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Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 54 When, While, Unl, Before, Aer 318 / 600

• Examples

A song by late singer-songwriter Arsen Dedić, Takvim sjajem može sjati It can shine

with such radiance, contains a number of time clauses (I’ve put them in brackets

[...]). In most of them, the verb (bude) is used.

The first verses contain some archaic words: ljeto here means year, and bješe is the

so-called imperfect tense, which is extremely rare today, so rare I don’t know other

forms. It was simply another past tense, no real difference in meaning. Also, the

adjective naš is placed after the noun, which is often done in poetry, but almost

never in speech.

Ljubav naša N ranih ljeta G Our love of early years

f

za oboje A bješe jad N was misery for both

sad je prava N , sad je sveta N now it’s true, now it’s sacred

[kada više nisam mlad N ] [when I’m not young anymore]

(Arsen Dedić)

The adjective pravi corresponds to many related English meanings: correct, true,

right; it will be explained in detail in 79 You’re Wrong and Other Phrases.

The following verses have a similar structure:

Ove bitke N , ove rane N These battles, these wounds

otkrit će ljepotu svu A will uncover all beauty

[kada budu stvari davne N ] [when they become things long gone]

f

[kad ne budu više tu] [when they aren’t here anymore]

The second verse uses the perfective verb otkriti (otkrije) perf. uncover, discover.

The last two verses have (bude) instead of biti (je² +) be.

In the following verse, što te muče is a short relative clause, literally which bother

you; such clauses will be introduced later.

Ova jutra N što te A muče These mornings bothering you

2

Pružit će i tebi DL sve A will offer everything to you as well

[kada sutra bude jučer [when tomorrow becomes yesterday

a ti N budeš ko N zna gdje] and you get who knows where]

In the second verse, there is a perfective verb from the pair with various meanings:

pružati ~ pružiti stretch, extend; offer

This verb pair basically means extend, stretch (e.g. legs) but also offer (e.g. help,

support) to someone (expressed in DL, of course). The last two verses have again

(bude).

In the last verse, ko is a colloquial form of tko who.

You can listen to it on YouTube.

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