Yammat was a Croatian pop ‘project’ which later produced the pop band Detour. This is a hit from their 2004 album Plan B. The lyrics were written by Saša Ljiljak.
These verses have a simple grammar:
| Svaka priča ima kraj | Every story has an end |
| svaki kamen zavičaj | every stone a homeland |
| more ili planina | a sea or a mountain |
The following verses contain a desire clause:
| Ti bi htio [da je sve | You would like [everything to be |
| malo jednostavnije] | a bit simpler] |
| al’ ne razumijemo se | but we don’t understand each other |
The forms of the irregular verb htjeti are explained in 31 Needs, Wishes and Intentions. The verb is here in the conditional form, which is explained in 38 Would, Could: Conditionals. Desire clauses are explained in 56 Desires and Demands.
The form jednostavnije is a comparative in neuter singular, demanded by the subject sve everything. For comparatives, check 63 Bigger and Better: Comparatives.
The use of se² to express each other is explained in 25 Plural.
Then the verses repeat with a small change. The word godine years is the subject in the last verse:
| Svaka priča ima kraj | Every story has an end |
| svako pleme zavičaj | every tribe a homeland |
| asfalt ili livada | asphalt or a meadow |
| Ti bi htio [da je sve | You would like [everything to be |
| malo jednostavnije] | a bit simpler] |
| al’ nas d |
but years separate us |
The conjunction ali is here colloquially shortened, for rhythmic reasons: each verse has 7 syllables (ti bi hti-o da je sve / ma-lo je-dno-stav-ni-je / al nas dije-le go-di-ne). Of course, -ije- is just one syllable, since i is not pronounced. The shortened ali is often spelled with an apostrophe (’).
The chorus contains two simple verses. The stressed form of 2nd pers. pronoun in A (tebe) is required by the preposition (na¨).
| Putujem i ne mislim na tebe | I’m traveling and not thinking about you |
| putujem i ne mislim | I’m traveling and not thinking |
Then the last set of verses uses the same pattern:
| Krivo vr |
A wrong time, a wrong world |
| navikli su te na gr |
got you used to sin |
| pogled prema sjeveru | a look toward north |
| Sad bi htio [da je sve | Now you would like [everything to be |
| puno jednostavnije] | a lot simpler] |
| al’ te mrvi čekanje | but waiting is crumbling you |
The fourth verse doesn’t contain a subject, and since conditional forms don’t distinguish 2nd and 3rd person forms in singular, the subject is known from the context.
The verb naviknuti / navići (navikne, navikao, navikla) is a perfective verb meaning get used to. Here it’s used with an object te² (2nd pers. pronoun in A). What you get used to is expressed with na¨ + A. This is idiomatic (i.e. specific for this verb) as with misliti think.
The form te² is also the object in the last verse, while čekanje waiting is the subject. The noun čekanje is a verbal noun; they are described in 66 Smoking is Dangerous: Verbal Nouns.
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ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this web-site.
ReplyDeleteI love this song, and I think I've found a small mistake in the second line of the second strophe. Instead of "svaki kamen" there should be "svako pleme"...
Thanks! I'll correct it
DeleteThank you so much for this web-site.
ReplyDeleteI love this song, and I think I've found a small mistake in the second line of the second strophe. Instead of "svaki kamen" there should be "svako pleme"...