EasyCroatian_r47.an

Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 79 You’re Wrong and Other Phrases 445 / 600
With the adjective kriv, there is a common phrase expressing fault and blame. It’s
best explained by examples:
On N je kriv N za to A . That’s his fault.
Za sve A sam ja kriva N . It’s all my fault. (I = female)
It literally means ‘he is guilty for that’. This phrase is often used in negative, clearing
someone of responsibility, often additionally expressing someone’s claim is wrong,
that it’s actually the responsibility of the one who claims! This is expressed simply by
adding the ‘accuser’ in DL:
Mi N ti DL nismo krivi N . It’s not our fault (it’s yours).
Nitko N ti DL nije kriv N . It’s all your fault. (lit. ‘nobody is guilty to you.’)
The last example is a very often used phrase, which also corresponds to English
you’ve got only yourself to blame.
Then, there’s a verb family derived from the same root as the adjective pravi true,
right, and it has very common meanings. It follows an asymmetric pattern:
praviti ~ na- make
po-pravljati ~ po-praviti (a derived pair)
Common derived pairs in this family are:
-pravljati ~ -praviti
prefix used with meaning
is- A correct
A repair, fix, mend
pose²
improve
pre- A reconstruct, remodel
ras- (o¨ DL) discuss
The first pair, derived by is-, is straightforward – you just correct an object in A
(which can also be se² or sebe):
Ana N je ispravila greške A . Ana corrected errors.
The pair derived by po- is also straightforward – something is broken or wrong, and
you fix it:
Ivan N je popravio bicikl A . Ivan fixed the bicycle.
You can also fix yourself, i.e. improve. The meaning is actually mediopassive – from
improving on its own to getting improved:
Vrijeme N se popravlja. The weather is improving.
The pair derived by pre- is a bit less common. It’s used when you change or
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