Learning Serbian /Croatian/Bosnian

well.. I don't think you should learn Serbian on Funky G and similar examples lol

But it has to be "gde" because he says "ovde" (here) so, there's no need for any movement cause he is already there lol get it?

"Here where I'm taking you now..."

ah you are right, i was confused now as well.
but the whole sentence is actually 'wrong', isn't it ?
it should be "ovde gde vas sada vodim", the "ja" also isn't needed because it is already in the declination.

@ Spring : Yep I know but I'm not striving to learn it by songs, I just listen to them and notice this or that And studying srb by Funky G is one of the most pleasant ways for me =) but judging by ur opinion of Sekulic's Gacice I see ur not a great fan of turbofolk lol
I realize that "gde" and "kuda" will be a problem for me in the future...it turns out much more difficult than I thought

@ miki444: it's a part of a song and u know,in songs everything is allowed...

well, that's why i put wrong into quotation marks

I agree with tedinky, "ovde GDE sada vodim vas ja" is just a poetic way of saying "ovde gde vas sada vodim" and if we disregard the fact that the line
makes zero sense because - it is not possible to 'take someone HERE', then it is correct too..
Anyhow, he should 'take them' somewhere else and then there would be no confusion with "kuda" and "gde"
Because, in general, these two things are completely clear

Place / Location (being still/no movement) = GDE
Direction (movement) ==== > >> KUDA

(in this example - should be kuda because he is implying a movement but has to be gde because he is already there - ovde = here)

But you can equally use them both because native speakers do it very often.. for example we often say "Gde ides?" (where are you going?) although the correct way would be "Kuda ides?"

Gde si bio juce? Gde si sad? (Where were you yesterday? Where are you now?)

Kuda si posao? Kuda ides? (Where are you going?)

Wow u really don't mind it too much if sb says Gde ides?/Kuda ides?
I thought the only possible is "kuda"

i think "gde ides" is colloquial speech, a teacher probably wouldn't be to happy about it ?

yep! a teacher probably wouldn't

and tedinky, I NEVER say "Kuda ideš" (it sounds totally wrong in my ears) but "Gde ćeš?" or "Gde ćeš bre?!" if Im really unhappy about the person leaving LOL

wow we also say "bre"...or more often"be"
Hmm yesterday another question cropped up lol
I know I'll study all that things when it comes time but my God, I'm just curious lol
U have 2 infinitives and I can't get if there's some difference between them. Like: Hocem da kupim ovo./Hocem kupiti ovo..? lol I'm even not sure if those questions are correct but I hope u'll get it

the first one is the serbian way of saying it the second is the croatian way of saying it.

btw. why does croatian suddenly stand in brackets in the thread title ?

Huh I didn't supposed that there's a difference lol
I think cro has always been in the brackets hmm

well, i'm not sure but i think you can say both versions in serbian, although the first one is much more common, in croatian only the second one is correct.

oh, i had in my memory that it was serbian/croatian/bosnian, nevermind, must be that the thread-starter wanted to learn only serbian.
you know, it just hurts my eyes to see croatian being grouped together with bosnian and montenegrin while serbian having a 'special' status.

does it mean ur a croatian?
And I don't wanna study ONLY Serbian I love croatian too^^ but cuz at the moment I have more Serbian influence(by mucic) I have mainly questions bout srb and u know in Bulgaria Serbian stuff is much more popular cuz we're neighbours...

I have to disagree here, I think that in this case there is no difference between croatian or serbian (hocem da kupim ovo or hocem kupiti ovo).
In both languages you can't say hocem, the correct version would be hocu.
'Hocu da kupim ovo' or 'Gde/Gdje mogu ovo kupiti'.

yeah oversaw that, correct is "ja hocu" and not "ja hocem", but this doesn't change the nature of the question and the answer.
the construct with the da+present tense is serbian the one with the infinitive is croatian.
you definitely can't say "hocu DA kupim" in croatian, it would be "hocu kupiti".

"hocem kupiti" is absolutely wrong and about "hocu kupiti" - I suppose such use of infinitive in Croatian is common in every day language but I do not think it's correct.
INFINITIV = Neodređeni je glagolski oblik zato, jer se ne zna u kojemu je vremenu i jer se ne može mijenjati kroz osobe.

So.. when you know that it's future and you know it's you who wants to buy something, why would you say - hocu kupiti?!?!


I really don't know miki why would it hurt you to see Croatian in brackets.. First of all - the thread starter named it Learning Serbian.. so I added the other two (9th Feb 2009) with no intention of making Croatian less important!
Fact is - we do have more questions about Serbian around here and very little members who answer questions about Croatian (like Dangerous & Moving).
There's also the thread "Serbian / Croatian Chit chat off topic" where I added Croatian the other day although there are no Croatian chats in it

You should know that you are the only one who has issues with such brackets but if it will hurt you less I can change it!

And please... stick to topic

from wikipedia:

"Infinitive vs. subjunctive
With modal verbs such as ht(j)eti (want) or moći (can), the infinitive is prescribed in Croatian, while the construction da (that/to) + present tense is preferred in Serbian"

...it's definitely "hocu kupiti"

about the other thing, no need to get upset about that, i know that there was no bad intention behind it, it just seemed odd to my eyes and that's all.

Wikedia is "Free encyclopedia" which means that users insert data into it.. which is not checked by any sort of experts for the particular texts. That tells us that it can not be considered 100% accurate.

However, considering the changes that were made in Croatian language in the past period, I will of course not bet whether such use of infinitive has been proclaimed "officially correct" or not..

Since our hobby is thinking, I would like to add something too

"ovde GDE sada vodim vas ja..." = ovde gde vas sad vodim (normally said)


1.1. It could be an unconscious substitution: voditi- to lead, but not leading like moving toward sth, but leading as he is a leader. Where he conducts them, directs them. Here, where I am your "leader". Plus, he maybe speaks about the place where they are now and where he is a "boss".

1.2. Ovde ODAKLE vas ja sad vodim (negde), gde=odakle= from this point

2. "Kuda ideš?" is usually "Kuda si pošao?" a "Gde ideš?" directly asks the final destination, and "Kuda si pošao?" more about your attentions, I believe.

3. Once, as far as I know, we in Serbia spoke ijekavski or jekavski- with J dialect and it was equal to ekavski dialect - without J. Vuk Karadžić, the great reformer of Serbian language, spoke ijekavski and put ijekavski dialect as the first from all three dialects into his books. Some of its roots are still present but remodified through "jekavsko jotovanje", especially in Montenegro.

4.I think that in Croatian is "kupiti si (nešto)" and here in the rural areas, villages... the expression still exist "kupiću si nešto/ ću si kupim nešto "

TISUĆA, for instant, was once a Serbian word, used few centuries ago.

Similarities are obvious, at least for me.

Hey thank ya all...
I'm sorry but the damn Slovenian confused me... in slo is"hocem" and I thought it's probably the same in srb/cro...
In that case I stay with the idea that "hocu da..." is better to say in srb and hocu kupiti is better to say in cro