| N |
| A |
| DL |
| G |
| 24 |
| I |
| V |
Here are two spatial adverbs that distinguish locations from directions, with associated prepositions:
| dir. | loc. | preposition | |
|---|---|---|---|
| outside | van ® | vani ® | izvan outside of |
| inside | unutra | unutar within | |
All prepositions are, as expected, used with G. For example:
Hotel ne radi izvan sezone. The hotel doesn’t ‘work’ outside of the (tourist) season. (= isn’t open)
Sometimes the adverb van can be used with nouns, as a kind of preposition, so you’ll hear and read both van sezone and izvan sezone.
The following adverbs stand both for origins and locations, in the following way: the same adverb means from outside and on the outer surface. We can call them origin/surface adverbs:
izvana from outside, on the outside
iznutra from within, on the inside
odozgo from above, on the top side
odozdo from below, on the bottom side
For example:
Hladan zrak dolazi izvana. The cold air is coming from the outside. ®
There are such adverbs also for left and right:
slijeva from left, on the left side
zdesna from right, on the right side
For example:
Also, there are two adverbs for relative origins:
izbliza up close
izdaleka from a far, from a distance
For example:
Ovo voće dolazi izdaleka. These fruits come from afar.
All these adverbs are also used to express where you perceive (listen, watch, see, hear) something from (like in English):
Vidjela sam ih izdaleka. I saw them from afar. {f}
Moraš pogledati izbliza. You have to take a look from close.
It’s possible to derive relational adjectives from the adverbs from the first table above. Such adjectives are derived by adding -ski, -nji or -šnji. However, since they are far from regular, they have to be remembered as separate adjectives:
|
vani out →
vanjski outer
® unutra inside → unutrašnji inner |
gore up →
gornji upper dolje down → donji lower |
However, it’s not possible to derive such adjectives from origin adverbs, such as odozgo from above or izbliza up close.
Next, it’s also possible to derive relational adjectives from many specific time adverbs (e.g. today), as well and you have to use them – there’s no other way say today’s newspaper in Croatian; they are always derived with -šnji; if the original adverb ends in -s, it’s lost:
|
danas today →
današnji noćas tonight → noćašnji jučer yesterday → jučerašnji |
jutros this morning →
jutrošnji večeras this evening → večerašnji sutra tomorrow → sutrašnji |
(The difference večerašnji vs. večernji is the same as večeras vs. večer.)
They are also derived from non-specific time adverbs in the same way:
|
sad(a) now →
sadašnji tad(a) then → tadašnji |
nekad(a) a time ago →
nekadašnji prije before → prijašnji |
English has few adjectives that correspond to Croatian ones: sadašnji translates as current, present, and nekadašnji as former. For example:
To su jučerašnje novine. This is yesterday’s newspaper.
The adjectives derived from adverbs for last evening and last year do not follow this scheme:
sinoć last evening →
sinoćni (also sinoćnji)
lani last year
® →
lanjski
One preposition introduced long ago, normally meaning from with G, has a special meaning with a specific noun strana side:
s¨/sa¨ ... strane on... the side
For example:
Kuće su s lijeve strane ulice. Houses are on the left side of the street.
The same can be expressed with na¨ ... strani, i.e. using a DL expression (which I personally prefer).
On its own, without any additional words, sa strane usually means aside, apart; in the same meaning, you can sometimes hear na strani and po strani:
Stajao je sa strane. He was standing aside.
Then, there are couple of interesting prepositions yet unexplained. These two are quite simple:
niz¨ + A down, along
uz¨ + A up, close to
The basic meaning of them is direction of movement. The preposition niz¨ means the ‘normal’ direction, i.e. the same direction as the river flows, as hair grows etc.:
Bacila je sve niz rijeku. She threw everything down the river.
With steps, ramps, etc. it implies the downward direction:
Trčao sam niz stepenice. I ran down the stairs. {m}
The preposition niz¨ is used also with paths that have no obvious direction, like avenues, river banks, roads, trails, simply to indicate movement along something which is path-like:
Trčao sam niz ulicu. I ran down the street. {m}
The preposition uz¨ means the opposite direction from niz¨, but also a location close to, this has been covered in 55 More Prepositions.
Finally, there’s a quite complex preposition which is often hard to translate to English:
po¨ + A by, here and there (‘sequence’)
This preposition is best explained by examples. First, it’s used in expressions like English step by step, day by day:
Kretala sam se korak po korak. I was moving step by step. {f}
Očistio sam sve, sobu po sobu. I’ve cleaned everything, room by room. {m}
Both the word before and the word after po¨ must be in A, so this is definitely not an usual preposition!
The next use emphasizes there’s more than one instance of something, which resolves ambiguity in some cases. This example will make it clear:
Dao sam Goranu i Marku pedeset kuna. I gave Goran and Marko 50 kuna. {m}
It’s not clear whether each got 50 kn, or the speaker has given just 50 kn for both of them. Adding po¨ makes it clear there was more than one 50 kn bill:
Dao sam Goranu i Marku po pedeset kuna. I gave Goran and Marko 50 kuna each. {m}
This table summarizes all uses of the preposition po¨:
| meaning | used with | example |
|---|---|---|
| motion over a surface |
DL | Trčim po plaži. I’m running on the beach. |
| ‘according to’ | DL | Po njemu,... According to him,... |
| motion ‘to pick up’ |
A | Trčim po knjigu. I’m running to get the book. |
| ‘each’ | A | Daj im po jabuku. Give them one apple each. |
| ‘sequence’ | A + A | sobu po sobu room by room |
There are adverbs that are historically derived as po¨ + an adverb, but they are considered single words today. We have already encountered some of them. Common ones are:
ponegdje here and there
ponekad now and then = sometimes
ponešto this and that thing = a bit, to a degree
The last word is used as a quantity adverb. There are also generic pronouns and adjectives derived in this way:
poneki (+) occasional, few and far between
ponetko (ponek-) this and that person = a few people
The adjective poneki changes as neki, of course.
Finally, there’s an expression that can use one of two adverbs with opposite meanings, but the meaning of the whole expression is the same:
|
ni izbliza ni izdaleka | + neg. not even close |
They are used in negative sentences, i.e. the main verb must be negated, as adverbs, i.e. modifying meanings of verbs and before adjectives. For example:
To ni izdaleka nije dovoljno. That’s not even close enough.
Both expressions are occasionally spelled as one word.
________
® Instead of van and the related words, the following words are common in Serbia, parts of Bosnia and even in some parts of Croatia:
|
van → napolje vani → napolju |
izvana → spolja vanjski → spoljašnji |
Instead of zrak, the word for air in Serbia and most of Bosnia is vazduh.
The adverb lani has an unexpected “Ekavian” form lane in Serbia, but the relational adjective is the same.
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