Greetings
Dobar dan
DOH-bar dahn
Good day — the standard polite greeting. 'Zdravo' is the casual one and works with almost anyone.
Daily life
Beli karton
BEH-lee KAR-ton
The white card — police registration of your address, required of every foreigner on arrival. Hotels do it automatically; in a private flat it is on you and your landlord.
Jedinstvena dozvola
yeh-DEEN-stveh-na DOZ-vo-la
The unified residence-and-work permit. One application, one biometric card, valid up to three years since the 2023 reform merged two separate procedures.
JMBG / evidencioni broj
yot-em-beh-geh
The personal identification number. Foreigners are assigned an evidence number that functions similarly and is asked for constantly.
Blok
blohk
One of the numbered superblocks of Novi Beograd. Addresses there are given by block number rather than by street, which confuses every newcomer once.
Nightlife
Splav
splahv
A floating raft club moored on the Sava or Danube. Belgrade's defining nightlife form, and seasonal — the summer ones and the winter ones are different places.
Food
Kafana
ka-FAH-na
A traditional tavern — grilled meat, rakija, live music, long evenings. Not a restaurant and not a bar; it is its own institution.
Social
Rakija
RA-kee-ya
Fruit brandy, usually plum. Offered on arrival at any home, refused only with care, and homemade is always claimed to be better.
Polako
po-LA-ko
'Slowly' — the answer to almost any question about pace, deadlines or urgency. It is a genuine cultural instruction, not a deflection.
Ajmo / Hajde
AY-mo / HIGH-deh
'Let's go' or 'come on' — the most-used word in Belgrade, applied to leaving, starting, hurrying and encouraging.
Emergency
192 / 193 / 194
—
Police, fire and ambulance respectively. 112 also connects and routes you onward, but Serbians dial the three-digit numbers.
Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.