Ne razumem ovu reč.

Word by word:

• Ne = not
• razumem = I understand
• ovu = this (feminine singular, accusative)
• reč = word

So the sentence literally follows the same basic idea as English: Not understand-I this word, meaning I don’t understand this word.

In Serbian, negation with verbs is usually written as a separate word:

• razumem = I understand
• ne razumem = I do not understand

So unlike English, where don’t is a contraction, Serbian simply puts ne before the verb.

Razumem is the 1st person singular present tense of the verb razumeti / razumjeti = to understand.

That means:

• ja razumem = I understand
• ja ne razumem = I do not understand

The subject ja (I) is usually omitted, because the verb ending -em already shows who is doing the action.

Serbian often drops subject pronouns when they are already clear from the verb form.

So:

• Ne razumem ovu reč.
• Ja ne razumem ovu reč.

Both mean the same thing, but the version without ja is more natural in many everyday situations.

You would add ja only for emphasis, contrast, or clarity, for example:

• Ja ne razumem, ali ona razume. = I don’t understand, but she does.

Because reč is the direct object of the verb understand, it has to be in the accusative case.

• Nominative: ova reč = this word
• Accusative: ovu reč = this word as the object of the sentence

So:

• Ova reč je teška. = This word is difficult.
• Ne razumem ovu reč. = I don’t understand this word.

The English form stays the same, but Serbian changes the grammar.

That is a very common learner question.

The demonstrative ovaj / ova / ovo changes form depending on case, gender, and number. Here, feminine singular accusative is ovu.

The noun reč is a feminine noun, but in this pattern its accusative singular looks the same as the nominative singular:

• Nominative: reč
• Accusative: reč

So the case is shown clearly by ovu, even though reč itself does not visibly change here.

Yes, reč is feminine.

This is something learners often notice because many Serbian feminine nouns end in -a, but reč does not. It belongs to a smaller group of feminine nouns that end in a consonant.

You can see that it is feminine because words agreeing with it are feminine:

• ova reč = this word
• jedna reč = one word
• moja reč = my word

The letter č is pronounced roughly like ch in chocolate, but usually a bit firmer.

So reč sounds approximately like rech.

The whole sentence is pronounced approximately:

neh rah-zoo-mem oh-voo rech

A more natural Serbian rhythm would be:

Ne RA-zu-mem O-vu REČ.

Yes. Serbian uses both Latin and Cyrillic scripts.

• Latin: Ne razumem ovu reč.
• Cyrillic: Не разумем ову реч.

They mean exactly the same thing.

Yes. Serbian word order is more flexible than English word order.

The neutral, standard version is:

• Ne razumem ovu reč.

But you might also hear:

• Ovu reč ne razumem.

That puts more emphasis on ovu reč = this word.

English also does something similar with stress: This word, I don’t understand.

You could, but razumem is the more natural choice here.

• razumeti = to understand
• shvatiti / shvatam = to grasp, to get, to understand

With a single word, ne razumem ovu reč sounds more standard and straightforward.

Ne shvatam is more often used for understanding an idea, situation, or explanation, though there is overlap.

Because ovo and ovu are different forms.

• ovo is usually neuter nominative/accusative singular
• ovu is feminine accusative singular

Since reč is feminine, you need a feminine form. And since it is the object, you need the accusative:

• ova reč = nominative
• ovu reč = accusative

So ovo reč would be incorrect.

For the normal meaning of word, yes, reč is the standard Serbian word.

It can also mean speech, statement, or promise depending on context, just like word in English can have several meanings.

In this sentence, though, it clearly means a vocabulary item: word.