# Town centre, please



## serbianfan

Добар дан

What do people say to the bus driver when they get on a bus going to another town? Do they say e.g. "београд" or "суботица" or do they say "до Београда", "до суботице", etc.

Хвала пуно!


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## Paulfromitaly

What do you say in English?


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## serbianfan

Paulfromitaly said:


> What do you say in English?


English doesn't have different endings on place names and other nouns to show the accusative, genitive, etc. So you would just say e.g. "Manchester", whereas in Serbian you might say "Beograd" for the name of the city, but "Beograda" if you're going there and "Beogradu" if you are there. What is important in English is to add the word "please" - even in a busy rush hour, most people will say "Manchester, please" or "Town centre, please" to the driver.


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## Lazar_Bgd

If you're buying a ticket from the ticket collector on the bus or at the ticket office you would indeed say 'do Beograda', 'do Subotice' or 'Jednu (kartu) do Beograda'. And again, you're right in spotting the difference in usage for the word 'please' - in Serbian (or should I say in Serbia) we don't use it as frequently as in English. The same goes for 'thank you'.


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## serbianfan

Lazar_Bgd said:


> If you're buying a ticket from the ticket collector on the bus or at the ticket office you would indeed say 'do Beograda', 'do Subotice' or 'Jednu (kartu) do Beograda'. And again, you're right in spotting the difference in usage for the word 'please' - in Serbian (or should I say in Serbia) we don't use it as frequently as in English. The same goes for 'thank you'.


Thank you, Lazar! I may have some more questions later...


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## Panceltic

Lazar_Bgd said:


> If you're buying a ticket from the ticket collector on the bus or at the ticket office you would indeed say 'do Beograda', 'do Subotice' or 'Jednu (kartu) do Beograda'. And again, you're right in spotting the difference in usage for the word 'please' - in Serbian (or should I say in Serbia) we don't use it as frequently as in English. The same goes for 'thank you'.



What about "za Beograd" (firmom Krstić ;P)


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## Lazar_Bgd

Haha, yeah, that is a case of being on the road, travelling somewhere: _’Na putu za Beograd_’. For example, a truck driver might say while driving: 
’_Vozim za Beograd_’ (I’m driving the truck to Belgrade), or if you make a stop-over at an airport with your final destination London, you would say: ’_Putujem za London’._

You can also use it interchangeably with ’u’ in cases like this:
_Gde je Milica?
Otputovala je za/u Beograd. _(She’s gone to Belgrade)

You could also use it when buying a ticket: '_Molim Vas jednu kartu za Beograd'_
but personally I would say: '_Molim Vas jednu kartu do Beograda'._


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## serbianfan

Seems that 'za' is for long journeys - you wouldn't use it if you were going to the shop across the road and presumably not if you were taking a ten-minute bus ride to the next village (?) I will stick to 'do' as that seems to be in more general use.


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## Lazar_Bgd

serbianfan said:


> Seems that 'za' is for long journeys - you wouldn't use it if you were going to the shop across the road and presumably not if you were taking a ten-minute bus ride to the next village (?) I will stick to 'do' as that seems to be in more general use.


Your hunch is right.


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