017 I felt like crying, I will feel like crying

or  I was feeling like crying,  I will be feeling like crying

​In a previous post (I feel like crying!), I discussed the challenges that I have faced with the phrase "I feel like (doing something)."

That previous post was motivated by an awareness that the Croatian versions of sentences that include “I feel like ….”, “We don’t feel like …”, “Do you feel like ….?”, and “What do you feel like ….?” do not slip lightly off my tongue.

On the contrary, the concentration that I need to exert to make some approximation to the correct version is enough to make me feel like giving up.
 
Perhaps the post alerted you to this idiosyncrasy of Croatian, so that you will be ready for it?
 

But let’s be honest, I also wanted to methodically express the whole range of possibilities, through examples, that would clarify my own mind, and even give me a place to refer to.

[I can just see it now … I am in deep conversation with the President of the Republic of Croatia, and I think to say “I feel like staying in your wonderful country.” I am not sure how to say that, so I excuse myself for 30 seconds while I open my laptop and go to the post I feel like crying for confirmation!]

I digress …
 

I thought that I had covered pretty much every likely use of “I feel like (doing something)” - affirmatives, negatives and questions.

And then it dawned on me ….. after all of that exhausting explication, I had only dealt with examples in the present tense! Joj! No examples in the past tense, nor in the future tense!

So let’s now have a look at some examples of sentences that include variations of the expressions “I felt like (doing something)”, and “I will feel like (doing something)”.

Without much commentary. And I do not try to hide the fact that here I had to lean heavily on my patient teacher Mateja (speakcro.com).
 

Past tense

The verb (in imperfective, continuous aspect) takes on the form of the past participle for a neuter subject:

​I felt like resting./I felt like a rest.

​They felt like drinking./They felt like a drink.
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Odmaralo mi se.

​Pilo im se.

[You might think that the auxiliary verbs “je” and “su” are missing from these sentences. Well, it’s quite usual to omit the auxiliary verb when the major verb is reflexive (and is accompanied by se). So, instead of On se je vratio, we use On se vratio.]
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We didn’t feel like running./We didn’t feel like a run.

​Did he feel like swimming?/Did he feel like a swim?

​What did she feel like playing?
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Nije nam se trčalo.

​Da li mu se plivalo?
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​Što joj se igralo?
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Future tense

I will feel like a rest.   [perhaps after running a marathon?]
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Odmarat će mi se.
​

[The auxiliary verb is always that appropriate to third-person singular: in this case, će and not ću.]
​

She will not feel like a drink.
​
Will we feel like playing?

​​What will they feel like drinking?

Neće joj se piti.

​Hoće li nam se igrati?

​Što će im se piti?
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Dosta, dosta!
​
Desperate people resort to desperate actions in desperate times.
 
I feel that I have just described myself in the business of learning Croatian! And here is my desperate course of action when I want to express an “I feel like ….” emotion, coward that I am:

I feel like drinking an orange juice.

She didn’t feel like drinking an orange juice.
​
​We will feel like drinking orange juice.
​

​Želim popiti sok od naranče.

Nije željela popiti sok od naranče.

​Željet ćemo popiti sok od naranče.
 

There are just two problems with that pathway:

• The meaning is not quite identical (although it will probably serve the purpose).
• Hiding from the challenge only makes it more difficult when the person you are talking with asks Da li im se igra?            [The reply is "Eh, what!?]

 

Wait until I start to talk about some difficult issues in my experience of learning Croatian!
 

Click here to go to   Aha! Croatian: A ROAD MAP
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