EasyCroatian_r47.an

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 59 Knowing and Telling: Content and Noun Clauses 347 / 600
If you comment on a known fact, you can use što instead of da – it doesn’t change
when in this role:
Dobro je što ne pada kiša N . It’s good it’s not raining. ®
This construction is also used to thank somebody for something, but it’s mandatory
to use što then:
Hvala što ne pušite. Thank you for not smoking. (lit. ‘Thank you that you don’t
smoke.’)
Hvala ti DL što mi DL pomažeš. Thank you for helping me. (lit. ‘Thank you that
you’re helping me.’)
The DL in the main clause (e.g. ti² in the second example) is optional. English uses a
2 | 1
completely different construction here, while Croatian simply uses a content clause;
however, da cannot be used, only što.
You can also ask about things within content clauses, using the same way as in
English:
Što A misliš [da sam kupila]? What do you think [I’ve bought]?
Gdje A misliš [da je Ana N ]? Where do you think [Ana is]?
Such questions are mostly ‘decomposed’ in speech, into two questions (the first
starting always with što what):
Što A misliš, što A sam kupila? lit. ‘What do you think, what have I bought?’ ®
Što A misliš, gdje je Ana N ? lit. ‘What do you think, where is Ana?’
Something interesting (but expected from everything above) happens when we ask
yes/no questions and they contain context clauses. Such questions are
‘decomposed’ less often, ans the interesting part are the answers – they are simply
re-used as content clauses:
Misliš li da je more N toplo N ? Do you think the sea is warm?
Misliš da je more N toplo N ? (the same, but colloq.; you can use other forms too)
— Mislim da je. I think it is.
— Mislim da da. lit. ‘I think that yes.’
— Mislim da nije. I think it isn’t.
— Mislim da ne. lit. ‘I think that no.’
As you can answer a yes/no question with a verb or with a da or ne, you can answer
such questions with mislim da + verb or mislim da da or mislim da ne. Again, the
verb misliti is not negated, but the content clause can be: such answers are similar
to English I guess so and I guess not.
Of course, you can remember some event, forget to do something, then you can
expect or fear that something might happen, etc.; I will explain all such uses in 69
Memories, Expectations and Fear.