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GRAMMAR:  007 Going and coming: u-iz, but na-sa

16/7/2019

1 Comment

 
How well I recall the first time that I heard it ….. Oni dolaze s otoka.
​
What!? They coming with an island? That sounds difficult. They must have quite a big truck! And I hope that they are not intending to come with that island named Australia …… 

And then I thought … Hang on! If they are coming with an island, shouldn’t it be Oni dolaze s otokom? You know, instrumental case for “with”.

I needed help. One more question for my teacher Mateja at SpeakCro. She explained.


Well I’ll be a monkey’s uncle! I didn’t know that! Here is how it goes ..
 
“I am going to Croatia” is, in Croatian, Idem u Hrvatsku.     [Focus on u]
And “I am coming from Croatia” is Dolazim iz Hrvatske.      [Focus on iz]
 
And, another exemplar pair ….
“They are walking to the town centre.” is Šetaju u centar.   [centar, after u is in akuzativ]
“They are walking from the town centre.” is Šetaju iz centra.   [centra, after iz is in genitiv]
 
And so, of course, Mi idemo u Imotski, i oni dolaze iz Imotskog.

Well that much seemed easy enough … The preposition meaning “to” is u, and the preposition meaning “from” is iz.
 
Ali, požuri polako!

Mateja reminded me (I was embarrassed that she had to!) that sometimes in Croatian, the preposition that we use for “to” is na.
            Idem na sveučilište.   I am going to the university.
            Ide na plažu.    He/she is going to the beach.
            Idemo na koncert.    We are going to the concert.
            Idu na otok.    They are going to the island.    [In each case, the noun after na is in akuzativ]

Elsewhere, I have a post Learning Croatian: Which preposition “u” or “na”.  [Click to go]

And what about: “I am coming from the university”?
 
DRUM ROLL … Da da, da da, da da!
 
          Dolazim sa sveučilišta.          !!!!!!!


Mateja told me that in those situations for which we use na in “going to”, we use sa (or s) in “coming from”. I didn’t know that! And it does not mean "with".

And following sa/s, the noun is in genitiv.
​
So ………
  • Dolazi s plaže.              He/she is coming from the beach.
  • Dolazimo s koncerta.    We are coming from the concert.
  • Dolaze s otoka.             They are coming from the island. [Just as I said at the beginning of this post.]
 
Odlazimo trajektom s otoka Hvara (iz Sučuraja)
We are leaving by ferry from the island Hvar (from Sučuraj)

Tužan sam! We
 had a wonderful holiday with friends in Jelsa, and my father's village Zastražišće. The time has come to depart from the village of Sučuraj on the eastern tip of otok Hvar.


Trajekt dolazi u Drvenik.
The ferry comes to the town of Drvenik, on the mainland. Behind Drvenik is the Biokovo mountain range.
​
Simple: iz goes with u, and s/sa goes with na:
  • Neće biti toliko vruće danas zato što vjetar puše s mora (s istoka).
  • On ide na otok Hvar danas, i vratit će se s otoka Hvara sutra.
  • Ona ide u grad Hvar danas, i vratit će se iz grada Hvara sutra.​​
 
To take things just a little further ...
          Odakle su Nevenka i Nenad?   Where are Nevenka and Nenad from?
          Nevenka je s otoka Brača, i Nenad je iz Zagreba.
​


​A gentle challenge
:

The videos above portray a ferry trip from otok Hvar to the town Drvenik. How would you translate a description of the return trip: "We left from Drvenik and went to otok Hvar"?



Learning Croatian is so easy! Isn't it?


​

Answer to the challenge:

Išli smo iz Drvenika i došli smo na otok Hvar.




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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