EasyCroatian_r47.an

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 76 Inner, Outer, Step by Step: More on Space and Time 430 / 600
Finally, there’s a quite complex preposition which is often hard to translate to
English:
po¨ + A by, here and there (‘sequence’)
This preposition is best explained by examples. First, it’s used in expressions like
English step by step, day by day:
Kretao sam se korak A po korak A . I was moving step by step.
Očistio sam sve A , sobu A po sobu A . I’ve cleaned everything, room by room.
Both the word before and the word after po¨ must be in A, so this is definitely not
an usual preposition!
The next use emphasizes there’s more than one instance of something, which
resolves ambiguity in some cases. This example will make it clear:
Dao sam Goranu DL i Marku DL pedeset kuna G . I gave Goran and Marko 50 kuna.
It’s not clear whether each got 50 kn, or the speaker has given just 50 kn for both of
them. Adding po¨ makes it clear there was more than one 50 kn bill:
Dao sam Goranu DL i Marku DL po pedeset kuna G . I gave Goran and Marko 50 kuna
each.
Finally, there are adverbs that are historically derived as po¨ + an adverb, but they
are considered single words today. We have already encountered some of them.
Common ones are:
ponegdje here and there
ponekad now and then = sometimes
ponešto this and that thing = a bit, to a degree
The last word is used as a quantity adverb. There are also generic pronouns and
adjectives derived in this way:
poneki (+) occasional, few and far between
ponetko (ponek-) this and that person = a few people
The adjective poneki changes as neki, of course.
________
® Instead of van and the related words, the following words are common in Serbia,
parts of Bosnia and even in some parts of Croatia:
van → napolje
vani → napolju
izvana → spolja
vanjski → spoljašnji
Instead of zrak, the word for air in Serbia and most of Bosnia is vazduh.
The adverb lani has an unexpected “Ekavian” form lane in Serbia, but the relational
adjective is the same.