EasyCroatian_r47.an

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 55 More Preposions 321 / 600
when you tell someone to move two steps in the direction of something, or you turn
towards something (which can be a cardinal direction).
It’s also used to express ‘according to’, either a person or something else:
Ovo N nije prema pravilima DL . This is not according to the rules.
Prema karti DL , imamo još dva kilometra 24 do vrha G . According to the map, we have
two kilometers more to the top.
Together with the generic pronoun to, it’s used in a frequent phrase to start a
sentence:
Prema tome,... ‘According to that,...’ = Therefore,...
Some nouns have specific meanings with prepositions. One of most common is red.
This noun has one generic meaning: order. For instance, the TV series Law & Order is
translated as Zakon i red.
A common phrase that includes a preposition and this word is:
u redu DL alright, OK
This is, for example, used in a frequent phrase:
Sve N je u redu DL . Everything is OK.
However, there’s a derived meaning of this noun: an order of waiting, either a
physical waiting line, or a waiting list. When you are waiting and someone else is
also waiting, there are specific meanings with prepositions u¨ and na¨:
u¨ + red (DL / A) waiting, in line
na¨ + red (DL / A) at the front, about to be served
I wrote (DL / A) to remind you that the usual distinction of location (DL) vs.
destination (A) applies here as well, no matter how metaphorical the place is. For
instance, when you want to tell someone that it’s his or her turn to be served, you
should say (politely, or to a group):
Vi N ste na redu DL . You’re next.
(The Croatian expression is also used when people are talking turns, it corresponds
to It’s your turn. then.). However, there’s another way (a bit rarer) to express this,
which used ‘rotated’ cases, now one who is about to be served is expressed with na¨
+ A:
Red N je na vas A . (the same meaning)
Another example, if you ask who should be served (you can hear it in shops, when
more than one person is waiting at one counter):
Tko N je na redu DL ? Who’s next?
There’s yet another preposition which is used in waiting: