Bosnian Grammar

Welcome to the 8th lesson about Bosnian grammar. We will first learn about prepositions, negation, questions, adverbs, and pronouns including: personal, object and possessive pronouns.

We will start with prepositions. In general, they are used to link words to other words. For example: I speak Bosnian and English the preposition is [and] because it connects both words Bosnian and English. The following is a list of the most used prepositions in Bosnian.

Prepositions - Bosnian
and i
above iznad
under ispod
before prije
after nakon
in front of ispred
behind iza
far from daleko od
near blizu
in u
inside unutra
outside izvan
with sa
without bez
about oko
between između
but ali
for za
from iz
to na

Preposition Grammar Rules

The following examples use prepositions in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Prepositions + Rules - Bosnian
I eat without a knife [preposition + noun] jedem bez noža
she lives near the church [verb + preposition] živi u blizini crkve
he is taller than her [adjective + preposition] on je viši od nje
he came with his small dog [preposition + pronoun] došao je sa svojim malim psom
can you come with me? [preposition + pronoun] možete li doći sa mnom?

Negation in Bosnian

Now let's learn how to make a negative sentence (negation). For example: Saying no, I can't, I don't ... The following examples use negation in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Negation + Rules - Bosnian
I understand you [affirmative form] ja vas razumijem
I don't understand you [negation + verb] ja vas ne razumijem
this is not the correct word [negation + adjective] ovo nije točna riječ
don't leave me [imperative negation] ne ostavljajte me
no problem [negation + noun] nema problema

Negative Sentences - Bosnian
I don't speak French [negation + present tense] ja ne govorim francuski
she didn't visit Germany [negation + past tense] ona nije posjetila njemačku
he cannot see us [negative modal verb] on nas ne može vidjeti
can't she play chess? [interrogative negation] zna li ona igrati šah?
we will not come late [negation + future tense] nećemo doći kasno

Questions in Bosnian

Now let's learn how to ask questions (interrogative). Such as: what, why, can you ...? Here are some common examples:

English - Bosnian
how? kako?
what? što?
who? tko?
why? zašto?
where? gdje?

More of the interrogative form, now in a sentence:

Questions + Rules - Bosnian
where do you live? [interrogative + verb] gdje živite?
does she speak Chinese? [interrogative verb] govori li ona kineski?
how much is this? [interrogative preposition] koliko je to?
can I help you? [interrogative modal verb] mogu li vam pomoći?
what is your name? [interrogative preposition] kako se zovete?

Adverbs in Bosnian

It's time to learn the adverbs in Bosnian. But what is an adverb? In general, adverbs modify verbs and adjectives. For example: You speak fast. The adverb is [fast] because it describes the verb and answers the question how do you speak?. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Adverbs - Bosnian
now sada
yesterday jučer
today danas
tonight večeras
tomorrow sutra
soon uskoro
quickly brzo
slowly polako
together zajedno
very vrlo
almost skoro
always uvijek
usually obično
sometimes ponekad
rarely rijetko
never nikad

The following examples use the adverbs in different ways and places to demonstrate how it behaves in a sentence.

Adverbs + Rules - Bosnian
do you understand me now? [pronoun + adverb] razumijete li me sada?
I need help immediately [noun + adverb] trebam pomoć odmah
she is very intelligent [adverb + adjective] ona je vrlo inteligentna
I will always love you [verb + adverb] uvijek ću te voljeti
can we learn German together? [adverb in a question] možemo li naučiti njemački zajedno?

Pronouns in Bosnian

We're almost done! This time we will learn the pronouns in Bosnian. In general, a pronoun can be used instead of a noun. For example instead of saying my teacher speaks 3 languages, you can use the pronoun he, and say he speaks 3 languages. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Personal Pronouns - Bosnian
I ja
you ti (+ vi: as 2. person pl.)
he on
she ona
we mi
they oni

Object Pronouns - Bosnian
me mene
you tebe (+vas: as 2. person pl.)
him njega
her nju
us nas
them njih

Possessive Pronouns - Bosnian
my moj
your tvoj
his njegov
her njen
our naš
their njihov

I think it's better to put the above example in a sentence to better assist you. The following examples use pronouns in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence. We will start with the personal pronouns.

Personal Pronouns - Bosnian
I am your friend [1st pronoun + verb] ja sam tvoj prijatelj
you speak very fast [2nd pronoun + adverb] govorite vrlo brzo
he has three dogs [3rd pronoun + verb] on ima tri psa
she can speak German [3rd pronoun + verb] ona zna njemački
we will not come late [1st plural pronoun] nećemo doći kasno
they bought milk and bread [3rd plural pronoun] oni su kupili mlijeka i kruha

The object pronoun is used as a target by a verb, and usually come after that verb. For example: I gave him my book. The object pronoun here is him. Here are more examples:

Object Pronouns - Bosnian
can you tell me your name? [1st object pronoun] možete li mi reći svoje ime?
I will give you money [2nd object pronoun] ja ću vam dati novac
she wrote him a letter [3rd object pronoun] napisala mu je pismo
they visited her yesterday [3rd object pronoun] posjetili su je jučer
can she help us? [1st pl. object pronoun] može li nam ona pomoći?
he gave them food [3rd pl. object pronoun] dao im je hranu

Possessive Pronouns - Bosnian
my name is Maya [1st possessive pronoun] moje ime je maja
your brother lives here [2nd possessive pronoun] tvoj brat živi ovdje
her mother cooks for us [3rd possessive pronoun] njezina majka kuha za nas
his hobby is reading books [3rd possessive pronoun] njegov hobi je čitanje knjiga
our dream is to visit Paris [1st pl. possessive pronoun] naš san je posjetiti pariz
their house is not far [3rd pl. possessive pronoun] njihova kuća nije daleko

One more thing you need to know is the demonstrative pronouns. They're very easy to learn.

Demonstrative Pronouns - Bosnian
this is my house ovo je moja kuća
that restaurant is far taj restoran je daleko
these apples are delicious te jabuke su ukusne
those stars are shiny one zvijezde su sjajne

I hope you learned a lot about the Bosnian grammar in this lesson. Please check out our main menu here for more lessons: homepage. The next lesson is below, have fun!