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Moja baka je cijeli život živjela na selu. / Moja baba je celi život živela na selu.

My grandmother lived in the village all her life.

Nije često bila u velikim gradovima.

She was not often in big cities.

 Grad joj se nije sviđao i nije pričala o gradovima.

She didn’t like the city and didn’t talk about cities.

Uvijek kad je morala putovati u grad, govorila je: „Osjećam se kao da moram ići u džunglu.” / Uvek kad je morala da putuje u grad, govorila je: „Osećam se kao da moram da idem u džunglu.” 

Whenever she had to travel to the city, she said, “I feel like I have to go to the jungle.”

Kad je ostarila, morala je posjećivati doktore, a doktori su bili u gradu. / Kad je ostarila, morala je da posećuje lekare, a lekari su bili u gradu.

When she got older, she had to visit doctors, and the doctors were in town.

Iako nije vjerovala doktorima, kad je imala termin, išla je u bolnicu s mojom mamom, svojom kćerkom. / Iako nije verovala lekarima, kad je imala termin, išla je u bolnicu sa mojom mamom, svojom ćerkom.

Although she didn’t trust doctors, when she had an appointment, she went to the hospital with my mom, her daughter.

Moja mama je uvijek htjela pomoći baki. Išle su autom. Mama je vozila. / Moja mama je uvijek htela da pomogne baki. Išle su kolima. Mama je vozila.

My mom always wanted to help grandma. They went by car. Mom was driving.

Kad su se mama i ona vozile kroz grad, baka joj je stalno govorila: „Pazi, kćeri, semafor! Gle, pogazit ćeš/pogazićeš čovjeka/čoveka, bože, bože…”.

When my mom and she were driving through the city, my grandmother constantly said to her: “Watch out, daughter, the traffic lights! Look, you will run over the man, oh God, oh God…”.

Jednom je mama postala baš nervozna zbog bake i njezinih komentara i rekla joj je: „Sad je dosta.

Once, mom got really nervous because of grandma and her comments and said to her: “That’s enough now.

Izađi iz auta i idi sama. Blizu bolnice smo. Idi po ovim stepenicama i skreni u ulicu lijevo/levo. Nećeš se više ponašati tako bezobrazno prema meni!”

Get out of the car and go alone. We are near the hospital. Go up these stairs and turn left into the street. You won’t behave so rude toward me anymore!”

Let’s analyze the text from the beginning considering the cases that are used.

LEGEND:

NOM – nominativ, basic form

GEN – genitiv

DAT – dativ

AK – akuzativ

VOK – vokativ

LOK – lokativ

INST – instrumental

CRO: Moja baka (NOM) je cijeli život (AK) živjela na selu (LOK).

SRB: Moja baba (NOM) je celi život (AK) živela na selu (LOK).

Maybe you wonder why cijeli život/ celi život is akuzativ. The answer is that we use akuzativ when expressing period, like for whole life, for a year, for a month… – cijeli/celi život, jednu godinu, jedan mjesec/mesec…

Nije često bila u velikim gradovima (LOK, plural).

Grad (NOM) joj se nije sviđao i nije pričala o gradovima (LOK).

Reminder: Lokativ comes after the connectors u, na, po, prema, o.

Uvijek/uvek kad je morala putovati u grad (AK), govorila je: „Osjećam/osećam se kao da moram ići u džunglu (AK).” 

In both examples, it’s about direction – akuzativ.

CRO: Kad je ostarila, morala je posjećivati doktore (AK), a doktori (NOM, plural) su bili u gradu (LOK).

SRB: Kad je ostarila, morala je da posećuje lekare (AK), a lekari (NOM, plural) su bili u gradu (LOK).

Iako nije vjerovala doktorima/verovala lekarima (DAT, plural), kad je imala termin (AK), išla je u bolnicu (AK) sa mojom mamom (INST), svojom kćerkom (INST).

Moja mama (NOM) je uvijek htjela pomoći/uvek htela da pomogne baki (DAT).

Išle su autom/kolima (INST). Mama (NOM) je vozila.

Kad su se mama (NOM) i ona vozile kroz grad (AK), baka (NOM) joj je stalno govorila: „Pazi, kćeri (VOK), semafor! Gle, pogazit ćeš čovjeka (AK)/pogazićeš čoveka (AK), bože, bože… (VOK)”.

Here we have 2 uses of vokativ – kćeri and bože – because she’s referring to her daughter and God. Did you know that God – Bog – in vokativ sounds Bože. It’s because a vocal change called palatalizacija occurs.

Jednom je mama (NOM) postala baš nervozna zbog bake (GEN) i njezinih komentara (GEN, plural) i rekla joj (DAT) je: „Sad je dosta.

Prestani mi (DAT) soliti pamet (AK)! / Prestani da mi (DAT) soliš pamet (AK)!

Izađi iz auta/kola (GEN) i idi sama.

Blizu bolnice (GEN) smo. Idi po ovim stepenicama (LOK) i skreni u ulicu (AK) lijevo/levo.

Nećeš se više ponašati tako bezobrazno prema meni! (LOK)”

Remember that “ja” in lokativ/dativ has long and short form, just like all other pronouns. Meni is a long form and it’s used always with a prepositions, like prema in the example above. The short form is mi and it’s used in all other cases, like Rekla mi je, Dao mi je…

What does SOLITI PAMET mean and when can you use it?

Soliti pamet literally means to salt my brain or mind.

The phrase is used in Croatian and Serbian languages when someone is constantly saying what you should do. They’re giving you advice you haven’t asked for. They behave like they’re smarter than you and that annoys you. Then you can say – Ne soli mi pamet!

Pamet is used like a synonym for mozak (brain) or um (mind) only in the phrases. Except for this one, we often say: “Sišao/la si s pameti!” That means “You climbed down your mind” literally. It’s used when you can not believe what someone did, how stupid thing.

Imala sam jednog prijatelja/drugara koji je uvijek/uvek bio smiren, miran čovjek/čovek osim kad je bio u prometu/saobraćaju.

I had one friend who was always a calm, shy man except when he was in traffic.

Jako/Mnogo mu je smetala gužva u prometu/saobraćaju.

The traffic jam bothered him a lot.

Kad smo hodali u centru grada među puno/mnogo ljudi, ta gužva mu nije smetala, više je smetala meni, ali kad je sjeo/seo u auto/kola, postao je drugi čovjek/čovek. 

When we walked in the center of the town among a lot of people, that crowd didn’t bother him, it bothered me more, but when he sat in his car, he became another man.

“Ajde glupane, vozi! Ma kako to voziš, …”

“Come on, you stupid, drive! Oh how your drive is…”

Psovao je i vikao na druge vozače. Bio je ljut, bio je bijesan/besan. 

He sweared and yelled at other drivers. He was angry, he was furious.

Baš sam se pitala kakav je danas.

I was just wondering what is he like today.

Je li još uvijek tako ljut i nestrpljiv u prometu? / Da li je još uvek tako ljut i nestrpljiv u saobraćaju?

Is he still so angry and impatient in the traffic?

Danas se ne družimo više niti ga vidim u gradu, mislila sam.

Today we don’t hang out anymore nor do I see him in the town, I was thinking.

Ali, eto njega, sretnem ga jutros kad sam išla u banku.

But, here he is, I met him this morning when I was going to the bank.

Kažem mu da sam se baš sjetila/setila kako je uvijek/uvek bio ljut u prometu/saobraćaju, a on mi kaže:

I told him that I just remembered that he was always angry in the traffic, and he told me:

“Uh, nemoj da me podsećaš. Da, i danas sam takav, ali više ne smem da budem takav.

“Uh, don’t remind me. Yes, still today I’m like this but I can’t be like this anymore (I can’t behave like this).

Upravo se vraćam sa suda.

I’m just getting back from the court.

Prije/Pre neki dan razljutio sam se na jednog vozača i počeo vikati/ da vičem na njega.

I got mad at a driver the other day and started to yell at him.

Lik je izašao iz auta/ kola, došao do mojeg auta/mojih kola i ja sam ga udario. Posvađali smo se i čak potukli. 

The guy got out of his car, he came to my car and I pushed him. We had an argue and even fight.

Dobio sam novčanu kaznu – upravo su mi rekli na sudu.

I got a fine (penalty of money) – they just told me on the court.

Od sad ću paziti kad sam vozim.

From now on, I will take care when I drive alone.

Neću više biti nervozan, upisat ću neki kurs meditacije ili joge, k vragu.”

I won’t be nervous anymore, I’ll join a meditation or yoga course, damn it.”

In this text, we have all 3 tenses.

PAST TENSE

The story begins with the past tense since it narrates about the old times in the narrator’s life:

Imala sam jednog prijatelja/drugara koji je uvijek/uvek bio smiren, miran čovjek osim kad je bio u prometu/saobraćaju.

When using connectors like koji, kad, the helping verb “to be” comes first: koji je bio, kad je bio.

It’s understandable if you say kad bio je, but in the opposite order, it sounds more natural.

Jako mu je smetala gužva u prometu/saobraćaju. Kad smo hodali u centru grada među puno ljudi, ta gužva mu nije smetala, više je smetala meni, ali kad je sjeo/seo u auto/kola, postao je drugi čovjek/čovek. 

Remember the conjugation of the verbs like smetati, nedostajati, sviđati se. Smeta mu is the present tense and smetao/la mu je is the past tense.

“Ajde glupane, vozi! Ma kako to voziš, …”

Here we see a rare example of vokativ – grammatical case that is used when you’re addressing someone.

Psovao je i vikao na druge vozače. Bio je ljut, bio je bijesan/besan. 

Baš sam se pitala kakav je danas.

Note the difference between the verbs “pitati” (to ask; + akuzativ) and “pitati se” (to wonder).

PRESENT TENSE

The part with the present tense begins with a question in the present tense:

Je li još uvijek tako ljut i nestrpljiv u prometu? / Da li je još uvek tako ljut i nestrpljiv u saobraćaju?

There is a difference between Serbian and Croatian when it comes to making questions. In Serbian, the question always begins with da li and then, simply the verb.

PRESENT: Da li radiš?

PAST: Da li si radio?

FUTURE: Da li ćeš raditi?

In Croatian, the long forms of the helping verbs are used in the past and future, while in the present, only the verb first and li after that:

PRESENT: Radiš li?

PAST: Jesi li radio?

FUTURE: Hoćeš li raditi?

Review the present tense in Serbo-Croatian again if you need to. It’s in the first story analysis.

The narration about nowadays continues so the present tense is used:

Danas se ne družimo više niti ga vidim u gradu, mislila sam.

PRESENT USED FOR THE PAST

In that part of the story, the recent happening is narrated. Often when we narrate about something from the past, we use the present tense, but we use perfective verbs, opposite to the rule about using only imperfective verbs in the present tense.

Ali, eto njega, sretnem ga jutros kad sam išla u banku.

Kažem mu da sam se baš sjetila/setila kako je uvijek/uvek bio ljut u prometu/saobraćaju, a on mi kaže:

“Uh, nemoj me podsjećati/podsećati. Da, i danas sam takav, ali više ne smijem/smem biti takav.

Takav is a word that answer to question kakav? (What like). Takav is like that, just like the answer to kako? (how) is tako (this way).

Upravo se vraćam sa suda.

In that direct speech, it’s used imperfective verb in the present since the man says what’s happening right now. (vraćati se – imperfective; vratiti se – perfective)

Past tense – happening from the other day

Prije/pre neki dan razljutio sam se na jednog vozača i počeo vikati na njega. Lik je izašao iz auta, došao do mojeg auta i ja sam ga udario. Posvađali smo se i čak potukli. Dobio sam novčanu kaznu – upravo su mi rekli na sudu.

When listing the verbs in the past tense, if the subject is the same, it’s not needed to repeat the first part, the helping verb: Razljutio sam se, počeo vikati, došao do njega i udario. “Sam” is enough only in the beginning.

FUTURE TENSE

It’s used to express the plans for the future.

Od sad ću paziti kad sam vozim. Neću više biti nervozan, upisat ću neki tečaj meditacije ili joge, k vragu.”

What does it mean “bre” in Serbian?

In Croatian, there is no such expression, also not in Bosnian. Only in Serbian, people use “bre” very often.

This word doesn’t have a literal translation to any language. It’s something people use at the end of the sentence.

It is used when you’re upset, like in the text: Ma kako to voziš, bre!

Or when you say a contradictory:

-Sad si ljut. – Ma nisam, bre!

Or when you hurry up someone: Hajde vozi, bre!

Or…

There are really many uses of that word. Even when you narrate something, to make it “Serbian”, just insert “bre” from time to time 😉

Primer:

“I tako ja vozim, a neki lik mi trubi – bip biiip. (ja) Rek’o šta trubiš, bre? Šta trubi, bre, ravna cesta, može da me zaobiđe ako mu se ne sviđa voziti iza mene, a on, bre, trubi.”