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Learn Hardcore Serbian: Sos lepo miriše. - The sauce smells nice.

Hardcore Serbian
/Preparing a barbecue with friends
/Sos lepo miriše.

Sos lepo miriše.

Sos lepo miriše.

The sauce smells nice.

Breakdown of Sos lepo miriše.

to smell; have a scent

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Questions & Answers about Sos lepo miriše.

What is the role of each word in Sos lepo miriše?

sos = sauce, the subject
lepo = an adverb meaning nicely / pleasantly
miriše = smells, the verb

So the structure is:

subject
- adverb
  - verb

A natural English rendering is The sauce smells nice.

Why is it lepo and not lep?

Because lepo is the adverb form, while lep is an adjective.

lep sos = a nice/beautiful sauce
Here lep describes the noun sos.
sos lepo miriše = the sauce smells nice
Here lepo describes how it smells, so Serbian uses the adverb.

This is very similar to English nice vs nicely, although Serbian often uses lepo in places where English just says nice.

Does lepo literally mean beautifully here?

Not really in the strict English sense. In this sentence, lepo is best understood as , , or in terms of smell.

pleasantly

nicely

good

So Sos lepo miriše does not sound poetic or overly fancy. It is a normal everyday way to say that the sauce smells pleasant.

What verb is miriše, and what form is it?

miriše is the 3rd person singular present tense of mirisati.

A few present-tense forms are:

ja mirišem = I smell
ti mirišeš = you smell
on/ona/ono miriše = he/she/it smells
mi mirišemo = we smell
vi mirišete = you plural/formal smell
oni/one/ona mirišu = they smell

Since sos is singular, the verb is miriše.

Does mirisati mean to smell or to sniff?

In this sentence, it means to smell in the sense of giving off a smell / having a scent.

So:

Sos lepo miriše = the sauce smells nice

Depending on context, mirisati can also be used in the sense of smelling/sniffing something, but here it is clearly the intransitive meaning: the sauce has a pleasant smell.

Why is there no word for the or a?

Because Serbian does not have articles.

So sos can mean:

the sauce
a sauce

Context tells you which one is meant. In a normal real-life situation, Sos lepo miriše would often be understood as The sauce smells nice.

Is sos in a special case here?

Yes. sos is in the nominative singular because it is the subject of the sentence.

Its basic dictionary form is also sos, so nothing changes here.

It is a masculine noun. In other cases, the form can change, for example:

bez sosa = without sauce

But in Sos lepo miriše, the nominative is exactly what you expect.

Can I change the word order?

Yes. Serbian word order is fairly flexible.

The most neutral version is:

Sos lepo miriše.

You may also hear:

Sos miriše lepo.

That is also correct, but the rhythm and emphasis are a little different.

A version like:

Lepo miriše sos.

is possible, but it sounds more marked and would usually be used for emphasis, contrast, or a special speaking style.

Could I also say Sos dobro miriše?

Yes. Sos dobro miriše is also correct and means The sauce smells good.

The difference is small:

lepo miriše = smells pleasantly / smells nice
dobro miriše = smells good

Both are natural. Lepo miriše can sound a bit more idiomatic when talking about a pleasant scent.

How do I pronounce Sos lepo miriše, and how would it be written in Cyrillic?

In Cyrillic, it is:

Сос лепо мирише.

Pronunciation, roughly by syllables:

sos
le-po
mi-ri-še

A useful point:

š is pronounced like sh in ship

So miriše sounds roughly like mi-ri-she.

Does the verb change for gender?

In the present tense, the verb changes for person and number, but not for gender.

So:

sos lepo miriše = the sauce smells nice
čorba lepo miriše = the soup smells nice

Even though sos is masculine and čorba is feminine, the verb is still miriše because both subjects are singular.

If the subject becomes plural, then the verb changes:

sosovi lepo mirišu = the sauces smell nice

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