaj sto, ova kuća, ovo selo.

These words show where something is. They never change. Ovdje is near the speaker, tu is near the listener or just at hand, and tamo is far from both.

Words such as prst (finger), trg (square) and grlo (throat) have no written vowel next to r, but r acts as the vowel. Say a short, rolled r and do not add an e.

Wishes begin with sretan, sretna or sretno, and the ending matches the noun: sretan rođendan, sretna godina, sretno putovanje.

Use <i>ti</i> with family, friends and children: <i>Kako si?</i> Use <i>vi</i> with strangers, older people and in shops or offices: <i>Kako ste?</i>

Use zdravo or ćao with friends and doviđenja with people you do not know well.

Say Vidim stolove, Vidim prijatelje, Kupujem jabuke and Vidim sela.

Give a masculine person or animal the genitive form when it is the object: Vidim brata. A thing stays the same: Vidim sto.

Add -ski to a place name to say that something belongs to it. When the name ends in k, c or g, the sound before the ending changes.

Containers, measures and words such as malo, puno, mnogo and dosta take the genitive. Use the genitive singular for things you cannot count and the genitive plural for things you can.

Ask where a place is with Gdje je...? and how to get there with Kako da dođem do...? The place after do is in the genitive.

To ask when something happens, use <i>U koliko sati?</i> The answer starts with <i>u</i> and a clock time.

Bosnian writes fewer capital letters than English. People, places and holidays are capital. Days, months, languages and place adjectives are small.

Place names change their endings. To be in a place, use u with the locative. To go to a place, use u with the accusative. To come from a place, use iz with the genitive.

For ti, take the oni present form, drop the last ending and add -j or -i: čitaju gives čitaj, rade gives radi, pišu gives piši. Add -te for vi and -mo for we.

Bosnian uses ne before the verb together with niko, ništa, nikad, nigdje or nikakav. Two negatives do not cancel each other; both are needed.

Bosnian shares most of its words with Croatian and Serbian, but a few everyday words are different. Poppy uses the usual Bosnian ones, and you will hear the others around you.

Say Hladno mi je for I am cold, Žao mi je for I am sorry and Drago mi je for I am glad.

Take the nominative and change the ending: grad becomes grada, selo becomes sela, kuća becomes kuće. You will use it after nema, after many prepositions and to say whose something is.

Dati means to give. Its present is short and a little unusual: dam, daš, da, damo, date, daju.

Sto stays the same, and stotina is a feminine noun: dvije stotine, pet stotina. Hiljada is also feminine: jedna hiljada, dvije hiljade, pet hiljada.

Language names look like the masculine form of an adjective: bosanski, njemački, engleski. A person from a place has a noun, often with different forms for a man and a woman.

Say Sviđa mi se grad for one thing and Sviđaju mi se kuće for several things.

You need the locative after u (in), na (on, at), o (about) and po. Grad becomes gradu, selo becomes selu and kuća becomes kući.

Tata, kolega and sluga look feminine, but the adjectives and verbs that go with them are masculine: moj tata, Tata je došao. The cases follow the -a pattern: Vidim tatu.

Prices use marka, and the form of marka depends on the number: one takes marka, two to four take marke, and five or more take maraka.

Say Treba mi kafa or Trebaju mi knjige: the thing you need is the subject of the verb.

Ordinals tell the order: first, second, third. They end like adjectives, so you say prva ulica but prvi dan.

Masculine plural adjectives end in -i, feminine in -e and neuter in -a: dobri prijatelji, dobre kafe, dobra sela.

There is no single rule for -jeti verbs. Learn the present with each verb: vidim, razumijem, želim, volim.

For -ovati verbs, replace -ovati with -uj- and add the usual endings: kupujem, kupuješ, kupuje, kupujemo, kupujete, kupuju.

To say how old someone is, use <i>imati</i> and a number plus <i>godina</i>. The word for "year" has three forms, and the last digit of the number decides which one.

To say today's date, use an ordinal and the month name. To say on a date, put both in the genitive: trećeg maja.

The ending -ić is very common in Bosnia. A woman uses the same form as a man in the nominative. A man's surname also changes in other cases, while a woman's usually does not.

To ask the time, use <i>Koliko je sati?</i> The answer uses the word <i>sat</i>, in a form that depends on the number.

Bosnian uses a verb for rain, snow and wind, and an adjective with <i>je</i> for the general weather. The sentences are short and have no "it".

Say dobro došao to a man, dobro došla to a woman and dobro došli to several people or a mixed group. Add u or kod to name the place.

Of the small numbers, only one and two change with gender. Use <i>dva</i> for masculine and neuter nouns, and <i>dvije</i> for feminine nouns.

Use <i>-a</i> after the number for masculine and neuter nouns and <i>-e</i> for feminine nouns. The number two also changes with gender: <i>dva</i> or <i>dvije</i>.

Say evo when you hand something over or when you point out something near: Evo kafe. Evo mene. Evo ga.

Use gospodin for a man and gospođa for a woman when you do not know them well. When you call someone, the title takes the vocative: gospodine, gospođo.

Hajde da + present of mi (or ja) makes a friendly suggestion: Hajde da popijemo kafu. Hajde alone means come on.

Iz means out of or from a place, od means from a person or a starting point, and do means up to or until.

Jesti (to eat) and piti (to drink) are used every day. Their present endings are -em, -eš, -e, -emo, -ete, -u or -ju.

Još spavam means I am still asleep, and Već je pet sati means it is already five o'clock. Još jedna kafa means one more coffee.

Kad is the short form heard in speech, and kada is the longer form. Both are standard: Kad dolaziš? Kada je tvoj rođendan?

Both words are standard Bosnian and mean the same drink. Kafa is the one Poppy uses in everyday lessons. You will hear kahva from grandparents and in traditional settings.

Use kod kuće for where you are, kući for where you are going and od kuće for where you come from. Ja sam kod kuće. Idem kući.

Kod means at someone's place, bez means without and blizu means near. The noun after each one is in the genitive.

Koji is for masculine nouns, koja for feminine and koje for neuter. Use it when you want a specific one from a group: Koja torba je tvoja?

Koliko is followed by the genitive of the thing you count: Koliko braće imaš? For prices say Koliko košta?

Use lijevo and desno as adverbs with a verb, or na lijevoj strani and na desnoj strani to say on which side something is.

Use the short pronouns for the object when it is already known: Vidim ga. Poznajem je.

After moram, mogu, smijem and hoću, put the verb in the infinitive: Moram ići. Mogu doći.

Add ne- to ko, šta, gdje and kad to get someone, something, somewhere and sometime. Neko je u kuhinji. Imam nešto za tebe.

Nema kafe means there is no coffee. Nema Amira means Amir is not here. The word nema does not change for gender or number.

Nemam brata means I have no brother. The same pattern works for every person: nemaš, nema, nemamo, nemate, nemaju.

Use nemoj for one friend and nemojte for several people or a polite vi. Then add the infinitive of the verb. It means do not.

Numbers from <i>pet</i> to <i>dvadeset</i>, and round numbers such as <i>trideset</i> and <i>sto</i>, take the genitive plural, which is the form that answers "of what?". The genitive plural usually ends in <i>-a</i> or <i>-ova</i>.

Singular: sav, sva, sve for masculine, feminine and neuter. Plural: svi, sve, sva. Use them before the noun and match its gender and number.

Use svaki with a masculine noun, svaka with a feminine one and svako with a neuter one: svaki dan, svaka kuća, svako jutro. The noun stays singular.

To express "on Monday" or "on Saturday", use <i>u</i> and the day in the accusative. Feminine days change their ending: <i>srijeda</i> becomes <i>srijedu</i>.

To say in a month, put u before the month name and end it in -u: u januaru, u martu, u aprilu.

Use u for going into a place and na for going onto an open place, an event or a workplace.

U goes with closed spaces such as a city, house or shop. Na goes with surfaces, open places, events and work. Some pairs have to be learned one by one.

These small words usually go before the verb or right after it: Uvijek pijem kafu. Nikad ne kasnim. Nikad needs ne before the verb.

Više means more and manje means less. The thing compared goes in the genitive: više kafe, manje vremena. With ne, više means no longer.

Use za and the accusative for the person something is for, for a price or exchange, and for a time that is still to come.

Use pa to mean "so" after a reason, and zato to mean "that is why". Both come after the reason and lead to the result.

Use zašto to ask why and jer to answer because. Jer joins two sentences: Idem kući jer sam umoran.

Čiji is masculine, čija feminine and čije neuter. Answer with a name or a possessive: Čija je ova knjiga? Amirova.

When a man and a woman do something together, the participle is masculine plural: Amir i Lejla su došli. If every subject is feminine, it is feminine plural: Selma i Ajla su došle.

The adjective ends like its noun in every case: s dobrim prijateljem, u staroj kući, bez novog posla.

To say how something is done, take the adjective and use its neuter form. The ending -o (or -e) never changes.

Add -ov to most male names that end in a consonant and -in to names that end in -a. The new word is an adjective, so it matches the noun: Amirov telefon, Amirova knjiga, Amirovo pismo.

An imperfective verb is about a process; its perfective partner is about a finished result.

Use čitao sam for reading over time and pročitao sam for reading to the end.

Masculine names add -e or -u: Amir becomes Amire, Hasan becomes Hasane. Feminine names in -a usually stay the same in speech, and some speakers use -o or a pet form.

Say the biggest part first and the smaller parts after it. The last word decides the form of the thing you count.

Each dative pronoun has a long and a short form. Use the short one in most sentences, and the long one after a preposition or when you want to stress it.

The dative answers "to whom?". It shows who gets something, who is helped or who is told. Masculine and neuter nouns take <i>-u</i>, feminine nouns take <i>-i</i>.

A few feminine nouns end in a consonant instead of -a: noć, stvar, riječ, ljubav. They keep the nominative form in the accusative and add -i in the genitive, dative and locative.

Most nouns take -a: stolova, kuća, sela. A few take -i, as in ljudi and noći.

With verbs of giving, telling and showing, the person who receives goes in the dative and the thing goes in the accusative.

The word sretan means happy. It changes its ending to match the noun: sretan for masculine, sretna for feminine and sretno for neuter.

The old vowel yat shows up in Bosnian as ije or je. A long vowel is usually written ije and a short one je, so some words change inside the family: lijep, ljepši and dijete, djeca.

The instrumental answers "with whom?" and "by what means?". Masculine and neuter nouns take <i>-om</i> or <i>-em</i>, and feminine nouns in <i>-a</i> take <i>-om</i>.

Most imperatives end in -j or -i, and the vi form adds -te. A few common verbs have their own forms, and you learn them one by one: reci, dođi, pomozi, uzmi, jedi, pij, daj.

Verbs in -ći and a few others do not follow the regular pattern. Learn the participle together with the infinitive.

These everyday words have plurals that do not follow the usual -i, -e, -a pattern. Learn them as pairs and remember the gender: braća and djeca act as groups.

When you say how you travel or what tool you use, put the noun in the instrumental and leave out the preposition. There is no word for "by" or "with".

Selo is selo as subject and as object, and sela is sela in both roles. Neuter nouns, like inanimate masculine nouns, do not change when they become the object.

Vrata (door), hlače (trousers), naočale (glasses) and novine (newspaper) have no singular in everyday use. The verb and adjectives are plural: Vrata su otvorena.

Small words such as li, sam, ću, mi, ga, se and je lean on the first word or phrase. They come in a set order: li, then sam or ću or bih, then the dative, the accusative, se and je.

Use svoj when the owner is the person doing the action: Amir voli svoju porodicu. If you say njegovu porodicu, it is someone else's family.

Take the infinitive, remove -ti and add the ending: radi-ti gives radio, radila, radilo, radili, radile, radila. Most verbs are regular.

All three cases look the same in the plural: -ima for masculine and neuter nouns and usually -ama for feminine nouns in -a.

Use -ov- after most consonants and -ev- after soft ones like č, ž, š, j: brod brodovi, grad gradovi, nož noževi. A few short nouns are exceptions: dan dani.

Add pro-, na-, po-, u- or s- to many imperfective verbs to get a perfective partner.

Use the present after kad and ako: Kad dođem, javit ću ti. Ako imam vremena, doći ću.

Put the verb first and li right after it. This works with most verbs and gives a yes-or-no question without da li.

Use se with verbs like zvati se and prati se, and sebe when you mean oneself: Zovem se Lejla. Vidim sebe u ogledalu.

In feminine nouns in -a, the endings -i of the dative and locative make k, g and h become c, z and s. The same change happens in masculine plurals: učenik učenici.

This change happens when the ending is -e, as in the vocative of masculine nouns. It also shows up in some verbs: mogu možeš, peku pečeš.

Use sam, si, je, smo, ste or su with the participle: radio sam, radila si, radili smo. The participle agrees with the subject in gender and number.

The vowel a before the last consonant of the nominative often drops when an ending is added. Learn the pair together: pas psa, momak momka, dobar dobra.

Sam, si, je, smo, ste and su cannot be the first word of a normal statement. They follow the first word or the first group of words: Bio sam kod kuće. Jučer sam bio kod kuće.

The letter h is part of the spelling in many Bosnian words. A few words have two forms, one with h and one without, and both are standard.

The participle of biti changes for gender and number: bio, bila, bilo, bili, bile. Put the short helper after it or after the first word: Bio sam u Tuzli.

Say bit ću when the verb comes first and ću biti when another word comes first.

The country has a long name with two parts, and both parts take the case ending. In everyday speech people say Bosna, or shorten the name to BiH.

After verbs such as hoću, moram and mogu you can use the infinitive or da with the present. Both are standard: Hoću jesti and Hoću da jedem.

Use htio bih (a man) or htjela bih (a woman) when you order or ask. It is softer than hoću: Htio bih kafu.

Use htio for a man or boy, htjela for a woman or girl and htjelo for neuter. Put sam, si, je and the others after it: Htio sam doći.

Say ili before each choice to show that one of the two must happen. It is stronger than a single ili between two words.

These words tell where something is: in front of, behind, under, above, between. The noun that follows is in the genitive.

Use izvoli or izvolite when you give someone something, ask them to come in, or serve them. It can also be the question a shop worker asks.

Je li is the question opener for statements about he, she or it. For other persons the helper comes first and li follows: jesi li, jeste li, jesmo li, jesu li.

Instead of saying da, you can answer with the form of the verb to be. It sounds natural and warm, and it can also add a little push.

These two short words show the direction of movement toward a person, a place or a thing. They take the dative.

Use kakav to ask what something is like. It changes like an adjective: kakav grad, kakva kafa, kakvo vrijeme.

Ko (who) and šta (what) have case forms: koga, kome, kim and čega, čemu, čim. The verb or preposition decides which one you need.

Kroz means through, and preko means over or across: kroz grad, preko mosta.

You will see lahko and mehko in Bosnian books, and lako and meko in speech and on the street. Both are correct, so use the one you hear.

Use mene, meni and mnom after prepositions and for stress. The ti forms are tebe, tebi and tobom.

Mogu li asks if you may do something, and Možete li asks someone to do something for you. Put li right after the verb.

Neki goes with a masculine noun, neka with a feminine one and neko with a neuter one. Nekoliko stays the same and is followed by the genitive plural.

Use the negative forms of htjeti with the infinitive: Neću ići. Nećeš doći?

Use ni... ni... for two things you do not have, want or do. Bosnian keeps the verb negative as well, so the sentence has two negatives.

Put the negative form of biti in front of the participle: Nisam radio. Nije bila kod kuće. The ne joins the helper and stays attached.

To talk about something, put o before the noun in the locative: o porodici, o poslu, o Mostaru.

Cut the -i from the infinitive and add ću, ćeš, će, ćemo, ćete, će: pisati becomes pisat ću.

All three mean next to or beside. Say pored škole, kraj rijeke or pokraj mosta.

For where something is, use the instrumental: pred kućom, nad gradom, pod stolom, među prijateljima. For motion toward a place, the accusative is used for pred, nad and pod.

<i>Prema</i> shows direction (toward), the way someone treats you (to) or a source (according to). The noun after it is in the dative.

Use prije for before and poslije for after, with the genitive: prije ručka, poslije škole. Za plus a time means in: za dva dana.

Use <i>s</i> before most words. Use <i>sa</i> when the next word begins with <i>s</i>, <i>š</i>, <i>z</i> or <i>ž</i>, or with a cluster that is hard to say. The noun is in the instrumental.

Add zar ne after a statement when you expect the other person to say yes: Dobro je, zar ne?

When another word comes first, ću comes second and the whole infinitive follows: Sutra ću pisati.

Take the adverb and add a shorter ending to make it mean more: brzo gives brže, dobro gives bolje, mnogo gives više. This form does not change for gender.

Use the imperfective for what is going on, and the perfective for something finished or about to be finished: Pišem pismo. Napisat ću pismo.

Say dvoje, troje, četvero, petero for groups of people that are mixed or children: dvoje djece, troje prijatelja. The verb is usually neuter singular.

Take the adjective stem and add -ij- (stariji) or a shorter ending with a sound change (ljepši). The comparative then agrees with the noun like an ordinary adjective.

Add a suffix like -ica or -ić to make a word smaller or more affectionate: kuća, kućica; cvijet, cvijetić. Some diminutives have become words of their own.

Turkish words came into Bosnian over centuries. Many are as ordinary as English words that came from French. Many speakers do not think of them as foreign.

To name a woman who does a job or comes from a place, add -ica or -ka to the masculine word. Sometimes the end of the word changes: Bosanac, Bosanka.

Match koji to the noun in gender and number, then choose the case from the verb or preposition in its clause.

A prefix tells the direction: do- (arrive), od- (leave), u- (in), iz- (out), pro- (past). They are added to the verb ići and also to other motion verbs.

Ime, vrijeme and prezime have a longer stem in the other cases: imena, vremena, prezimena. Dijete works the same way with -et-: djeteta.

Say Ako pada kiša, ostat ćemo kod kuće for a real possibility, using the present in the ako part.

When you care about what is done and not who does it, use <i>se</i> and a third-person verb. The thing that is done is the subject.

Use bio bih + participle: Bio bih došao, ali nisam imao vremena. It is for what would have happened, and often comes with ali (but).

Se can mean oneself, each other, or it can simply belong to the verb. The small word se takes second position in the sentence.

Pick koji, koja or koje to match the noun before it: čovjek koji, žena koja, dijete koje.

For something you do again and again, use the imperfective: Svaki dan pijem kafu. Prije sam pio čaj. Words like svaki dan, uvijek and obično make it clear.

Report a yes-no question with da li or li: Pitao me je da li dolazim. Report others with the question word.

Use da to report what someone said, and keep the tense of the original: Rekla je da je umorna.

Say Kakav je auto? Nov. for a quality, and Koji auto? Onaj novi. for a particular one. The difference is clearest in the masculine singular nominative.

Add naj- to the comparative form. It then agrees with its noun like any adjective: najbolja kafa, najbolje vrijeme.

After a comparative, use od and put the second thing in the genitive, or use nego and put the second thing in the same case as the first.

Use the conditional for wishes, polite requests and things that might happen. The helper bih agrees with the person, and the participle with gender and number.

Say Da sam znao, došao bih for something that did not happen: I did not know, so I did not come.

Use da and the present in the if-part and bih plus the participle in the result: Da imam vremena, došao bih. It says what is not true now.

In careful standard Bosnian, a quantity word gives the verb a neuter singular form: Mnogo ljudi je došlo. After dva, tri and četiri the verb is plural: Dva čovjeka su došla.

The vocative is the case for calling someone. Most masculine nouns take <i>-e</i>, nouns in a soft consonant take <i>-u</i>, and feminine nouns in <i>-a</i> take <i>-o</i>.

To call a man by name, usually add <i>-e</i> to a name that ends in a consonant. A woman's name in <i>-a</i> often stays as it is.

When one person wants another person to act, use da and the present: Želim da dođeš. Bosnian does not use the infinitive when the subjects differ.

Bosnian took these endings from Turkish. A word with -džija names someone who makes or sells something, and a word with -džinica usually names the shop.

The ending comes from Turkish and is not used for every city.

Komšiluk means the neighbourhood and also the friendly bond between neighbours. The ending -luk makes a masculine noun from a person word.

A formal letter or email has set openings and closings. The greeting uses the vocative, and the polite word for you is often capitalised.

Bujrum comes from Turkish and is part of everyday Bosnian hospitality. It is a friendly cousin of izvoli and izvolite.

Ask for burek and you get the meat pie. For cheese, greens or potato, ask for the pie by name. All of them together are pita.

Use da bih, da bi, da bismo and da biste with the past participle to say in order to: da bih razumio, da bismo putovali.

Dok means while. It also means until when ne comes after it: Čekam dok ne dođe autobus.

Use gdje for where something is, kamo for where to and odakle for where from: Gdje si? Kamo ideš? Odakle si?

Both words mean "although". They begin a clause with a fact that is true, and the main clause says what happens anyway.

To express "let us", use the <i>mi</i> form of the verb with <i>-mo</i>. A friendly alternative is <i>hajde da</i> and the present.

Use jednom for once and dvaput for twice. From three on say the number and puta: tri puta, pet puta, nekoliko puta, mnogo puta.

All three words mean "because" or "since". <i>Jer</i> and <i>zato što</i> usually follow the main clause, and <i>pošto</i> often starts the sentence.

After mislim da, say the full clause with a normal verb: Mislim da je lijepo. To say you think something will happen, use da + future.

<i>Neka</i> means "let" or "may". It is followed by a present-tense verb and shows permission, a wish or an order for someone else.

Both words are followed by the same counting form as after dva. Oba brata, oba sela, obje sestre. For a mixed pair, speakers use oboje.

Use oko for around and duž for along, both with the genitive. Use uz for up or alongside and niz for down, both with the accusative.

Use ono što for what (the thing that) and sve što for everything that.

Osim means except or besides and protiv means against. Both are followed by the genitive: osim Amira (except Amir), protiv rata.

Use po and the locative to say moving around a place or surface (po gradu) and for a time of day in general (po danu). To fetch something, use po with the accusative instead.

Say prije nego što for before and nakon što for after, followed by a verb: Prije nego što uđeš, očisti cipele.

These words come from Arabic and Turkish. They are warm and friendly in the families that use them. Treat them as set phrases, and do not worry about their grammar.

Smjeti means to be allowed to. Say Smijem li ući? to ask permission and Ne smije se pušiti for a rule that applies to everyone.

Use tako da to say so or as a result: Pada snijeg, tako da su škole zatvorene.

Both mean during. Tokom is a single word and sounds slightly formal. Za vrijeme is two words. After both, the noun is in the genitive.

Trebalo bi is softer advice (should) and treba da is a stronger need (has to). After both, use da + present or an infinitive. The verb trebalo stays the same for all persons.

Uprkos means despite. The noun after it usually goes in the dative: uprkos kiši (despite the rain). Usprkos is a variant form.

Zbog gives a reason, usually a bad or neutral one. Zahvaljujući gives a good reason and means thanks to. Radi means for the sake of and is a bit formal.

Čim means as soon as. The verb after it is usually perfective, in the present for the future and in the past for the past.

Put an adjective after the verb to say how someone was while they did something: Došao je sretan. The adjective matches the subject in gender and number.

Short forms save space in writing. Most have a full stop, but a few do not. Most are read as the full words; BiH is read as letters.

With two, three and four the noun looks like the genitive singular and the adjective is plural: dva velika grada, tri velike kuće. From five up both are genitive plural.

Add -lac, -telj or -ac to a verb stem for the person who does the action: čitati gives čitalac, učiti gives učitelj, pisati gives pisac.

Learn a few aorist forms as whole phrases: Odoh (I am off), Rekoh ti (I told you), Šta reče? (What did he say?).

Put a comma between clauses joined by ali, iako and similar words (before jer it is optional), and between items in a list. After a verb like znam or mislim, da needs no comma.

Ne- means not, bez- means without and pre- often means too much or over. They are glued to the front of the word: moguć, nemoguć; briga, bezbrižan; velik, prevelik.

Many compound words are two roots glued together. The first root often ends in -o- (or sometimes -e-): voda + vod gives vodovod. Some compounds have no linking vowel: auto + put gives autoput.

Official writing uses nouns where speech uses verbs. A noun in <i>-nje</i> or <i>-nja</i> with a genitive replaces a whole clause.

Take the they form of the verb. Replace -u with -ući (čitaju gives čitajući) or -e with -eći (rade gives radeći). It tells what the subject does at the same time as the main verb.

Use budem, budeš, bude + participle in a kad or ako clause to show a future action or situation that the main clause depends on or follows.

Put a noun and an adjective in the genitive after a noun to describe a quality: čovjek dobre volje (a good-humoured man), žena visokog rasta (a tall woman).

Put <i>sve</i> before a comparative to say that something keeps getting more or less. It works with adjectives and adverbs.

Use budući da at the start of a clause to give a reason in news, letters and speeches. In everyday talk people say jer or pošto instead.

It is made from a perfective verb: after a vowel add -vši, after a consonant add -ši. It tells what the subject had finished before the main action.

Add -ivati, -avati or -ati to a prefixed perfective verb to get a repeated or ongoing version.

A passive sentence can name the doer with od strane + genitive, which is usual in news and official text. In everyday talk an active sentence is simpler.

Add -ost to the adjective stem to name a quality: mlad becomes mladost, siguran becomes sigurnost, iskren becomes iskrenost.

Many passive participles in -n, -en or -t are used like ordinary adjectives and agree with the noun: otvoren prozor, napisana knjiga, zatvorena vrata.

Particles are small words that show how the speaker feels. Baš means really, čak means even, ipak means still, valjda means I suppose, and zar makes a surprised question.

It tells what has been done to something. Combine it with je or su: Vrata su otvorena. Most -ati verbs take -n, most -iti verbs take -en, and a few take -t.

Use bio sam + participle for an action that was already finished before another past moment.

Headlines and reports use a past participle with <i>je</i> or <i>su</i> to say what happened, often without naming who did it.

Bosnian quotation marks look like „ and “. The first sits on the line and the second above it. The speaker tag comes after a comma: „Dolazim sutra“, rekao je Amir.

People in different parts of Bosnia speak a little differently. Some regional forms are fine in talk with friends but are not used in school or in the news.

In many word forms a consonant and j fuse into one sound. That explains pisati and pišem, mlad and mlađi, platiti and plaćen.

Računar and mobitel are everyday Bosnian words for a computer and a mobile phone. Internet, laptop and wi-fi are used as in English.

Add -nje to the stem of the verb to name the action: čitati becomes čitanje, pisati becomes pisanje, učiti becomes učenje.

A verb decides the case of its object. Sjećati se and bojati se take the genitive, služiti se takes the instrumental, pomagati takes the dative and čekati takes the accusative.

Bez obzira na means regardless of or no matter what: bez obzira na vrijeme, bez obzira na godine.

Bosnian has the word hljeb for bread. Croatian uses kruh, and Serbian uses hleb. In Bosnia, kruh is also heard.

This pair means "not only... but also...". The first part names one thing and the second part adds another.

Say Nemoj pisati. Nemoj uzimati. to forbid an action. For a warning about an accident, use the perfective: Nemoj pasti!

Bosnian has two spellings for a few common words: općina and opština, uopće and uopšte, opći and opšti. Both are accepted; this course writes the forms with ć.

Pisaću, pisaćeš, pisaće is the Serbian and Montenegrin way to write pisat ću; this course teaches the split form.

These phrases are common in letters, news and offices: u vezi s poslom, u skladu s pravilima, s obzirom na kišu.

Ukoliko means if and is often seen in letters, emails and notices. In ordinary talk, people say ako.

Bosnian has some pairs of words where two forms are common. You can use either one, and you will meet both in newspapers and on the street.

Use this pair to link two changes that grow together. Both halves have a comparative word.

An apposition is a noun phrase that adds a description next to another noun, set off by commas. It takes the same case as the noun it describes.

Bosnian has many words that came through Turkish from Arabic and Persian. Some are everyday words, and others are found mostly in religious talk and older literature.

Families in Germany, Austria, Sweden and Turkey often mix local words into Bosnian. You will hear this at home and among friends, and it is a normal part of how the language lives.

Move the word you want to stress to the start. In literary Bosnian the adjective or the participle often goes first, and short words like je stay in second place.

News texts name who said something with a verb such as izjavio je, naveo je, kazao je or potvrdio je, followed by da and the content. Prema riječima gives the source too.

Writers may start with the verb or move words around for rhythm or emphasis, and you can read this as a style choice.

Bosnian uses Latin-based month names (januar, februar, mart, august). Croatian uses its own names, such as siječanj and kolovoz. Serbian is close to Bosnian but says avgust and jun.

In a tale or a literary text, a row of aorist verbs shows one event after another, fast.

Offices, courts and companies use a fixed, formal style. It has set openings, longer nouns and impersonal verbs. You will meet it in forms, letters and notices.

A proverb is a short saying that people repeat in the same words. You learn it as one block and do not change its word order or endings.

It describes a finished action in stories, folk songs and a few fixed phrases such as Odoh! Everyday speech uses the perfect instead.

It tells what was going on in a scene, such as the weather or what people were doing. For verbs in -ati the endings are -ah, -aše, -aše, -asmo, -aste, -ahu.

Sevdalinke are old love songs from Bosnia. Their words are warm, with calls to a loved one, small affectionate forms and Turkish-origin words.

Many Bosnian books use Turkish-origin words, such as sokak, čaršija, avlija and ćuprija, to show the old town and its way of life.

In Serbia the standard is Ekavian, so people say mleko, lepo, devojka and vreme. Bosnian uses the Ijekavian forms mlijeko, lijepo, djevojka and vrijeme.

Bosnian uses ko, hljeb, hiljada, tačno and pozorište. When you read Croatian, you will see the other forms. They are not mistakes in Croatian, and you can learn to recognise them.

All three mean despite and are normally used with the dative. In Bosnian writing, use uprkos. You will meet the others in Croatian texts and sometimes in Bosnian ones.