Body Parts / Dativ as Possessive
Let’s learn some vocabulary today, as well as some grammar points and constructions.
body – telo
body part – deo tela
body parts – delovi tela
head – glava
nose – nos
eye – oko
ear – uvo
mouth – usta
tooth – zub
tongue – jezik
throat – grlo
neck – vrat
arm – ruka
shoulder – rame
elbow – lakat
hand – šaka
finger – prst
chest – grudi
stomach – stomak
back – leđa
leg – noga
knee – koleno
foot – stopalo
bone – kost
There are some irregular plurals:
eyes – oči
ears – uši
Also, words:
usta – mouth
and leđa – back
are plural, they only have the plural form:
Your mouth is blue. =
Tvoja usta su plava.
My back is weak. =
Moja leđa su slaba.
This is neuter plural.
You might have noticed that the word jezik means both tongue and language.
Another interesting fact: the word hair.
hair (as in all the hairs on your head) – kosa
That is uncountable in English.
She has beautiful hair. =
Ima lepu kosu.
a strand of hair,
one hair – dlaka and then:
hairs (as in facial hair, body hair) – dlake (just plural for dlaka)
I have hair on my neck. =
Imam dlake na vratu.
People sometimes ask me whether we actually use the words hand and foot because we would show our hand and say ‘my arm hurts’.
As you’ve seen above, we do distinguish between arm and hand, we just don’t always specify it. Nothing else to it. It’s the same with foot and leg. You can say ‘her leg is hurt’ and you meant her foot.
Of course you could in fact use the word foot, but we usually don’t.
Hence the phrase:
We shake hands. =
Rukujemo se.
Let’s start with some difficult constructions now.
If there is a sensation you’re feeling in a certain body part, that body part will be the subject of the sentence, and you’ll be the object.
For example, your arm hurts.
You’ll say:
my arm aches me.
Why did I use the verb ‘ache’? Because you cannot use the verb ‘hurt’, it makes no sense. Your arm did not hurt you.
It’s a transitive verb in Serbian, it’s impossible to say ‘my arm hurts’ without using the object.
And you definitely can’t say ‘my arm hurts me’ – it’s weird and kind of not true, because it was the other way around, right?
Anyway:
to ache – boleti
it aches – boli
My arm hurts. =
Boli me ruka. (my arm aches me)
boli me noga – my leg hurts
boli me glava – my head hurts
If it’s plural, then you use the third person plural.
My arms hurt. =
Bole me ruke.
My back hurts. =
Bole me leđa.
This word only has the plural form, remember?
Obviously, we use the akuzativ short forms for this construction.
A quick reminder:
me – me
you – te
him – ga
her – je
it – ga
us – nas
you (plural) – vas
them – ih
His arm hurts. =
Boli ga ruka.
Her legs hurt. =
Bole je noge.
Our bones hurt. =
Bole nas kosti.
Their backs hurt. =
Bole ih leđa.
Instead of a pronoun, a proper name can be used.
Miloša boli koleno. =
Miloš’s knee hurts.
Jovana’s tooth hurts. =
Jovanu boli zub.
We also use the verb ‘boleti’ intransitively.
It hurts. = Boli.
It hurts me. = Boli me.
It hurt. = Bolelo me je.
It will hurt. = Boleće me.
Neuter form is usually used (bolelo) when we talk about a procedure we’ve been through or some other situation we’ve experienced.
If you talk about a specific body part, use it’s gender.
If you refer to ruka, say – bolela me je.
If you talk about vrat – boleo me je
There are words in Serbian for a headache and a toothache, just like in English.
There are a few extra as well.
headache – glavobolja
toothache – zubobolja
throat ache – grlobolja
bone ache – kostobolja
neck ache – vratobolja
These are feminine words.
I have a headache. =
Imam glavobolju.
There are other sensations you could experience.
Also, saying phrases like that makes me happy, or that scares me use the same construction essentially.
It itches me. =
Svrbi me.
My knee itches. =
Svrbi me koleno.
My tongue is burning. =
Jezik me peče.
He scares me. =
On me plaši.
Chains and whips excite me. =
Lanci i bičevi me uzbuđuju.
I mentioned these irregular plurals in the beginning.
eye – oko (neuter)
eyes – oči (feminine)
ear – uvo (neuter)
ears – uši (feminine)
But yet another irregular thing about them is the gender.
They change genders when pluralized!
The plural forms are feminine.
your eye – tvoje oko
green eye – zeleno oko
your eyes – tvoje oči
green eyes – zelene oči
his ear – njegovo uvo
his ears – njegove uši
big ear – veliko uvo
big ears – velike uši
On a different note, I wanted to explain this phenomenon
The use of dativ case instead of possessive adjectives.
Reminder:
Possessive adjectives
my – moj, moja, moje
your – tvoj, tvoja, tvoje
his – njegov, njegova, njegovo
her – njen, njena, njeno
its – njegov, njegova, njegovo
our – naš, naša, naše
your (plural) – vaš, vaša, vaše
their – njihov, njihova, njihovo
Dativ short pronouns
to me – mi
to you – ti
to him – mu
to her – joj
to it – mu
to us – nam
to you (plural) – vam
to them – im
You can always use the possessive of course.
In fact, it’s probably even better, more correct.
But, people like using this construction:
My brother is here. =
Moj brat je ovde. = Brat mi je ovde.
Your sister is sad. =
Tvoja sestra je tužna. =
Sestra ti je tužna.
Our parents are in the hospital. =
Naši roditelji su u bolnici. =
Roditelji su nam u bolnici.
His car is red. =
Njegov auto je crven. =
Auto mu je crven.
Your T-shirt is really beautiful. =
Tvoja majica je baš lepa. =
Baš ti je lepa majica.
Why do we use dativ instead of possessive adjectives?
I’m not sure I can answer that.
The ‘why’ questions shouldn’t even be asked when it comes to languages, right?
It is how it is. =
Tako je kako je.
Although Macedonian and Bulgarian use this construction so we might have borrowed it from them.
That makes sense because here in the south where I live, we are close to both of these countries and this is massively used.
Let’s practice –
I’ll give you the sentence in English and wait for 5 seconds for you to try to translate it before I do it.
My nose is red. =
Moj nos je crven. =
Nos mi je crven.
Your head is small. =
Tvoja glava je mala. =
Glava ti je mala.
His tongue is blue. =
Njegov jezik je plav. =
Jezik mu je plav.
The postman has green hair. =
Poštar ima zelenu kosu.
Marko has hair on his stomach. =
Marko ima dlake na stomaku.
We shake hands. =
Rukujemo se.
Does your finger hurt? =
Da li te boli prst?
My foot hurt yesterday. =
Juče me je bolelo stopalo.
It will hurt. =
Boleće me.
Your phone is not here. =
Tvoj telefon nije ovde. =
Telefon ti nije ovde.