EasyCroatian_r47.an

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 48 Wholes, Parts, Heaps and Pairs 282 / 600
Observe the different verb forms: the subject of the sentence #1 behaves as neuter
singular (due to the quantity adverb), while the subject of the sentence #2 is just a
noun (in plural) with an adjective, as if we said big birds or gray birds. In the past
tense:
(1) Mnogo ptica G je letjelo na jug A . Many birds were flying south.
(2) Mnoge N ptice N su letjele na jug A . (more or less the same meaning)
If there’s any difference in meaning, it’s so subtle that I don’t have any idea.
However, sentences like #2 are much more common with nouns like ljudi pl. people,
žena woman/wife.
Of course, like other generic adjectives, mnogi can be also used as a pronoun:
Mnogi N ne vole mlijeko A . Many don’t like milk.
Razgovarao sam s mnogima II . I talked to many.
Such use is more common than in English. However, the related adverb mnogo
cannot be used as a pronoun! To use it generically, you have to add some pronoun,
most often the 3rd pers. plural pronoun:
Mnogo ih G leti na jug A . Many are flying south.
This holds generally: quantity adverbs cannot be used as pronouns. They need a
noun or pronoun (in G) beside them.
Here are three generic adjectives often-used-as-pronouns (you’ll encounter more in
the future):
neki some
mnogi many
sav (sv- +) all
Of course, these are masc. pl. forms, for all-female groups, you would use fem. pl.
forms.
You can combine numbers with parts, but observe different behaviors:
Imam dvije trećine 24 limuna G . I have two thirds of an lemon.
Imam dva cijela limuna 24 . I have two whole lemons.
In the first sentence, two counts thirds – so we have feminine gender – while in the
second, it counts (whole) lemons.
________
® In Serbia, the word dio (dijel-) m part has an unexpected “Ekavian” form deo (del-)
m.
In Serbia, komad is used only in meaning whole piece, i.e. as a unit (e.g. buy two
pieces, get one for free), while piece as a part (e.g. piece of pizza or piece of cake) is
expressed with the noun parče (parčet-).