There are many such expressions in the Serbian language. For those whose mother tongue is Serbian, it is of course not difficult to understand, and when they hear some of those expressions they immediately know what it is about. (or at least in most cases)

The problem arises when you have to explain to someone who is learning Serbian as a foreign language what it actually means. A lot of these expressions when translated literally lose their true meaning and that's where the problem arises. :) I singled out a few of those that are used the most in the Serbian language, so let's try to interpret them together :)

"Kako da ne!"

You can hear this expression every day. In a literal translation into English, it would look like this: "How yes no!" It doesn't make any sense, I agree. But, we use this expression in the Serbian language when we want to express some negation in an ironic way. For example: I will beat you in tonight's match! Answer: Kako da ne! (meaning, there's no way you can beat me)

Or: My current girlfriend is much prettier than my ex. Answer: Kako da ne! (in the sense, she's not prettier than her ex)

"Šarena laža"

I heard this expression countless times as a child. :))) In English, I could literally translate it only as "Colorfull lie". What is it really about? Well, šarena laža represents something that is not real, or an empty promise, in most cases by a parent to a child. That's why I mentioned childhood at the beginning. We use it mostly in situations with smaller children. For example: If you are good, I will buy you a colorful lie! And children first think that it is some nice, colorful gift. And we're actually just fooling them with that.

"Malo sutra!"

Another frequently used expression in the Serbian language. In English, literally translated as "Little tomorrow". Of course that sounds funny. And what does it actually mean?

Well, with this expression, we generally deny or reject something, to put it simply. It is similar to the first expression I mentioned.

For example, when we say to someone: Malo sutra(No way) you will catch him when he is much faster than you! Which means there is no chance of him catching him because he is faster than him.