EasyCroatian_r47.an
Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 59 Knowing and Telling: Content and Noun Clauses 344 / 600Croatian content clauses are simply normal sentences inserted, with a da put tothe front. There’s no rearrangement (except for the second position wordscoming after da). There’s no replacement of biti with (bude). Perfective verbscannot be used in the present tense unless the verbs can be used in normalsentences, etc. This behavior is completely different from superficially similardesire or purpose clauses, which also start with da.Next, you can use any information in your sentence. For example, where the car is:Gdje je auto N ? Where is the car?mZnam [gdje je auto N ]. I know where the car is.mPay attention how English is holds different positions in the question and the I-knowsentence. This doesn’t happen in Croatian, there’s no rearrangement whatsoever.(You cannot use any other arrangement, as the question-word, here gdje, must startboth a question and a derived clause).Questions are simply re-used as clauses, now da must not be used, since you alreadyhave a "connecting" word to start the clause. The following examples are a ‘what’and an ‘opinion’ clause:Što A si rekao? What did you say?reći past-mČula sam [što A si rekao]. I heard [what you said].reći past-mŠto A da radim? What should I do?Ne znam [što A da radim]. I don’t know [what I should do]. (or what to do)I sometimes make mistakes in English, keeping the question word order – my nativelanguage has no rearrangement. You can use questions for reasons, time, etc.:Ne znam [zašto je otišla]. I don’t know why she left.otići past-fNext, you can express that you don’t know if something is true or not (or you’retrying to find out, or you’re interested in, etc.). In Croatian, you simply use yes/noquestions as clauses:Je li kupila auto A ? Did she buy a car?mNe znam [je li kupila auto A ]. I don’t know if she bought a car.mAgain, the English sentence must be rearranged – from a question to a report – butCroatian is not rearranged. You simply use questions as clauses!However, you cannot use shortened forms of questions. In the following examples,shortened questions (S) cannot be used as clauses, only the full forms (F):(F) Da li da kupim auto A ? Should I buy a car?(S) Da kupim auto A ? (the same, but shortened)Ne znam [da li da kupim auto A ]. I don’t know if I should buy a car.This applies to colloquial forms as well:mmm
Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 59 Knowing and Telling: Content and Noun Clauses 345 / 600(F) Jel idemo u kino A ? (colloq.) Are we going to cinema? ®ići(S) Idemo u kino A ? (the same, but shortened)ićiZanima me A [jel idemo u kino A ]. (colloq.) I wonder if we’re going to cinema. 1 | ićiBesides znati know, and two verbs vidjeti (...) see and čuti (čuje) hear, introducedlong ago, there are following common verbs of knowledge and perception:osjećati ~¹ osjetiti (+ A/CC) feelprimjeć ivati (-uje «) ~¹ primijetiti («) (+ A/CC) noticerazumjeti (razumije,...) (+ A/CC) understandshvaćati ® ~~ shvatiti (+ A/CC) understandYou have likely noticed some special notation in the verb pair list (~¹, ~~). Actually,the perf. verbs in such pairs are not ordinary perf. verbs. They rather indicate startof state or a single instance. Therefore, osjetiti means feel for a moment, whileshvatiti indicates the moment you understood something – it’s implied youunderstand it from then on (like e.g. come to understand). Such verbs are explainedin detail in 81 Sneeze Once and Start Blooming.As with znati know, these verbs are used either with objects in A or content clauses:Primijetila je da nema Ane G . She noticed that Ana wasn’t there. (lit. ‘that there wasno Ana’)Osjećam da će padati kiša N . I feel it’s going to rain.Razumijem da nemaš puno vremena G . I understand you don’t have razumjetimuch time.Very similar are the following verbs and verb pairs:nadati se² (+ DL/CC) hopesanjati (+ A/CC) dreamzamišljati («) ~ zamisliti (+ A/CC) imagineFor example:Sanjao sam da sam na odmoru DL . I dreamed I was on vacation.Nadam se da je Ana N došla. I hope Ana has arrived.doći past-f(Observe again the tense shift in English vs. no shift in Croatian.)You will sometimes see (mostly in writing) using kako instead of da when contentclauses are objects of the verbs above. Recall this line from the example in thechapter 52 Stand, Become, Exist, Cease:On N sanja [kako beskrajno pada] lit. ‘He’s dreaming [he’s falling endlessly]’You can talk about content clauses, making them really subjects. Since they are notnouns, they behave as if neuter singular, as you can see from the past tense:Dobro je [da ne pada kiša N ]. It’s good [it’s not raining].Bilo je dobro [da nije padala kiša N ]. It was good [it wasn’t raining].
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Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 59 Knowing and Telling: Content and Noun Clauses 344 / 600
Croatian content clauses are simply normal sentences inserted, with a da put to
the front. There’s no rearrangement (except for the second position words
coming after da). There’s no replacement of biti with (bude). Perfective verbs
cannot be used in the present tense unless the verbs can be used in normal
sentences, etc. This behavior is completely different from superficially similar
desire or purpose clauses, which also start with da.
Next, you can use any information in your sentence. For example, where the car is:
Gdje je auto N ? Where is the car?
m
Znam [gdje je auto N ]. I know where the car is.
m
Pay attention how English is holds different positions in the question and the I-know
sentence. This doesn’t happen in Croatian, there’s no rearrangement whatsoever.
(You cannot use any other arrangement, as the question-word, here gdje, must start
both a question and a derived clause).
Questions are simply re-used as clauses, now da must not be used, since you already
have a "connecting" word to start the clause. The following examples are a ‘what’
and an ‘opinion’ clause:
Što A si rekao? What did you say?
reći past-m
Čula sam [što A si rekao]. I heard [what you said].
reći past-m
Što A da radim? What should I do?
Ne znam [što A da radim]. I don’t know [what I should do]. (or what to do)
I sometimes make mistakes in English, keeping the question word order – my native
language has no rearrangement. You can use questions for reasons, time, etc.:
Ne znam [zašto je otišla]. I don’t know why she left.
otići past-f
Next, you can express that you don’t know if something is true or not (or you’re
trying to find out, or you’re interested in, etc.). In Croatian, you simply use yes/no
questions as clauses:
Je li kupila auto A ? Did she buy a car?
m
Ne znam [je li kupila auto A ]. I don’t know if she bought a car.
m
Again, the English sentence must be rearranged – from a question to a report – but
Croatian is not rearranged. You simply use questions as clauses!
However, you cannot use shortened forms of questions. In the following examples,
shortened questions (S) cannot be used as clauses, only the full forms (F):
(F) Da li da kupim auto A ? Should I buy a car?
(S) Da kupim auto A ? (the same, but shortened)
Ne znam [da li da kupim auto A ]. I don’t know if I should buy a car.
This applies to colloquial forms as well:
m
m
m
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