|
A perfect(ive) storm! Firstly, for context .... Modifying the meanings of verbs in English In English, sometimes different prefixes on verbs convey different meanings of the verbs. For example: ascend = go up descend = go down transcend = go across/over But compared with the Croatian language, I think that this use of prefixes is not so common. We more often use an adverb (of location) after the basic verb, or another word altogether. For example, apart from “go up”, “go down” and go across” mentioned above, some other examples are: go out (or exit) go in (or enter) go away (or depart) go faster (or hasten) go slower (or slow down) go around (circumnavigate?) go around (revolve) go back and forth (oscillate) go back (return) You get the idea? We commonly don’t change the word “go”: rather we pack a descriptive adverb with it. Or we use an entirely different verb. But in Croatian? Croatians use prefixes But if you are learning Croatian (as am I, so slowly) you will quickly come to realise that in the Croatian language prefixes are added to the verb “go” (ići) – sometimes with substitution of the first “i” - to produce a whole range of different verbs, each with particular meaning: doći to come, to arrive izići to go out, to leave mimoići to pass by, to pass over, to miss naići to come across, to encounter otići to leave, to depart poći to set out, to go forth preći to go across, to go over pridoći to intervene, to join in prići to come up to, to approach proizići to follow on, to emerge from proći to pass through, to pass by razići se to break up sići to descend, to alight ući to enter zaobići to go around, to detour This is probably not a complete list! I have not included alternative meanings of the verbs – some slightly different, and some apparently unrelated! And two notes of caution:
to make a mistake: griješiti (impf.), pogriješiti (pf.) to make angry: ljutiti (impf.), naljutiti (pf.) So, we learners are faced with a labyrinth of verbs, all looking somewhat similar, but with different, and specific, meanings. It's a jungle in which it is easy to get lost! And it can even be galling when you realise that to a Croatian, poći and proći are as different as are think and jump to us! Meanings of the prefixes Things are not entirely random. When a given prefix is used with different verbs, it usually conveys a similar change of meaning. Not always exactly the same, of course: By definition, every rule in Croatian has many exceptions! Here are simplified meanings of some of the most common prefixes: do- to, toward iz- out of, from mimo- passing na- on, onto nad- above, over o- around ob- around od- away from po- over, all over pod- under, off pre- over, excessiveness pred- pre, prior pri- addition, onto pro- through, passing raz- separation, spreading apart s- with, from su- together, with, co- u- in, into uz- with, up za- in, at You will find some variations from grammar book to grammar book. Flying ….. Don’t think that these prefixes change just the base verb ići. There are thousands of such verbs, and for all that I know, every one of them has variations brought about by prefixes. Just as a further example, here are some verbs derived from the base verb ljetiti (to fly) by the addition of prefixes. The meanings given are very concise. doljetiti to fly to izljetiti to fly from nadljetiti to fly aboves obljetiti to fly around odljetiti to fly off podljetiti to fly under poljetiti to start flying preljetiti to fly across proljetiti to fly by razljetiti se to fly apart saljetiti to harass sljetiti to land uzljetiti to fly up zaljetiti se to start flying The base verb stati In another post (Prefixes with base verb stati) I have compiled a list of verbs which are derived from the base perfective verb stati (as well as the corresponding verbs derived from the imperfective stajati). In this case, I have gathered a rather comprehensive set of meanings, so that you can see that there are even significantly different meanings of the same word. It certainly takes a long while to get one’s head around all of this. At least it did for me! And it is an ongoing process. Click here to go to Aha! Croatian: A ROAD MAP
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |