001 Where are the pronouns?

Croatian grammar #001

Where are the pronouns?

Re-thinking the teaching of Croatian (That didn't take me long, did it?)

To realise who is the "doer" in a Croatian sentence, I need to automatically tune in to the verb, rather than to look for the pronoun (which usually isn't there). Easier said than done!

Forgive me if this blog seems a little "teachy". The script of the video is approximately as follows ...

When we learn something, no matter whether it is good or not so good, it is very difficult to un-learn it.

I now realise that, before coming to Mateja at SpeakCro, I was taught stuff that I had to un-learn in order to converse in Croatian like a native speaker. [Or am I just looking for excuses for my slow progress?]

Here is my story …. In English, we identify the “doer” in a sentence (that is, the subject of the sentence) by personal pronouns in the nominative case.
​

For example, in the following sentences (one in the present, one in the past, and one in the future tense), we identify the doer by the pronouns shown in bold:
            You see the boat.
            I went to Zagreb.
            We will walk around Split.
​
The problem is that in my first lessons I was taught to make Croatian sentences in which the doer is indicated in the same way as in English – by using ja, ti, on, ona, ono, mi, vi, oni, one, ona.

No doubt trying to ease the path for us, my previous teachers (and, it seems all textbooks) taught us literal translations of these sentences, including the pronouns …
            Ti vidiš brod.
            Ja sam išao u Zagreb.
            Mi ćemo šetati Splitom.
We kept our English-speaking caps on to tune in to identify the doer – ti, ja, mi.
​

All very well, except that Croatians don't generally talk like that. Unless they want to emphasize who the doer is, they don't use the personal pronouns .....
            Vidiš brod.
            Išao sam u Zagreb.
            Šetat ćemo Splitom.

​And how do they identify the doer when they hear these sentences? They tune in to the form of the verbs:
            Vidiš brod.
            Išao sam u Zagreb.
            Šetat ćemo Splitom.
​

Things are just different: In English, the information is carried with the pronouns, while in Croatian, the information is in the verbs.

I am still trying to undo what I originally learned. I am still trying to train myself to automatically tune in to the verbs, rather than to look for pronouns.
​

Another example .... Who was it that my friend said went to Split yesterday? How do I distinguish between these following sentences .... ?
​
            Išla sam u Split.
            Išao je u Split.
            Išli smo u Split.
            Išli ste u Split.
            Išle su u Split.

Yes, by tuning in to the verbs. But my mind is still searching for ja, on, mi, vi, one!
​
I wish that my previous teachers had given us the pronoun-less versions from the beginning. Then perhaps I wouldn't be trying to re-train my brain!

Kad postanem učitelj hrvatskog jezika .....

[Er .... Who was the subject of that sentence?]

​

I have added a closely related post (Grammar #013 Verb endings: Who is the doer?).

Getting around

You can browse or search this website in the following ways:

• Use the drop-down menus from the buttons at the top of each page to browse page titles.
• Click to go to the website ROAD MAP (also from the drop-down menu under the NAVIGATION button).
• Click to go to the ALPHABETICAL INDEX. (also from the drop-down menu under the NAVIGATION button).
• Enter a word or phrase in the Search box at the top of each page.

​
​

AHA! Learning Croatian with Bob
​Correspondence: bobby.bucat@gmail.com