EasyCroatian_r47.an
Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 32 Love and Like 184 / 60032 Love and LikeThere are two most common verbs used to express that you love or like something:voljeti (voli, volio, voljela)sviđati se²love/likeThe first verb is about lasting emotions (you love a person, a city) and the secondone about impressions, e.g. when you eat something and you like it, but also whenyou feel someone attractive.The first verb is straightforward to use, the object is in the accusative case, as usual:Goran N voli Anu A . Goran loves Ana.Ana N voli sladoled A . Ana likes ice-cream.However, the second verb is a bit more complicated: the thing one likes is thesubject of the sentence, and who likes it comes in DL. For instance, if you’ve justeaten a soup and you liked it, you could say:Sviđa mi DL se juha N . I like the soup. ®1If e.g. Ana feels attraction or affection to someone (e.g. Ivan) – and it’s notnecessarily erotic, you can just like someone’s personality – one could say:Ani DL se sviđa Ivan N . Ana likes Ivan.This is probably quite familiar to you if you know some German, French, Italian orSpanish, since all these languages have verbs that express like that behave exactlythe same (and use a form that corresponds to the Croatian DL):(Spanish) Me gusta el libro.(Italian) Mi piace il libro.(French)(German)Le livre me plait.Das Buch gefällt mir.Knjiga mi DL se sviđa.All five sentences above mean I like the book, but the book is the subject in all fivesentences, and the person who likes (I, emphasized in the sentences) is not thesubject. Therefore, all five verbs – Spanish gustar, Italian piacere, French plaire,German gefallen and Croatian sviđati se² – are above in the 3rd person. The onlyreal difference is the word order, which follows quite different rules in Spanish,Italian, German and Croatian (the French word order is here quite similar to theCroatian order, though).As with such sentences, in Croatian, what you’re talking about comes first: if you aretalking about Ana, she comes before the verb, but Ivan (or a book) is really the topic,it can sometimes come to the first position in such sentence. (Of course, secondposition words are always placed in the second position.)1
Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 32 Love and Like 185 / 600Since what you like is the subject, and subjects are usually left out, this sentence canhave multiple meanings, depending on the context:Sviđa mi DL se. I like it/him/her.1The same holds for Spanish (me gusta) and Italian (mi piace), since both languagesusually omit subjects, if known from the context.If you like something in plural, the verb, of course, must come in plural:Sviđaju mi DL se cipele N . I like the shoes.1Sviđale su mi DL se cipele N . I liked the shoes.1Of course, you can also say:Sviđaš mi DL se. I like you.1Sviđaš se Ani DL . Ana likes you.Sviđala si mi DL se. I liked you. (you = female)1The last sentence is in the past tense, and implies that it’s no more: something haschanged (either ‘you’ has died, or ‘I’ doesn’t like ‘you’ anymore).You have a lot of freedom of what you can like with sviđati se² – it includes placesand times, which simply are used as subjects:Ani DL se ovdje ne sviđa°. Ana doesn’t like it here.Sviđa° mi DL se na moru DL . I like being at the seaside.1English here usually has to use either it or some form of the verb to be, but Croatiandoes not (recall, there are no dummy pronouns in Croatian).Since these subjects are not nouns or pronouns, verbs are impersonal, 3rd pers.singular, and past forms must be in neuter singular:Ani DL se ovdje nije sviđalo. Ana didn’t like it here.Sviđalo mi DL se na moru DL . I liked being at the seaside.1Liking places and times is also often expressed with the adverb lijepo nice + DL + je²:Lijepo mi DL je° na moru DL . I like being at the seaside.Bilo mi DL je lijepo na moru DL . I liked being at the seaside.Bilo mi DL je lijepo jučer. I liked it yesterday.The verbs are again impersonal.You can like doing something: you should then put the right verb into the infinitiveand place it after one of the two verbs listed above, usually voljeti (voli,...):Ana N voli trčati. Ana loves to run. ®The verb in infinitive can have an object, and so on:Ana N voli voziti bicikl A . Ana likes to ‘drive’ bicycle. (= ride) ®It’s interesting that we don’t ‘ride’ bicycles, but ‘drive’ them: jahati (jaše) ride is111
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Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 32 Love and Like 185 / 600
Since what you like is the subject, and subjects are usually left out, this sentence can
have multiple meanings, depending on the context:
Sviđa mi DL se. I like it/him/her.
1
The same holds for Spanish (me gusta) and Italian (mi piace), since both languages
usually omit subjects, if known from the context.
If you like something in plural, the verb, of course, must come in plural:
Sviđaju mi DL se cipele N . I like the shoes.
1
Sviđale su mi DL se cipele N . I liked the shoes.
1
Of course, you can also say:
Sviđaš mi DL se. I like you.
1
Sviđaš se Ani DL . Ana likes you.
Sviđala si mi DL se. I liked you. (you = female)
1
The last sentence is in the past tense, and implies that it’s no more: something has
changed (either ‘you’ has died, or ‘I’ doesn’t like ‘you’ anymore).
You have a lot of freedom of what you can like with sviđati se² – it includes places
and times, which simply are used as subjects:
Ani DL se ovdje ne sviđa°. Ana doesn’t like it here.
Sviđa° mi DL se na moru DL . I like being at the seaside.
1
English here usually has to use either it or some form of the verb to be, but Croatian
does not (recall, there are no dummy pronouns in Croatian).
Since these subjects are not nouns or pronouns, verbs are impersonal, 3rd pers.
singular, and past forms must be in neuter singular:
Ani DL se ovdje nije sviđalo. Ana didn’t like it here.
Sviđalo mi DL se na moru DL . I liked being at the seaside.
1
Liking places and times is also often expressed with the adverb lijepo nice + DL + je²:
Lijepo mi DL je° na moru DL . I like being at the seaside.
Bilo mi DL je lijepo na moru DL . I liked being at the seaside.
Bilo mi DL je lijepo jučer. I liked it yesterday.
The verbs are again impersonal.
You can like doing something: you should then put the right verb into the infinitive
and place it after one of the two verbs listed above, usually voljeti (voli,...):
Ana N voli trčati. Ana loves to run. ®
The verb in infinitive can have an object, and so on:
Ana N voli voziti bicikl A . Ana likes to ‘drive’ bicycle. (= ride) ®
It’s interesting that we don’t ‘ride’ bicycles, but ‘drive’ them: jahati (jaše) ride is
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