EasyCroatian_r47.an
Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 56 Desires and Demands 324 / 60056 Desires and DemandsLet me explain how to say I want her to dance in Croatian, and more. In suchexpressions, Croatian has a completely different approach than English, and frankly,Croatian approach is simpler.English is a subject-oriented language. You have to express a subject even when itdoes not make any sense (e.g. it rains). When you express desires, you basicallyexpress wishes about someone or something (don’t worry, it will get really clearsoon). Croatian is quite verb-oriented – subjects are usually omitted, they cannot beexpressed when they would make no sense; when you express wishes, you expressthat you want something to happen.This sounds really abstract, but an example will make it perfectly clear:X = ona N sheY = (ona N ) pleše she dancesplesatiNow, how to express that you want X and then Y in English? The sentence I want Xjust takes an object you wish (X), and if it’s a pronoun, it goes to the object case (theequivalent of the accusative case in Croatian):I want X = I want her.However, if you want Y, you have to rephrase the action, you still want her, but todo something:I want Y = I want her to dance.From she dances we arrived to her to dance, quite a transformation in English.Spanish is verb-oriented, like Croatian, but it requires a special form of verb(subjunctive) after que in desired or imagined events... Croatian is way simpler:Želim nju A . I want her.Želim da (ona N ) pleše. I want her to dance. (lit. da + she dances)plesatiThe first sentence uses exactly the same construction as in English, but the secondone is completely different. It uses the conjunction da and then simply what youwant to happen!Verbs after da obviously don’t refer to anything going on right now: they are justdesired events and processes. Therefore, you can freely use perf. verbs, and youhave to do so, if you want something to get accomplished:Želim da pročitaš knjigu A . I want you to read the book. (lit. ‘that you read the bookcompletely’)The part starting with da is again a clause – a desire clause, very similar to purposeclause (introduced in 50 Because, In Order To, Why: Reasons). The placement ofwords follows the same rules:
Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 56 Desires and Demands 325 / 600Htio¹ sam² [da¹ me A ² nazoveš]. I wanted you to call me.1 | nazvatiIt will likely be some effort to learn such sentences, since their structure iscompletely different than in English, and they often use perf. verbs:Želim da se Ana N vrati. I want Ana to come back. (lit. ‘that Ana comes back’, perf.)There’s nothing special about negation in this kind of clauses:Želim da ne pada kiša N . I want it not to rain. (lit. ‘that the rain doesn’t fall’)Like in purpose clauses, there are two restrictions. First, you can use only the presenttense after da (but you can use perf. verbs). Second, the verb biti (je² +) be is almostalways replaced by (bude), for example:Toplo je. It’s warm.Želim da bude toplo. I want it to be warm.If you now think that the conjunction da is some special word that introducesimagined, desired events and processes in Croatian, and that verbs in clauses after italways come in the present tense, stop immediately.The word da has about a zillion uses in Croatian, and demands on verbs after da aredetermined by the main verb.For other verbs in the main sentence, there can be other rules for use of verbs inclauses. There are four main types of clauses in Croatian, regarding behavior ofverbs in them (I’ve invented the names, there are no established names):Main types of clauses in Croatianindicative any tense(the default) no perf. verbs in present(counter)factualonly past or presentno perf. verbs in presentonly the present tenseatemporal perf. verbs allowedbiti (je² +) → (bude)only verbs in infinfinitive ®perf. verbs allowed(see below!)no conjunction usedAtemporal-type clauses – like ones with željeti above – express the subject, but nottense. Infinitive-type clauses cannot even express the subject, and they aren’t reallyclauses at all, as words attached to inf can be scattered in the sentence:Želim piti čaj A . I want to drink tea. ®Željela te A je vidjeti. She wanted to see you.2
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Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 56 Desires and Demands 324 / 600
56 Desires and Demands
Let me explain how to say I want her to dance in Croatian, and more. In such
expressions, Croatian has a completely different approach than English, and frankly,
Croatian approach is simpler.
English is a subject-oriented language. You have to express a subject even when it
does not make any sense (e.g. it rains). When you express desires, you basically
express wishes about someone or something (don’t worry, it will get really clear
soon). Croatian is quite verb-oriented – subjects are usually omitted, they cannot be
expressed when they would make no sense; when you express wishes, you express
that you want something to happen.
This sounds really abstract, but an example will make it perfectly clear:
X = ona N she
Y = (ona N ) pleše she dances
plesati
Now, how to express that you want X and then Y in English? The sentence I want X
just takes an object you wish (X), and if it’s a pronoun, it goes to the object case (the
equivalent of the accusative case in Croatian):
I want X = I want her.
However, if you want Y, you have to rephrase the action, you still want her, but to
do something:
I want Y = I want her to dance.
From she dances we arrived to her to dance, quite a transformation in English.
Spanish is verb-oriented, like Croatian, but it requires a special form of verb
(subjunctive) after que in desired or imagined events... Croatian is way simpler:
Želim nju A . I want her.
Želim da (ona N ) pleše. I want her to dance. (lit. da + she dances)
plesati
The first sentence uses exactly the same construction as in English, but the second
one is completely different. It uses the conjunction da and then simply what you
want to happen!
Verbs after da obviously don’t refer to anything going on right now: they are just
desired events and processes. Therefore, you can freely use perf. verbs, and you
have to do so, if you want something to get accomplished:
Želim da pročitaš knjigu A . I want you to read the book. (lit. ‘that you read the book
completely’)
The part starting with da is again a clause – a desire clause, very similar to purpose
clause (introduced in 50 Because, In Order To, Why: Reasons). The placement of
words follows the same rules:
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