Detour: Daleko

Daleko Far away is a hit by Croatian pop band Detour from their highly acclaimed 2014 album A što ak’ ja... And what if I.... The song was written by Maja Posavec, who sings it in the video:

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The song start with these verse which feature a negative imperative nemoj ići; more about imperatives in 53 Giving Orders.

Nemoj ićidon't go dalekofar away Don't go far away
takoso su reklithey told joj
her (DL)
they told her so
nemoj ićidon't go nigdjenowhere don't go anywhere
[gdjewhere te
you (A)
moje
my (f, N-pl)
očieyes ne videthey don't see]
[where my eyes can't see you] (lit. 'don't see you')

The last two verses contain an adverbal clause, for location, starting with gdje, attached to nigdje, so it's literally nowehere where.

In the following verses, nitko nobody is colloquially simplified to niko; also, rekao, the past-m form of reći perf. say, tell is simplified to reko:

Zaštowhy jeis tothat opasno
dangerous (n)
Why is it dangerous
tothat nikonobody nije rekodidn't tell joj
her (DL)
nobody told her that
slutila jeshe suspected sileforces [koje
that/which (f N-pl)
she suspected forces [that
čekajuthey're waiting ju
her (A)
odavnosince long ago]
have been waiting for her for a long time]

The last two verses contain a relative clause koje čekaju ju odavno; for more information, check 62 The Friend I Saw: Relative Clauses.

The following verses contain the verb željeti wish + another verb in infinitive. For more information, check 31 Needs, Wishes and Intentions. The conjunction ako if is colloquially shortened to ak:

Aand štowhat [akif jaI], štowhat [akif jaI], štowhat [akif jaI And what [if I], what [if I], what [if I
želimI want ićito go dalekofar away] want to go far away]
Nježan
delicate, gentle (m)
cvijetflower
A delicate flower
nijeisn't nježan
delicate, gentle (m)
zauvijekforever
isn't delicate forever
nineither ova
this (f)
noćnoć
this night, too
neće trajatwon't last zauvijekforever won't last forever

The verb talasati means make waves, so its use with an object val wave (in A-pl) is a play on words. (In Serbia, the word talas is used for wave; ultimately, it comes from Greek θάλασσα sea, which Greeks probably took from an unknown language that was spoken in Greece before the Greeks came there.)

The second verse contains the verb reći (...) perf. say in the aorist tense – a bit archaic tense, quite rare in Croatia today (at least in speech) – and almost unheard in pop music: more in 99 Aorist Tense and Other Marginal Features.

Ne talasajdon't make waves valovewaves Don't make waves
takoso joj
her (DL)
rekošethey told
they told her so
ne dirajdon't touch lavalion don't touch the lion
[sve dokwhile spavasleeps] uin reduorder jeis [while he sleeps] it's OK

The last verse contains a phrase u redu, literally in order, but actually alright, OK. There's also a time clause, check 54 When, While, Until, Before, After.

The following verses contain a time clause, and a purpose clause:

AAnd zaštowhy jeis tothat opasno
dangerous (n)
And why is it dangerous
tothat nikonobody nije rekodidn't tell joj
her (DL)
nobody told her that
[kadwhen se dignuthey rise burestrong winds] [when storms rise]
svieverybody se sakrijuthey hide [da
conjunction
ne videthey don't see]
everybody hides [so that don't see]

The noun bura is a strong, northern wind.

The following verses repeat ones already seen, with a small variation:

Aand štowhat [akif jaI], štowhat [akif jaI], štowhat [akif jaI And what [if I], what [if I], what [if I
želimI want dizatto raise valovewaves] want to go raise waves]
nineither ovaj
this (m)
lavlion
this lion, too
neće spavatwon't sleep zauvijekforever won't sleep forever
5 Easy Croatian: Detour: Daleko Daleko Far away is a hit by Croatian pop band Detour from their highly acclaimed 2014 album A što ak’ ja... And what if I... . The song ...

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