AHA! Learning Croatian with Bob
  • Home
    • TKO SAM JA? >
      • Posts 1 - 10 >
        • 001 The way we spoke
      • PHOTOS - SELFIES >
        • Selfies 1-10
        • Selfies 11-20
      • Photos - General >
        • Photos 1-10
    • Contacts
  • MISCELLANEOUS
    • Posts 1 -15 >
      • 001 Kosa, koza, koža
      • 002 Pronouncing 'au'
      • 003 Can language influence behaviour?
      • 004 First day of the week
      • 005 Do Croatians assign gender to objects?
      • 006 Za četiri dana, na dva dana
      • 007 My brain becomes full!
      • 008 Sretan rođendan ti
      • 009 Na kavu, po kavu, za kavu?
      • 010 Until you don't do it
      • 011 Nazvati nekoga, telefonirati nekomu
      • 012 If she were a man ....
      • 013 Streets with two names?
      • 015 Tri, četiri, sad!
    • Posts 16-30 >
      • 016 I feel like crying!
      • 017 I felt like crying, I will feel like crying
      • 018 Picking up place names by ear
      • 019 Where did the "j" go?
      • 020 Koliko kiše smo imali?
      • 021 Požuri polako
      • 022 Mi, mi, mi, mi
      • 023 Why should we learn the grammar?
      • 024 Words for youngsters are neuter
    • EXPERIENCES >
      • EXPERIENCES: POSTS 1 - 15 HOME >
        • 001 Licitarska srca
        • 002 My Aussie accent
        • 003 The upside down SIM card
        • 004 Buying fritule in Split
        • 005 Jučer ili sutra?
        • 006 Što rade ućitelji?
    • VICEVI >
      • Vicevi: Page 1
    • CHALLENGES FOR YOU >
      • 001 Crossword puzzle 1
  • GRAMMAR
    • Posts 1 - 15 >
      • 001 Where are the pronouns?
      • 002 Padeži and noun endings
      • 003 Endings of pronouns and adjectives
      • 004 "u" ili "na" ?
      • 005 The declensions of Tko? and Što?
      • 006 Ja sam na Trgu bana Josipa Jelačića
      • 007 Going and coming: u-iz, but na-sa
      • 008 Sav - All, every
      • 009 Number of subjects and the verb 'biti'
      • 010 Koga nazoveš? Komu telefoniraš?
      • 011 Declension of place names
      • 012 Dati - dativ
      • 013 Verb endings: Who is the doer?
      • 014 Sibilarization and palatalization
      • 015 Iotation (jotacija)
    • Grammar: Posts 16-30 >
      • 016 Vodice su grad u Hrvatskoj
    • Grammar reference section >
      • NOUNS >
        • 001 Questions that define the case of nouns
        • 002 All nouns have gender
        • 003 Nouns in the nominative case
        • 004 Nouns: Declension categories
        • 004a A universal declension table?
        • 005 Declension of regular masculine nouns
        • 006 Declension of regular feminine nouns
      • VERBS >
        • 001 Transitive and intransitive verbs
        • 004 Conjugation types
  • SAYINGS
    • Posts 1 - 15 >
      • 001 Ne daj se!
      • 002 U tom grmu leži zec!
      • 003 Baš me briga!
      • 004 Mačji kašalj!
      • 005 Što je, tu je!
      • 006 Eto ti ga na!
      • 007 Na licu mjesta
      • 008 Sve si to ti kriv!
    • DAKLE, ŽELIŠ BITI KAO PRAVI HRVAT, JE L' DA? HOME >
      • 001 Ovako ....
      • 002 Je l' tako?
      • 003 Tako je!
      • 004 Izvoli! Izvolite!
      • 005 Eto!
  • VOCABULARY
    • POSTS 1 - 15 >
      • 001 Even dying is not easy!
      • 002 To laugh or to smile?
      • 003 Nahraniti, sahraniti .... schmahraniti
      • 004 Prefixes that modify verb meanings
      • 005 Prefixes on base verb stati
      • 006 Country names - noun or adjective?
      • 007 Names of towns: A grammatical nightmare
      • 008 Countries: What do we call their citizens?
      • 009 Baš
      • 010 What a joke! vic or šala?
      • 011 Čak
      • 012 Još or više? (More of something)
      • 013 Još or više? (Time-related)
    • FRAZEOLOGIJA - HOME >
      • Based on NOUNS >
        • 001 RUKA
      • Based on VERBS >
        • 001 UZIMATI/UZETI
    • Vocab THEMES: HOME >
      • 001 In the time of coronavirus
    • Što je korijen riječi?: HOME >
      • 001 Nadimak
      • 002 Zora, prozor, zoran, ….
      • 003 Uništiti
  • CROATIA
    • Republika Hrvatska: HOME >
      • 001 Anthem: LIJEPA NAŠA
      • 002 Map of Croatia
      • 003 Županije: The counties of Croatia
    • Where/What/Who is that? HOME >
      • Where/What/Who? Pages 1 - 15 >
        • 001 A girl and a bird
        • 002 His left foot
        • 003 A rebel
        • 004 Čuvarica Omiša
        • 005 Giorgio or Juraj?
        • 006 Tovar and friend
        • 007 Up on high
        • 008 On an island
        • 009 Water wonderland
    • REGIONS, CITIES, TOWNS: HOME >
      • ZAGREB: HOME >
        • THE CITY >
          • 001 Zagreb cathedral
        • PEOPLE and CULTURE >
          • 001 Advent in Zagreb
          • 002 Interliber book fair
          • 004 On the tramvaj in Zagreb
          • 005 A night at the ballet
      • DALMACIJA: HOME >
        • BEING AND SPEAKING DALMATIAN: HOME >
          • 001 Molin?
          • 002 Eleven Dalmatian commandments
          • 003 Dalmatinski rječnik
      • Zagorje: HOME >
        • 001 Autumn tones
  • NAVIGATION
    • A ROAD MAP
    • INDEX, ALPHABETICAL

004 First day of the week?

21/4/2019

1 Comment

 

Miscellaneous items #004

Which is the first day of the week?

What are the days of the week?
 
Well of course … Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
 
Or …. nedjelja, ponedjeljak, utorak, srijeda, četvrtak, petak, subota.
 
[It took me a while to realise that Croatians do not capitalise the first letter of the days. Funny buggers!]
 
Anyway, I have always thought that Sunday is the first day of each week – no doubt influenced by the fact that when I was young, every calendar had Sunday on the left side of each week in the month as you see in this calendar with a photo of beautiful Perth.
​

Picture
Do your calendars have Sunday in the first column, or Monday? In the Croatian language, the names of the days suggest that the choice matters.

In recent times, more and more calendars (including electronic ones) have Monday as the first day of each week.
 
“What rubbish!” I say. (Who is a creature of habit!?)
 
“Just some Americanism!” Although I was happy about the fact that each of us can make our own choices about this not-very-important issue.
 
But hang on! Not if you are Croatian! Croatians have no choice for the days of the week other than ponedjeljak (kao prvi dan), utorak, srijeda, četvrtak, petak, subota, and nedjelja.


Why so? Well, Mateja recently read me some text (testing my aural skills, which are so poor!) that included a teacher-student conversation about the names of the days of the week, and their origins. And then it dawned on me (The last person on Earth, again!) ……
 
If day 1 is nedjelja, it doesn’t make sense that the fourth day of the week is četvrtak (četvrti dan), and the fifth day is petak (peti dan)!
 
 The names of these days only make sense if day 1 is ponedjeljak. Well I'll be ....!

 
Picture
I digress ..... Can anyone tell me where this is?

And, the notion that subota and nedjelja are the weekend also fits in with ponedjeljak as the first day of the week, doesn’t it?
 
Wow, another example of how language influences us in so many ways, big and small ..
 
But then again ……… the name subota is derived from the word Sabbath – a day of rest and the seventh day of the week according to the bible - as practised (I think) by people of Jewish faith. So Sunday is day 1?

But Christians regard Sunday as the day of rest. I give up!

Addendum, much later: Wow! I realise that there is a Croatian verb djelovati (to act, or to do/make something). So the name nedjelja is consistent with the notion of a day that do not work. Interesting!
 
I am gradually coming to see that black is actually (not very) darkish grey, and white is (not very) lightish grey.
 

Napisao sam ovaj post u utorak – drugi (ili treći?) dan tjedna.
​

 

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: [email protected]
1 Comment
Dani
12/4/2021 01:46:14

Labin! My family home!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

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 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: [email protected]
Proudly powered by Weebly
​​
Supporting    SpeakCro Croatian Online Language School 
​
  • Home
    • TKO SAM JA? >
      • Posts 1 - 10 >
        • 001 The way we spoke
      • PHOTOS - SELFIES >
        • Selfies 1-10
        • Selfies 11-20
      • Photos - General >
        • Photos 1-10
    • Contacts
  • MISCELLANEOUS
    • Posts 1 -15 >
      • 001 Kosa, koza, koža
      • 002 Pronouncing 'au'
      • 003 Can language influence behaviour?
      • 004 First day of the week
      • 005 Do Croatians assign gender to objects?
      • 006 Za četiri dana, na dva dana
      • 007 My brain becomes full!
      • 008 Sretan rođendan ti
      • 009 Na kavu, po kavu, za kavu?
      • 010 Until you don't do it
      • 011 Nazvati nekoga, telefonirati nekomu
      • 012 If she were a man ....
      • 013 Streets with two names?
      • 015 Tri, četiri, sad!
    • Posts 16-30 >
      • 016 I feel like crying!
      • 017 I felt like crying, I will feel like crying
      • 018 Picking up place names by ear
      • 019 Where did the "j" go?
      • 020 Koliko kiše smo imali?
      • 021 Požuri polako
      • 022 Mi, mi, mi, mi
      • 023 Why should we learn the grammar?
      • 024 Words for youngsters are neuter
    • EXPERIENCES >
      • EXPERIENCES: POSTS 1 - 15 HOME >
        • 001 Licitarska srca
        • 002 My Aussie accent
        • 003 The upside down SIM card
        • 004 Buying fritule in Split
        • 005 Jučer ili sutra?
        • 006 Što rade ućitelji?
    • VICEVI >
      • Vicevi: Page 1
    • CHALLENGES FOR YOU >
      • 001 Crossword puzzle 1
  • GRAMMAR
    • Posts 1 - 15 >
      • 001 Where are the pronouns?
      • 002 Padeži and noun endings
      • 003 Endings of pronouns and adjectives
      • 004 "u" ili "na" ?
      • 005 The declensions of Tko? and Što?
      • 006 Ja sam na Trgu bana Josipa Jelačića
      • 007 Going and coming: u-iz, but na-sa
      • 008 Sav - All, every
      • 009 Number of subjects and the verb 'biti'
      • 010 Koga nazoveš? Komu telefoniraš?
      • 011 Declension of place names
      • 012 Dati - dativ
      • 013 Verb endings: Who is the doer?
      • 014 Sibilarization and palatalization
      • 015 Iotation (jotacija)
    • Grammar: Posts 16-30 >
      • 016 Vodice su grad u Hrvatskoj
    • Grammar reference section >
      • NOUNS >
        • 001 Questions that define the case of nouns
        • 002 All nouns have gender
        • 003 Nouns in the nominative case
        • 004 Nouns: Declension categories
        • 004a A universal declension table?
        • 005 Declension of regular masculine nouns
        • 006 Declension of regular feminine nouns
      • VERBS >
        • 001 Transitive and intransitive verbs
        • 004 Conjugation types
  • SAYINGS
    • Posts 1 - 15 >
      • 001 Ne daj se!
      • 002 U tom grmu leži zec!
      • 003 Baš me briga!
      • 004 Mačji kašalj!
      • 005 Što je, tu je!
      • 006 Eto ti ga na!
      • 007 Na licu mjesta
      • 008 Sve si to ti kriv!
    • DAKLE, ŽELIŠ BITI KAO PRAVI HRVAT, JE L' DA? HOME >
      • 001 Ovako ....
      • 002 Je l' tako?
      • 003 Tako je!
      • 004 Izvoli! Izvolite!
      • 005 Eto!
  • VOCABULARY
    • POSTS 1 - 15 >
      • 001 Even dying is not easy!
      • 002 To laugh or to smile?
      • 003 Nahraniti, sahraniti .... schmahraniti
      • 004 Prefixes that modify verb meanings
      • 005 Prefixes on base verb stati
      • 006 Country names - noun or adjective?
      • 007 Names of towns: A grammatical nightmare
      • 008 Countries: What do we call their citizens?
      • 009 Baš
      • 010 What a joke! vic or šala?
      • 011 Čak
      • 012 Još or više? (More of something)
      • 013 Još or više? (Time-related)
    • FRAZEOLOGIJA - HOME >
      • Based on NOUNS >
        • 001 RUKA
      • Based on VERBS >
        • 001 UZIMATI/UZETI
    • Vocab THEMES: HOME >
      • 001 In the time of coronavirus
    • Što je korijen riječi?: HOME >
      • 001 Nadimak
      • 002 Zora, prozor, zoran, ….
      • 003 Uništiti
  • CROATIA
    • Republika Hrvatska: HOME >
      • 001 Anthem: LIJEPA NAŠA
      • 002 Map of Croatia
      • 003 Županije: The counties of Croatia
    • Where/What/Who is that? HOME >
      • Where/What/Who? Pages 1 - 15 >
        • 001 A girl and a bird
        • 002 His left foot
        • 003 A rebel
        • 004 Čuvarica Omiša
        • 005 Giorgio or Juraj?
        • 006 Tovar and friend
        • 007 Up on high
        • 008 On an island
        • 009 Water wonderland
    • REGIONS, CITIES, TOWNS: HOME >
      • ZAGREB: HOME >
        • THE CITY >
          • 001 Zagreb cathedral
        • PEOPLE and CULTURE >
          • 001 Advent in Zagreb
          • 002 Interliber book fair
          • 004 On the tramvaj in Zagreb
          • 005 A night at the ballet
      • DALMACIJA: HOME >
        • BEING AND SPEAKING DALMATIAN: HOME >
          • 001 Molin?
          • 002 Eleven Dalmatian commandments
          • 003 Dalmatinski rječnik
      • Zagorje: HOME >
        • 001 Autumn tones
  • NAVIGATION
    • A ROAD MAP
    • INDEX, ALPHABETICAL