Dobar tek!

Lesson goals

Vocabulary

• Order klepe or japrak from a restaurant menu.
• Use waiter, bill, and meal-wish words at the table.
• Describe food as ukusan or ukusna.

Grammar

• Use hoću, hoćeš, and hoćemo to say what you want.
• Order with molim and ask for račun politely.
• Say Dobar tek when the food arrives.

Culture

• Compare klepe and japrak as beloved Bosnian dishes.
• Keep Visoko on the wider food map with a postcard.
• Notice hospitality as part of everyday recovery.

Watch the companion video

Watch when you can, then come back for words, dialogue, and practice on this page.

Bosnian Coffee with local guides. Café hospitality speech supports restaurant listening.

Klepe, japrak, and a full table

Sarajevo restaurants still see friendly arguments over favorite dishes when friends share a table. Klepe are soft dumplings often served with sauce and a garlic yogurt topping. Japrak wraps rice and meat in vine leaves and arrives as neat rolls that invite a slow bite. Ana and Emir open a jelovnik and turn their debate into practice with hoću and hoćeš. A Visoko postcard on the table reminds them that Bosnian food stories reach well beyond one city street. Saying Dobar tek marks the meal as a shared moment before anyone reaches for the bill.

Lesson vocabulary

Tap a word to hear it. Use Loop and slower speed when you want to shadow.

Grammar

Say again

Warm up with four lines you already know.

• Treba mi karta.: I need a ticket.
• Koliko košta karta?: How much does the ticket cost?
• Volim burek.: I love burek.
• Molim.: Please.

Lesson A. Wanting food with htjeti

Learn restoran, jelovnik, konobar, klepe, and japrak first so the room has clear names. Then practice Hoću, Hoćeš li, and Hoćemo as ready lines for saying what you want. Ana wants klepe, Emir wants japrak, and their friendly disagreement carries the lesson. Point at the menu and say the food word with molim instead of building a long sentence. Stay in the present, and your order is ready for a real waiter tonight. Practice each dish name a couple of times, then switch roles so both of you can ask and answer with hoćeš. Keep these lines short and ready to reuse at any table.

• Say Hoću plus the dish as one ready line.
• Use Hoćeš li for a friendly question.
• Keep htjeti in the present only.

Lesson B. From order to račun

Build the full table flow from greeting to goodbye, all in short present-tense lines. Greet, order with hoću, wish Dobar tek, ask for još if you need more bread, then call for račun. Say Hvala after every helpful move from the konobar so your politeness stays audible. Amira may show up with an opinion, and Mrvica watches for crumbs under the table as always. The Visoko postcard keeps the meal tied to a wider map of Bosnian kitchens beyond Sarajevo. Practice the debate until both dishes feel easy to say and easy to defend with a smile. Finish by asking for the bill in a calm, polite voice.

• Add molim to every order and to Račun, molim.
• Answer Dobar tek with Hvala.
• Name both dishes so the debate stays balanced.

Klepe ili japrak?

Ana, Emir, and Amira order at a Sarajevo restaurant while a waiter takes the table.

Play the full scene once. Then tap a line to hear it. On some lines you can record yourself for a short Speak Check.

Practice

Fun facts

Klepe come with sauce and garlic

Klepe are boiled dumplings that often arrive with a savory sauce. Many diners add a garlic yogurt topping at the table. The dish feels homey even in a busy restaurant. Ana's order makes this soft dumpling worth learning by heart.

Čuj Bosnu in café hospitality speech

Bosnia today

Neighbor passports split mobility at the same table

Shared food does not mean equal travel papers. Many Bosnian Croats and Bosnian Serbs can hold Croatian or Serbian citizenship while still living in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Those neighbor-state passports can open European Union travel and paperwork routes that many Bosniak neighbors cannot match through residence alone. A restaurant debate over klepe and japrak happens in a country where the document in your pocket can depend on ethnic background as much as the street where you sleep.

Wikipedia article on Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia relations

Practice game

More resources

• Bosnian Coffee with local guides. Café hospitality speech supports restaurant listening.
• Next lesson. Lesson 18 moves into sports and hobbies.
• How to speak Bosnian channel. Find more everyday speaker clips on the channel.

Lesson quiz

Or open the full-page quiz: Lesson 17 quiz

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