Croatian phonetic orthography is the greatest thing ever . I remember reading (trying to, that is) a newspaper page online, and I needed several minutes to recognise all the German and American politicians mentioned because I had never seen their names written that way . Oh I didn't know that what you're really doing here is bringing my Croatian up to the hightest academic standards! I might just think about doing a semester in Sarajevo once I'm back from England! Niko te ne može natjerati da zaplešeš? Čula sam da pomaže alkohol . A volim plesati, čak bez alkohola . Da, jako tužna sam bez mojega bicikla. Često se događa u Heidelbergu da kradu ljudi bicikle... Ali ja volim i hodati . Pjevaš li pod tušem? Možeš li mi preporučiti neke hrvatske pjesme? Heineken, ali draža mi vino . Klavir ili violina ? Govorim samo malo hrvatski, budi nježan!
Yes, I guess you can always try with the smile, I think it works well with most people No, you can't find beo in an ijekavica handbook, try bijel/a/o Only one problematic sentence this time - the second one. First of all, the word roommate translates to cimer/ica, which actually comes from the German Zimmer, only written phonetically (the way it's pronounced). Also, the word riječ is of feminine gender, so you have to say ne mogu naći tu riječ instead of taj. The problem is with the word order (again, I guess this has something to do with you thinking in a different language) - the correct way is: Moja cimerica studira pjevanje i danas smo vježbale (because both of you are female) Bachov komad za njezin ispit. Please notice that I made a slight adjustment - I intentionally wrote Bachov komad rather than komad od Bacha, and although this mistake is something that 90% of native speakers make as well , it's only correct to say Bachov komad. This is something that no one will correct you about though, because even the people who are aware of this error are so used to hearing it that no one basically pays attention to it outside the highest academic circles. I ja jako volim baroknu muziku - Bach, Handel i Buxtehude su, po mom mišljenju, među najboljim kompozitorima svih vremena. Ne volim, niti znam plesati, i zaista me niko ne može natjerati da zaplešem. Mislim da to ima veze sa mojom sramežljivošću (how about that for pronunciation? ). Žao mi je zbog tvog bicikla - meni je jednom ukradena lopta, i sjećam se kako sam bio tužan. Doduše, tad sam imao samo 10 godina. Ipak pjevati, iako ni to ne znam dobro. Ali, znam jako puno pjesama, i domaćih i stranih, ali pjevam samo kad sam sâm. Heineken ili Carlsberg? (no idea why I thought of...alcohol) Jako dobro govoriš moj jezik, mislim da se polako približava vrijeme kad bih ti mogao dati i neki malo teži tekst da ga pokušaš prevesti.
Thanks for saying you think I would be understood by the friendly natives of Croatia . And in case my ad-hoc pronunciation should prove more of a hindrance to communication, I can always write down what I would like to say, or, as a last resort, try a few merry smiles . Great that you point out the ekavica/ijekavica difference, that would explain why I couldn't find beo in my ijekavica textbook . The feminine form, right! Da, jako volim klasičnu muziku, osobito baroknu muziku. Moja roommate (ne mugu naći taj riječ u rječniku) studira pjevanje i smo vježbali danas komad od Bacha za njezin ispit. Ali volim i modernu francusku muziku. Voliš li plesati ? Drago mi je da ti se sviđa moj profil . Biciklo. Although mine just got stolen last month. Again . Plesati ili pjevati ?
First of all, thanks for the PM As for our lessons... Seems to me you'll soon surpass me in my own language Judging from you writing so far, seems to me that you should have no problem communicating when you come to Croatia, even if it's not always 100% grammatically or lexically accurate, every sentence of yours makes full sense. However, since we're nitpicking : Mislim da je Heidelberg najbolji grad na svetu - although correct, there is something I'd like you to pay attention to - the noun svet is the ecavian version of svijet (if you don't know what ekavica and ijekavica are, they're different dialects that are used in Serbian and B/C languages, respectively, and they should not be mixed - and since you're obviously focusing on B/C, I though I should tell you this), so that's a little mistake. ... ali nikad nisam bio u Sarajevu. - well, since you're a girl, and a very pretty one, I don't think you should use the masculine version of the verb biti Meaning, the correct way is to say nikad nisam bila u Sarajevu. Ne, ne znam kuda će putovati u Hrvatsku, ili kako dugo će boravati - since you're speaking in 1st person, you have to use the correct enclitic version of the verb - that is, you say ne znam kada ću putovati... and kako dugo ću... - also, these two were probably typos - not kuda but kad(a), and boraviti instead of boravati. The rest was great, absolutely no problems. Pošto je danas nedjelja, izuzetno dosadan dan, nisam radio ništa posebno - maloprije sam se istuširao i obrijao, a večer ću provesti gledajući TV ili slušajući muziku. Moj omiljeni kompozitor je Sergej Rahmanjinov. Kakvu muziku ti slušaš? Slušaš li klasičnu muziku? Plavo, a posebno volim svijetlo plavu boju. Zato mi se jako sviđa kako si uredila svoj profil Biciklo ili role?
I'm enjoying them very much as well! Ah I see, so I have to put the apposition in the same case as the antecedent, that makes sense . Mislim da je Heidelberg najbolji grad na svetu, ali nikad nisam bio u Sarajevu . Da, Hegel je živio u Heidelbergu, kao i Karl Jaspers i Gadamer. Ne moraš mi zavidjeti, lako je učiti francuski, osobito jer znaš latiniski. Ne, ne znam kuda će putovati u Hrvatsku, ili kako dugo će boravati. Nisam još ništa planirala, ljeto se čini tako daleko . Što radiš danas? Business or pleasure? Dostojevski. I always mix up the characters and the characters' families in Tolstoj . And Dostojevski scares me more . Crven ili plav? P.S.: There used to be pictures of me in the thread, but judging from a quick search the links seem to lead nowhere anymore... It was some years ago that I put those up. But since I know how you look like, it's only fair you should see the real me, too . I'll send you one in a PM once I've uploaded it to somewhere!
I'm really enjoying these mini-lessons, no way I'll grow tired of them. So, let's see: the first sentence is somewhat problematic - the first part of it is great, but the second part could use some brushing up. You can say, for instance, Sad živim u Heidelbergu, gradu na jugozapadu, or, if you want to keep the construction that you intended, you'd have to add something to the second part of the sentence, so it'd be something like Sad živim u Heidelbergu, koji je grad na jugozapadu. Bear in mind, this is a bit clumsy, so the most fluid and natural solution is the one I gave you - that supplement gradu na jugozapadu is called apozicija in my language, and it serves the purpose of describing the noun more closely (noun followed by a comma + apozicija). The rest is just perfect, you're getting better and better! Ne, nikad nisam bio u Njemačkoj, ali bih volio otići jednog dana. Čuo sam da je Heidelberg prelijep grad, a znam i da je Hegel tamo radio jedno vrijeme. Sad mi je jasno zašto tako dobro govoriš i francuski, mislim da ti pomalo i zavidim Jesi li razmišljala o tome da posjetiš Bosnu i Hercegovinu kad dođeš u Hrvatsku? I ja više volim pse. A više volim i ljeto, tad imam najviše vremena za košarku. Tolstoj ili Dostojevski? P.S. How come there are no pictures of you in the LitNet photoalbum, I was really hoping I'd see you there?
I would love to visit Sarajevo! My textbook has some pictures of it, very enticing! And I'll be sure to knock on your door when I'm in town! But then again, the pleasure would still be all mine! Mhm, but I suppose I could bring something along as a visitor's present, "wine and song", maybe? Oh no, please don't hold back any nitpicks, that's how I learn . You're very exact, that's nice! But still, if you grow tired of correcting me, just let me know, no problem! Oh right, brat has an irregular plural, maybe that's why I unconsciously avoided it . Hihi, you're right about jedan, I use determiners in too many places (and not just in Croatian...) because they're often compulsory in German. Nah, I didn't really mean to ask you if you happened to be keeping any cows or pigs . My dictionary only gave domaće životinje for pets. I'm glad to hear you consider my lexical imprecision to be cute, how very didactic of you to say so! Not all only children are spoilt. A sam razmažena, iako nisam jedinac . Sad živim u Heidelbergu, je grad na jugozapadu. Ali sam odrasla na selu blizu Strasbourga. Jesi li ikad bio u Njemačkoj? Dileme, eh? Most of mine actually happen in the morning . Pas. Zima ili ljeto?
Of course you don't owe me anything, I'm happy to help - or, you could promise to contact me if you ever find your way to Sarajevo. No problems with your sentences this time - grammatically correct, very good choice of words. If I were to nitpick, here are slight corrections I'd make: the sentence you had in mind was probably And, I learn Croatian, of course or And, of course, I learn Croatian. Your translation was good, but the pronoun ja isn't necessary in this case, so you can say I učim hrvatski, naravno which is how most (well, all) native speakers would say. As for brothers and/or sisters - I'm not sure if you intended to put brothers in singular and leave sisters plural, but it somehow has a nicer feel to it to ask for both in plural - Imaš li braće i/ili sestara?. Again, these are all minor details, and I doubt even most native speakers would pay any attention to this. As for the last sentence - there is no need to say jednu domaću životinju (probably a remnant from the German ein), because you actually limit the person you're asking to just one (jedan, jedna, jedno) animal. Also, domestic animals (domaće životinje) are generally animals that people on the countryside keep, so it would be somewhat strange to ask this if the other person lives in a city, in which case you usually ask about pets (pet = kućni ljubimac). I have to say though, your question about animals is one of the cutest things I've heard. Ne, nemam braće ni sestara, jedinac sam, ali nadam se da to ipak ne znači da sam razmažen. (maybe a slightly trickier one this sentence?) Nemam ni ljubimca, iako sam nekad imao dvije ptice, pa čak i psa, ali sad ne bih mogao podnijeti toliko odgovornosti. Previše sam lijen. Njemačka je jako lijepa zemlja - u kojem dijelu ti živiš? Živiš li u gradu ili na selu? I like your idea of playing This-or-That: jutro, bez dileme. Pas ili mačka?
Oh well, je t'aime and a smile will already get you very far with most people . I was absolutely certain I'd study philosophy until I fell in love with Ancient History at the last moment . Such a shame one can do only study three subjects over here... Thanks again for your corrections, very insightful ! Now I really feel I owe you something, with you being more helpful than my teacher! Često putujem, sviram klavir, čitam, ili igram odbojku . I ja učim hrvatski, naravno. Imaš li brata ili sestre? Ili jednu domaću životinju ? P.S.: My mother tongue is German, but weer mijn koekjestrommel is indeed Dutch. My grandmother is from the Netherlands, but sadly I only know a few bits of the language. P.P.S.: If you don't mind, I'll start a Croatian version of the "This-or-That"-game to help me expand my vocab : Jutro ili večer ?
I would enjoy talking in French very much, the only problem is, I haven't gone any further than Je t'aime and merci beaucoup so far. I was absolutely certain I'd study English language and literature until I fell in love with philosophy in my senior year, so I guess we share some interests As for our newest lesson, here goes: the first sentence is grammatically perfect, I have nothing to add. As for Ancient history, I know the verb ancient translates to star/a/o or, even better, prastar/a/o (know about this word? It denotes something very, very old.), however, in this particular case, it is best to translate this as Antička povijest. The word antika (from which the adjective is derived) refers to the period until the Middle Ages. The second sentence, again, is absolutely spot on. As for the third one - no big problems about it, and anyone would certainly understand what you mean with no difficulties, but here are some remarks: the syntagm učiteljica za matematiku is rather clumsy, it's better to say učiteljica matematike. You seem to have forgotten about one case, it's školi za djecu, not djeca. As for the expression children with learning disabilities, your translation was good, but very literal - there is an expression djeca s poteškoćama u razvoju that means exactly what you had in mind. Also, you can't really say samo u vikend, but samo vikendom. The last sentence was also perfect, to which my answer is: Kad nisam na fakultetu/univerzitetu, čitam, igram košarku i šah, često rješavam križaljke ili gledam filmove. Kako ti provodiš svoje slobodno vrijeme? P.S. Might I ask - what is your mother tongue? I first thought, seeing your weer mijn koekjestrommel, it was Dutch or something similar, but now I'm having serious doubts... Sorry if there is an obvious answer somewhere around here on your profile page
