Annotated Weather Forecast

Serbian weather forecasts compress predictable information: they omit биће where English requires it will be, treat temperatures as ranges, and move through regions with short locative phrases. The forecast below is original and fictional, but its neutral institutional style follows the recurring language of Serbia's Republic Hydrometeorological Service. It is not a current forecast and should not be used for travel or safety decisions.

Complete Forecast

Idiomatic Translation as a Continuous Text

Weather forecast for Serbia for Saturday. It will be cloudy in most of the country in the morning, with light rain in places in the west and southwest. Skies will gradually clear during the day, first in Vojvodina and then in central areas during the afternoon. Mostly cloudy weather will persist in the east, while light snow will fall occasionally in the mountains. Winds will be light to moderate from the northwest, occasionally strong in the Timok Krajina. Lows will range from 4 to 9°C, and highs from 12°C in the northwest to 18°C in the southeast. Belgrade will be cloudy in the morning, with gradual clearing later and a high around 16°C. Sunday will be mostly sunny and slightly warmer, but new cloud is expected from the north in the evening.

The translation repeatedly supplies will be. That verb is often absent in the Serbian source because forecast register treats weather states as labels attached to a time and region.

Line-by-Line Grammar

1. Two за phrases in the heading

За Србију identifies the forecast area; за суботу identifies the forecast day. Both take the accusative. English happens to use for in both places too, but the Serbian heading is not a full sentence and does not need ово је.

The official-style noun phrase прогноза времена uses genitive времена. It means a forecast of the weather, not “time's forecast.”

2. Impersonal forecast ellipsis

Ујутру ... облачно has no expressed verb or dummy pronoun. Its ordinary full-clause interpretation is ујутру ће бити облачно. English requires it, but Serbian weather expressions do not introduce a meaningless subject equivalent to English it.

The published forecast prefers the shorter nominal style. In conversation, both the short answer Сутра облачно and full Сутра ће бити облачно are possible; the fuller version is easier outside a forecast frame.

Местимично са слабом кишом is also compressed: understand биће or очекује се време from context. Instrumental кишом follows са, and adjective слабом agrees with it.

3. Event nouns instead of finite verbs

Постепено разведравање names a process. The location sequence најпре у Војводини, а после подне и у централним пределима tells where and when that process spreads. A conversational rewrite uses a finite reflexive verb:

The additive и means also: clearing reaches a second region. It does not mean simple coordination of two simultaneous places.

4. Future I and aspect

Задржаће се is perfective and views the cloudy state as persisting through the relevant forecast interval. Падаће is imperfective future: snow will occur intermittently, reinforced by повремено. When the infinitive precedes the Future I auxiliary, a verb in -ти drops that ending and writes the auxiliary onto the remaining base: падати + ће → падаће, задржати + ће → задржаће. With reflexive се, the forecast instead uses the equally standard clitic sequence ће се задржати.

The clause after док contrasts two simultaneous regional developments. Here док is while, not until.

5. A verbless wind line

Ветар слаб до умерен, северозападни is characteristic forecast compression. A full prose version is Дуваће слаб до умерен северозападни ветар. Северозападни describes the direction the wind comes from.

У Тимочкој Крајини is locative after static у. By contrast, са севера later uses genitive to name the source direction from which cloud arrives.

6. Temperature ranges and numerals

The pattern is од X до Y. In speech, read од четири до девет степени, not четири степена after the range endpoint nine. Numbers ending in 5–9 and 0 take genitive plural степени; 2–4 take the paucal степена when they stand independently.

In од 12 °C ... до 18 °C, the regional phrases distinguish the endpoints: twelve in the northwest, eighteen in the southeast. The forecast does not claim that every location has both temperatures.

7. The city forecast reuses national syntax

У Београду is locative, and ујутру облачно again omits биће. The semicolon separates weather development from the temperature summary. Око 16 °C marks approximation: the expected high is near sixteen, not an exact guarantee.

8. Looking ahead without overstating certainty

Очекује се ново наоблачење is an impersonal се construction. It presents an expectation, not an observed event. Са севера names the incoming direction; увече provides the time frame.

Information Structure and Register

Each line moves from frame to prediction: time or region first, then weather. На истоку and у Београду are topics; the new information follows. This ordering lets a listener wait for the region they care about.

Forecast Serbian is (formal/institutional) but not ornate. Sentence fragments are normal inside the genre. Copying them into unrelated conversation can sound like a bulletin: Ветар слаб, кафа топла is humorous because it imitates forecast compression.

Regional names follow normal case government: у Војводини, у Тимочкој Крајини, на истоку, на планинама, са севера. There is no single English-style preposition that covers all of them. See weather expressions for conversational questions and answers.

Common Mistakes

Adding a dummy subject

Using directional accusative for a static region

Reading every temperature with степена

Turning an expectation into certainty

Key Takeaways

• Recover omitted биће from verbless institutional forecast lines.
• Use у/на + locative for forecast areas and са + genitive for an incoming direction.
• Read temperature numerals with the appropriate form of степен.
• Preserve aspect and uncertainty: падаће, задржаће се, and очекује се do different jobs.

Reuse Exercises

1. Rewrite the complete forecast as a conversational voice message beginning Сутра ће... Restore every omitted verb but preserve the regional sequence.
2. Create a two-line winter forecast containing на планинама, a range from −6 to 2 °C, and an impersonal очекује се clause. Write the temperatures out in words.
3. Reverse the clearing pattern so that the east clears first and cloud remains in Vojvodina. Adjust најпре, затим, and the regional cases without changing the forecast's neutral register.