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Što je, tu je!

3/7/2019

0 Comments

 
So be it! It is what it is!

It is January in Zagreb

Petar says:  "Moram šetati psa. Ali pada snijeg i temperatura je -10! Ne želim ići van.
                     Ali moram. Što je, tu je!
  
Ajdemo Švrćo (his dog). Ići ćemo u park."

​
It is May in Zadar - not that it matters, it could be any month in any town ....
​
Jadranka:  "Jedu mi se ćevapi, ali doma imamo samo grah. Htjela bih otići po ćevape, ali auto je pokvaren.
                   Onda ... 
Što je, tu je!  Jest ćemo grah za večeru
"
​
Picture

Što je, tu je!

Literally: What is, is!

Common usage: That's the way it is! So be it! There's nothing we can do about it!

​And implied: That's the situation, let's deal with it. There is no point in worrying about what we cannot change!

​​


And just in case you didn't understand my Croatian in the two situations described above ...

Petar: "I must walk the dog. But snow is falling and it is -10 degrees. I don't want to go outside. But I must.  It is what it is! Let's go, Švrćo. We'll go to the park."

Jadranka: "I feel like (eating) ćevapi, but we only have beans at home. I would like to go and get some ćevapi, but the car is out of order. Then, so be  it! We will have beans for dinner."
​
​
More ....

​Here is an example arising directly from the business of learning Croatian with my teacher Mateja at SpeakCro:

Bob: Mateja, I was writing something in Croatian that involved the similar-looking nouns posao (job, task) and misao (thought). And I understand from what you told me once, that when we decline these according to the cases, they behave as though the nominative singular were posla and misla. Right?

Mateja: 10/10  [I'm sure that she thought to add "for a change..."]

Bob: OK, so I thought that they would decline in the same way. Luckily, I checked their declension, because they are different! Here is what I found:

Picture
Picture
Bob: They are entirely different!

Mateja: Yes, they are. What are the genders of the nouns posao and misao?

Bob: Hmmmmmm ... Checking, checking .... Joj! the noun posao is muški rod, but misao is ženski rod! 

Mateja: Correct. And so what do you think about their declensions?

Bob: Aha! I see! Posao behaves like a regular masculine noun (posla), and misao is one of those feminine i-nouns!           But why is that? That doesn't make sense to me!

Mateja: Što je, tu je! Suck it up, princess!

Bob [thinking ...]  Mateja is such a sensitive teacher .....

​


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​

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  • HOME
    • Navigation: A ROAD MAP
    • Contacts
  • LEARNING CROATIAN
    • CROATIAN: Posts 1 - 10 >
      • 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
    • CROATIAN: Posts 11 - 20 >
      • 011 Nazvati nekoga, telefonirati nekomu
      • 012 If she were a man ....
      • 013 Streets with two names?
      • 015 Tri, četiri, sad!
      • 016 I feel like crying!
      • 017 I felt like crying, I will feel like crying
    • DAKLE ŽELIŠ BITI KAO PRAVI HRVAT, JE L' DA? HOME >
      • 001 Ovako!
      • 002 Je l' tako?
      • 003 Tako je!
      • 004 Izvoli! Izvolite!
      • 005 Eto!
    • CHALLENGES FOR YOU >
      • 001 Crossword puzzle 1
  • GRAMMAR
    • GRAMMAR POSTS 1 - 10 >
      • 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?
    • GRAMMAR POSTS 11 - 20 >
      • 011 Declension of place names
    • GRAMMAR TITBITS - HOME >
      • 001 Dati - dativ
    • GRAMMAR REFERENCE SECTION HOME >
      • 001 Questions that define the case of nouns
      • 002 All nouns have gender
      • 003 Nouns in the nominative case
      • 004 Nouns: Declension categories
      • 005 Declension of regular nouns
  • SAYINGS
    • SAYINGS: Posts 1 - 10 >
      • 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!
  • VOCAB
    • Vocabulary: POSTS 1 - 10 >
      • 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?
    • Vocab THEMES: HOME >
      • 001 In the time of coronavirus
    • Što je korijen riječi?: HOME >
      • 001 Nadimak
      • 002 Zora, prozor, zoran, ….
  • STUFF
    • STUFF: Posts 1 - 10 >
      • 001 Bookara
      • 002 Crossies?
      • 003 Jučer ili sutra?
      • 004 Ućitelji
      • 005 Požuri polako
      • 006 Kakav stil!
      • 007 The people of Magorje
      • 008 Where did the "j" go?
      • 009 koliko je kiše 50 litara po kvadratom metru?
      • 010 The dark side of the moon
    • Vicevi (Jokes)
  • EXPERIENCES
    • EXPERIENCES: POSTS 1 - 10 HOME >
      • 001 Licitarska srca
      • 002 My Aussie accent
      • 003 The upside down SIM card
      • 004 Buying fritule in Split
  • ABOUT 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 - 10 >
        • 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 >
        • 001 Zagreb cathedral
        • 002 Advent in Zagreb
        • 003 Interliber book fair
        • 004 On the tramvaj in Zagreb
      • Dalmacija: HOME >
        • BEING AND SPEAKING DALMATIAN: HOME >
          • 001 Molin?
          • 002 Eleven Dalmatian commandments
          • Dalmatinski rječnik HOME >
            • Keywords A - J
            • Keywords K - N
            • Keywords O - R
            • Keywords S - Ž
            • English to Dalmatian
      • Zagorje: HOME >
        • 001 Autumn tones
    • SPORT: HOME
    • CULTURE: HOME >
      • 001 A night at the ballet
  • TKO SAM JA?
    • Tko sam ja? Posts 1 - 10 >
      • 001 The way we spoke