Learning Serbian /Croatian/Bosnian

mmm i decided to put it here cause there wasnt right place for it
i still mixed up it sometimes so tell me am i right in it or no,yeah and a little corrections from Ina is here:
correctons



I need her/him- treba mi(on,ona meni treba)
i need them-trebaju mi(oni meni trebaju)
she needs me-trebam joj(ona meni treba)
she needs u-trebaš joj
she needs him-treba joj
she needs them-trebaju joj
he needs me-trebam mu
he needs u-trebaš mu
he needs her-treba mu
he needs them-trebaju mu
we need u-trebaš nam
we need her/him-treba nam
u(ви) need me-trebam vam
u need her/him-treba vam
u need them-trebaju vam
they need me-trebam im
they need u-trebaš im
they need her/him-treba im

Hvala... I'm in a pretty romantic mood, and in a pretty Serbian mood, so I loved this post. I'm trying to keep learning Serbian up, but I can hardly find the time beside Italian and English... But I love it. Hvala lepo! Zelim ti lepu nedelju! ^^

I hope it's ok to pop into this thread again. I've tried really hard to learn "vas jezik" but for the moment I've given up, mainly due to lack of time.
I'm still very much into Regina's music, and I know a lot of the lyrics by heart now, making me able to very odd conversations

Anyway, I've noticed that some words are very common, and I wonder if it's just the text-writer (Aco) or if the expressions are more common in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian than in Swedish or English, the languages I know best.

First - the expression "only sleeping" "samo spava". I get from ex Vrijeme je that a man loves a women that's married and

covjeka koji kraj tebe spava,
i samo spava, spava, spava

Well, in Swedish songtexts you mostly say "sleep together" and mean "have sex" but from Vrijeme je (and other songs!) I have a feeling that you more or less mean that they have a useless marriage if they're "only sleeping".
Am I right?

Second, the song Bijele zore, meaning White dawns. And what does white dawn mean? In Sweden we have very long fair nights in summer which is fantastic, and I have thought bijele zore means that, but it doesn't make sense on Balkan.

Third, the expression from the song Sama
I sama, k'o maramu tugu vezes

it's translated
like a scarf you tie sorrows

And that doesn't make any sense at all to me. Is it an expression commonly used, or just the freedom of the textwriter

Hvala!

covjeka koji kraj tebe spava,
i samo spava, spava, spava

Spavati means, simply - to sleep.
Spavati kraj nekog - sleep next to someone
Spavati sa nekim is another thing because it can mean to sleep with someone in the same bed but it can also mean to 'have sex'
In that particular song, yes.. he is saying that the guy is useless because he is just sleeping (while he should be doing the other thing with the woman)
on ne spava sa njom - he doesn't have sex with her
on samo spava - he just sleeps
See this - click

the song Bijele zore, meaning White dawns.
it has no particular meaning to me either .. except that dawn is opposite to night (darkness), therefore it is white as opposed to black
The darkness will hide me, but it will bring white dawns to your lips

I sama, k'o maramu tugu vezes = like a scarf you tie sorrows
You are right, the line is a bit messed up.. and I do not think it's a common expression
"Sama" means - by yourself
but, having probably the same dilemma as you, I decided to translate it as
And alone, like a scarf, you tie sorrow
Making the point of the word "sama" not - that she ties the scarf by herself but that she is alone with her sorrow

Originally Posted by Spring

covjeka koji kraj tebe spava,
i samo spava, spava, spava

Spavati means, simply - to sleep.
Spavati kraj nekog - sleep next to someone
Spavati sa nekim is another thing because it can mean to sleep with someone in the same bed but it can also mean to 'have sex'
In that particular song, yes.. he is saying that the guy is useless because he is just sleeping (while he should be doing the other thing with the woman)
on ne spava sa njom - he doesn't have sex with her
on samo spava - he just sleeps
See this - click

Thank you, Spring!
I think this is funny. In the song Ruzo moja, there is the same expression:

ali noću ta budala
pored tebe samo spava

again meaning "you ONLY sleep (not have sex) with this other man.."

What's so funny for me is that I never heard that kind of complaint in songs from Sweden/GB/USA etc.
I'm used to songs where you complain "oh I love this man/woman but he/she's is already having another and I want him/her so bad etc etc". But not the kind of complaint
- She has a man that is useless, why doesn't she chose me!

Is that cultural from Balkan or just those specific songs??

lmao

I don't think he is complaining about the other man's sex life! haha

He is trying to point out that she is too good to be with someone who doesn't appreciate her

ali noću ta budala
pored tebe samo spava

again meaning "you ONLY sleep (not have sex) with this other man.."

She got bored with him, he has lost interest in her and opposite

Yes, yes, I understand the meaning of it, thank you.

But for me it's odd to say it that way

Well, yes, I get your point and it is not normal for us either.. I mean -it is not a Balkan thing. Not something you would hear in everyday (or any day) speech. It's just a poetic thing

@kejo: And how would you say it then?

Originally Posted by ina

@kejo: And how would you say it then?

Well.. if talking to a friend I could imagine saying something very frankly like
"you deserve something better if you dont even have sex"

But in a song... well mostly they say "he's not good for you" which can mean nearly everything from not having sex to not sharing the same political ideas or that he's beating you.

In a songcontext in Swedish (or English as far as I've noticed) you wouldn't just say "you're only sleeping" because normally the undertext of "sleeping" is having sex, so then you really must stress "you are ONLY sleeping".

Maybe I can imagine a songtext "I want you but you are only sleeping" but that's a bit different maybe.

So you wanted to say that you would not offend your opponent, no matter if you are very jealous of him/her and you can't stand the fact that he/she shares a bed with a person you desperately want? You would not show jealousy and anger or not say it aloud?

Originally Posted by ina

So you wanted to say that you would not offend your opponent, no matter if you are very jealous of him/her and you can't stand the fact that he/she shares a bed with a person you desperately want? You would not show jealousy and anger or not say it aloud?

No, that's not what I'm saying! Read what I've written again. "only sleeping" is very vague, IF I wanted to tell someone that his relation was useless I would use other words.
"only sleeping" sounds more like two teenager getting caught in the same bed

- "oh, no, mummy, we're only sleeping"

In the songs I refer to the singer is sad because the one he loves is married to someone else. I read the phrase "only sleeping" as the singers interpretation of their marriage - not that he actually KNOWS whats going on. What he knows is that he can't get this woman he wants.

But as you interpret it, it seems to me to be quite different from my interpretation, that the singer is angry and wants to offend the other part. And in that case it does seem to be a cultural difference for me, which is interesting

I don't see any cultural difference there. I also do not think he is angry nor trying to offend anyone... but I already posted about how I interpret it so.. :P

Spring: Yes, you are probably right, different persons = different thinking, not necessarily because of origin

"Budala", "Ali noću ta budala pored tebe samo spava" and "i samo spava, spava, spava" is not offending and irritation ("It's just a poetic thing", just in the song and not "a culture from Balkan"), consciously or unconsciously, then different persons = different thinking is correct. But never mind, anyway.

Gosh ina, lighten up

Of course he thinks her husband is a fool because a clever guy (like himself) would never "just sleep" next to a woman like her (she deserves better and the husband is a fool - obviously ).
I suppose it's obvious and logical that he has nothing nice to say about the other guy but that is not the point of all this anyway so, let's hope someone will soon ask another question so that we could let this one go

Hello. Can someone please translate, "Now with God" or something similar.
Hvala.

Now with God literally means - sad s' Bogom
or, it might be - sad uz Boziju pomoc (now with God's help)

But doesn't make much sense without a context

well its in context as if someone has died and has "gone to heaven" and is "now with god"
Thanks so much for your help!