EasyCroatian_r47.an

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 23 I’m Cold: Basic Impressions 134 / 600
Kako je na poslu DL ? How is it going at work?
Kako ide na poslu DL ? (more or less the same meaning)
ići
An answer can be a general description, what is done there, nothing necessarily
personal. But if we add a person in DL, the questions become specific, about
someone’s experience there:
Kako ti DL je na poslu DL ? How are you doing at work?
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Kako ide Ani DL na poslu DL ? How is Ana doing at work?
ići
It seems to me there’s a subtle difference in these two questions: ones with ići (ide)
go are more specific about the work done, while ones with biti are a bit more about
everything, (e.g. co-workers, salary, etc.). The sentences are impersonal, verbs are
always in the 3rd person, singular, no matter what we add in DL (if anything):
Kako im DL ide na poslu DL ? How are they doing at work?
3pl | ići
There are two often used expressions that cannot be used without someone in DL:
Drago mi DL je. I’m glad.
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Žao mi DL je. I’m sorry.
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Of course, instead of mi², other pronouns and nouns in DL can be used:
Ani DL je žao. Ana is sorry.
The first expression is used when you are introduced to someone (like I’m glad to
meet you) and the second one is the usual way to express that you are sorry (when
something bad happens to someone else).
This construction with DL is used only for statements that can be either general or
subjective. For instance, you cannot say gladno mi je since there’s no statement
gladno je – hunger is not an objective, external situation (at least in Croatian
language).
However, it’s possible to take statements like these:
Obitelj N je važna N . The family is important.
Knjiga N je dosadna N . The book is boring.
Majica N je lijepa N . The shirt is nice.
And convert them into personal opinions, using DL in the exactly same way:
Obitelj N mi DL je važna N . The family is important to me.
Ani DL je knjiga dosadna N . The book is boring ‘to Ana’. = Ana finds the book boring.
Majica N mi DL je lijepa N . (colloq.) The shirt is nice ‘to me’. = I find the shirt nice.
While English uses such expressions only with certain adjectives (e.g. important) in
Croatian, they are much more widely used, especially in the spoken language. (It’s
seen less often in formal writing, with adjectives like lijep beautiful, nice, such use of
DL is regarded as colloquial.) We again see that the Croatian DL case often
corresponds to English to + noun or pronoun.
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