Nazdravićemo slavljeniku.

In Serbian, the future tense is often made with the auxiliary ću, ćeš, će, ćemo, ćete, će.

With many verbs, especially in normal neutral style, this auxiliary can attach directly to the infinitive stem:

• nazdraviti → nazdravićemo

This means we will make a toast / we will toast.

You may also see the future written as two words in some contexts, but Nazdravićemo is the standard fused form here.

The dictionary form is nazdraviti.

That verb means to make a toast, to drink to someone’s health, or to say cheers/toast someone.

So:

• nazdraviti = to toast
• nazdravićemo = we will toast

Because slavljeniku is in the dative case.

The verb nazdraviti commonly takes the person being toasted in the dative:

• nazdraviti kome? = to toast to whom?

So:

• slavljenik = the celebrant / birthday person / person being celebrated
• slavljeniku = to the celebrant

That -u ending marks the dative singular for this masculine noun.

Usually, slavljenik means the person being celebrated. Very often that is a birthday person, but it can also be someone celebrating another occasion.

Depending on context, it can mean:

• birthday boy / birthday girl in a general sense
• celebrant
• guest of honor in some situations

So slavljeniku is not limited only to birthdays, although birthdays are a very common use.

Because nazdraviti does not take a direct object in the accusative here. It takes an indirect object in the dative.

Compare:

• Vidim slavljenika. = I see the celebrant.
  Here slavljenika is accusative.

But:

• Nazdravićemo slavljeniku. = We will toast the celebrant / drink to the celebrant.
  Here slavljeniku is dative.

So the case changes depending on the verb and the role of the noun in the sentence.

Yes. Serbian word order is fairly flexible because cases show grammatical roles.

So these are all possible, with slightly different emphasis:

• Nazdravićemo slavljeniku.
• Slavljeniku ćemo nazdraviti.
• Mi ćemo nazdraviti slavljeniku.

The original sentence sounds natural and neutral. Moving slavljeniku to the front can emphasize to the celebrant.

No. Serbian usually drops subject pronouns when the verb already shows the person clearly.

• Nazdravićemo already means we will toast

If you say Mi ćemo nazdraviti slavljeniku, the mi adds emphasis, something like:

• We will toast the celebrant

So the pronoun is optional unless you want contrast or emphasis.

Roughly:

nahz-DRAH-vee-cheh-moh

A few helpful points:

• dr stays together clearly
• ć is a soft sound, somewhat like a very soft ch
• stress is on -dra-: naz-DRA-vi-će-mo

And slavljeniku is roughly:

slah-vlyeh-NEE-koo

The lj is a palatal sound, similar to the lli in some pronunciations of million, though not exactly the same.

They are different verbs:

• nazdraviti = to make a toast, to drink to someone’s health
• pozdraviti = to greet someone, or sometimes to salute

So:

• Nazdravićemo slavljeniku. = We’ll toast the celebrant.
• Pozdravićemo slavljenika. = We’ll greet the celebrant.

Notice that pozdraviti often takes the accusative direct object, while nazdraviti takes the dative person being toasted.

It is neutral and works in both everyday and fairly polite contexts.

Nothing in the sentence itself is especially formal or especially casual. Its tone depends mostly on context:

• at a birthday party
• at a wedding
• during a celebration

It sounds like a normal, natural statement.

Not exactly. Nazdravićemo slavljeniku is straightforward future tense:

• We will toast the celebrant

If you want Let’s toast the celebrant, Serbian would more naturally use an imperative or suggestion form, for example:

• Nazdravimo slavljeniku. = Let’s toast the celebrant.

So the given sentence is not a suggestion; it is a statement about the future.

The verb nazdraviti is perfective, which is very common when talking about a single completed action in the future.

So Nazdravićemo slavljeniku presents the toast as a complete event:

• we will make a toast
• we will drink to him/her

If you wanted to talk about repeated or ongoing toasting, an imperfective verb might be used instead, depending on context. But for one planned celebratory action, the perfective verb is very natural.

Yes, often that is the most natural English translation.

Depending on context, Nazdravićemo slavljeniku can be rendered as:

• We’ll toast the celebrant
• We’ll drink to the celebrant
• We’ll make a toast to the celebrant

English phrasing depends on the situation, but the Serbian grammar stays the same.