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Easy Croaan (rev. 47b) / 79 You’re Wrong and Other Phrases 448 / 600

Dolazi° do toga G da... It’s getting to the point where...

Došlo je do toga G da... It got to the point where...

doći past-n

Observe how the first sentence uses the impf. verb, corresponding to English

continuous (progressive) action, while the second one uses the perf. verb, since it

has already got to the ‘point’.

(the rest is coming soon)

________

® The expression u krivu is very rare and non-standard in Serbia and Bosnia, but very

common in Croatia.

Instead of kava, a slightly different word kafa is common in most parts of Bosnia

and Serbia. In Bosnia, the form kahva is used as well, especially in parts where

Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) live.

Constructions like pita me se and kavu se kuha are very rare in Serbia. Basically, the

only use of such construction in Serbia is rhetorical ako se mene pita, which is often

condemned by Serbian prescriptivists (i.e. the language police) as ‘corruption of

language’.

• Something Possibly Interesting

It seems that some people in Croatia (likely, depending on the region) prefer the

construction kavu se kuha over kava se kuha – I’ve seen even people “correcting”

the normal se²-passive into the se²-with-A passive! Be prepared.

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