Sport i hobiji
Lesson goals
Vocabulary
- Talk about football, matches, teams, and hobbies.
- Use river and walk words for a nature hobby.
- Contrast playing and watching with igrati and gledati forms.
Grammar
- Use igram and gledam in the present.
- Add često and ponekad to describe habits.
- Reuse Volim with sports and walks.
Culture
- Visit Bilino Polje in Zenica through the lesson images.
- Add Štrbački buk on the Una as a postcard walk.
- See how youth emigration presses on local sports life.
Watch the companion video
Watch when you can, then come back for words, dialogue, and practice on this page.
Beba Selimović - Bosno moja. A warm Bosnia song for weekend leisure listening.
Stadium noise and river calm
Zenica's Bilino Polje stadium gives football a loud local home on match days. Ana and Emir talk about the tim, the utakmica, and who watches versus who plays. A second postcard shows Štrbački buk on the Una River, where the water crashes white over stone. Weekend life can mean a packed stand one afternoon and a quiet river walk the next morning. Crowds chant one day, and the path grows still beside the water the next. Hobby words should cover both the stadium noise and the calm walk.
Lesson vocabulary
Tap a word to hear it. Use Loop and slower speed when you want to shadow.
Grammar
Igram and gledam
Igram covers I play, and gledam covers I watch. Add fudbal or utakmica to finish the sentence. These two present forms are enough for a stadium chat today.
- Igram fudbal.: I play football.
- Gledam utakmicu.: I watch the match.
- Volim igrati fudbal.: I like to play football.
Često and ponekad
Place često or ponekad before the verb to show how often you do something. Često means often, and ponekad means sometimes. Keep the rest of the sentence in the present.
- Često igram fudbal.: I often play football.
- Ponekad gledam utakmicu.: I sometimes watch the match.
- Često idem na šetnju.: I often go for a walk.
Hobby lines with volim
Reuse Volim plus an activity noun or verb. Pair sports with river walks so hobbies feel wider than just one stadium. Short present-tense lines keep the chat friendly.
- Volim fudbal.: I love football.
- Volim šetnju.: I love walks.
- Moj hobi je šetnja.: My hobby is walking.
Say again
Warm up with four lines you already know.
- Hoću klepe, molim.: I want klepe, please.
- Dobar tek!: Enjoy your meal!
- Hajde da idemo.: Let us go.
- Volim burek.: I love burek.
Lesson A. Play, watch, and how often
Begin with sport, hobi, fudbal, utakmica, and tim so the stadium vocabulary feels concrete. Then practice Igram and Gledam as separate present-tense lines you can finish with a noun. Ana often watches, and Emir sometimes plays. The words često and ponekad make that difference clear. Say each sentence while pointing to the Bilino Polje image so the place anchors the verb. Reuse these lines until they feel automatic, no full verb table needed yet. Finish Lesson A by telling a partner how often you watch and how often you play, in two short lines that use both frequency words.
- Keep igram and gledam as separate ready lines.
- Put često or ponekad before the verb.
- Name the team or match to finish the line.
Match hobby words
Match each Bosnian word with its English meaning.
Lesson B. From stands to river path
Move from the stadium to the river postcard without dropping the football words you just learned. Use Volim šetnju and Rijeka Una je lijepa to balance match talk with some outdoor calm. Ask a friend Hoćeš li gledati utakmicu? And answer with često or ponekad plus a present-tense verb. Amira prefers the waterfall walk, while Mrvica prefers any path that might hide snacks. Close by naming one sport habit and one nature habit, both in the present tense. You're describing your own weekend, not reciting a list of abstract hobby nouns. Say your two habits a few times until they sound natural.
- Balance football lines with šetnja vocabulary.
- Ask Hoćeš li gledati utakmicu? In a friendly voice.
- Claim one hobby you will actually repeat.
Utakmica ili šetnja?
Ana, Emir, and Amira plan a weekend while Mrvica interrupts the hobby debate.
Play the full scene once. Then tap a line to hear it. On some lines you can record yourself for a short Speak Check.
Speak Check listens to your recording and sends back short tips.
Speak Check listens to your recording and sends back short tips.
Practice
Your keyboard may not have č ć š ž đ. Tap the accent buttons under each box to insert them.
Write I play football. In Bosnian.
Hint: Begin with Igram.
Write I watch the match. In Bosnian.
Hint: Use gledam.
Write I often play football. In Bosnian.
Hint: Start with Često.
Write I sometimes watch the match. In Bosnian.
Hint: Start with Ponekad.
Write My hobby is walking. In Bosnian.
Hint: Use hobi and šetnja.
Write the Bosnian word for team.
Hint: Three letters.
Write I love football. In Bosnian.
Hint: Use Volim.
Fun facts
Bilino Polje anchors Zenica football
Bilino Polje is the main football stadium in Zenica. National and club matches have made the ground familiar across the country. The wide stands give you a clear sports image beyond Sarajevo. Saying utakmica beside this ground makes the word feel loud and real.
Štrbački buk shows the Una
Štrbački buk is a waterfall stretch on the Una River near the northwestern border area. White water over wide stone shelves draws walkers and photographers. This postcard balances the stadium noise with river calm, because hobby vocabulary needs both kinds of weekend.
Često beats a long verb table
Frequency adverbs let beginners talk about habits truthfully without learning new tenses. Često and ponekad fit right in front of present verbs you already know. The pattern is small and reusable, and being honest about how often you play keeps the conversation human.
Hobi can be quiet
Not every hobby is a competitive sport. Šetnja along a river counts, and so does watching from the stands. Book 1 keeps the word open on purpose. Pick the activity you'll actually repeat.
Čuj Bosnu with a weekend leisure song
A classic Bosnian song about home and belonging gives your ear a break from sports talk.
Song · Beba Selimović · Weekend leisure and belonging · focus ~45-90 seconds
Watch & listen
Beba Selimović performance on YouTube (YouTube Terms of Service (embed))
Listen for Bosna or warm chorus energy rather than every lyric.
Press play on the video above. After you have listened, show the gist question.
Bosnia today
Cantons and private colleges fracture higher education
Weekend sport talk sits next to a struggling education system for young adults. In the Federation, cantons fund and oversee public universities, while Republika Srpska runs a separate system. Dozens of private colleges opened after 2000, and quality varies sharply between them. Weak oversight has let some private schools sell credentials rather than real training. Which canton or entity stamps a diploma can matter almost as much as the skill behind it.
Wikipedia article on education in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Practice game
True or false about hobbies
Decide whether each sentence matches the lesson.
Igram means I play.
Ponekad means often.
Bilino Polje is in Zenica.
Štrbački buk is a desert stadium.
Quick review
A few words from this lesson, plus ones you missed before. Flip the card, then mark how it went.
Card 1 / 5
More resources
- Beba Selimović - Bosno moja. A warm Bosnia song for weekend leisure listening.
- Next lesson. Lesson 19 practices inclusive holiday greetings.
- How to speak Bosnian channel. Keep browsing real speaker clips after practice.
Lesson quiz
Or open the full-page quiz: Lesson 18 quiz
Lesson 18 section quiz
1. What does utakmica mean?
2. Which sentence means I play football?
3. Which word means often?
4. Which place is the Zenica stadium?
5. What second landscape balances the football chat?
6. Which sentence means I sometimes watch the match?
7. What does gledam mean?
8. What education problem does the civic panel highlight?
9. Which line names a walking hobby?
