EasyCroatian_r47.an

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 71 Suggesons, Permissions and More Verbs 411 / 600
activity found hard or boring. For example:
Ani DL se ne da prati suđe A navečer. Ana can’t be bothered to wash dishes in the
evening.
The translation uses a phrase more common in British English, but I hope everyone
gets the meaning: she cannot force/make/allow herself to do it. This is mostly used
in the spoken language, the construction is a bit colloquial.
This construction is never used with activities generally considered pleasing (eating
chocolate, drinking fine drinks, sleeping) – it’s rather used for waiting in lines,
spending time in waiting rooms, cleaning, studying and so on. The verb used is
imperfective, as we’re focusing on the activity, and not an outcome.
The verb dati perf. give is impersonal here, so it’s neuter singular in the past (the
infinitive + an object, prati suđe, can be considered the subject):
Ani DL se nije dalo prati suđe A . Ana couldn’t be bothered to wash dishes.
As you can see, the usual rules about placement of DL experiencers hold – the
person in DL is at the front. Of course, personal pronouns are frequently used:
Ne da mi DL se čekati satima I . I can’t be bothered to wait for hours.
1
This construction is sometimes used without negation; it then roughly corresponds
to make oneself (but it implies a bit less pressure):
Jel ti DL se da čekati u redu DL ? (colloq.) Can you make yourself wait in line? 2
Finally, let’s introduce another important verb family, derived from the pair:
puštati ~ pustiti release, let go
All derived pairs look the one we have already seen above:
dopuštati («) ~ dopustiti («) allow
All derived pairs have meanings related to releasing (except for one). The common
ones are: