grammar
Minchia ch’è beddu! 20 Minutes to Feigning Fluent-ish Sicilian
If you want to joke, flirt, and gripe with the locals in Sicily, you could do so in Italian. But if you manage to do so in Sicilian you’re going to have way more fun. Sicilian is the language of the island of Sicily. Some refer to it as a “dialect” — but, prior to …
Can You Count to One in Serbian? It’s Fucking Harder Than You’d Fucking Think!
Today we’ll learn to count in Serbian / Bosnian / Croatian. But this South Slavic linguistic shitshow is crazy, so all we’re really going to understand is the number one. If we get really masochistic, we may cover the numbers two, three, maybe even four and more in some other article. This is a grammar …
Više vs. Još in Serbian/ Bosnian/ Croatian: The Differences and When to Use Each One
The horrors of Serbian/Croatian/Bosian hit you one after another: cases, verb aspect, and conjugations… And then at some point, probably later in the process, the bizarre and seemingly random distinctions between više and još will also start to get on your nerves. These words can be translated, variously, as “more”, “even more”, “yet”, “any more”, “still”, etc. …
Brazilian vs. European Portuguese: Key Differences to Learn in Grammar and Vocabulary
I’ve been speaking Brazilian Portuguese regularly for more than a decade, but have recently been spending more time in Lisbon and so I’ve had to make some adaptations for the European version of the language. So this will be my thorough guide to the differences to note between the two varieties; it’s especially intended for …
Serbian, Croatian, and Bosnian Possessive Adjectives from Nouns: How People Own Stuff in these Languages
Serbian, Bosnian, and Croatian have a way of showing who belongs to what that corresponds to apostrophe+S in English. It is called the derived possessive adjective. Milan’s rule — Milanovo praviloMarija’s pool — Marijin bazen As you can see the endings are not quite as uniform as the English version, but as Serbian language things …
Love = Murder? Balkan Romance (and Serbian Grammar!) as Understood in the Song “Ubiću Te”
If you love someone should you kill her? Probably yes, according to one Serbian-language song. Magnifico’s tune “Ubiću Te” is a frenetic ride into romance, and translates as: “I Will Kill You.” On this blog I’ve long suggested that you should all pour yourself a rakija, eat some cupi, and learn some Serbian. But taking …