# Serbian (BCS): Da me nema majka ako jos jednom pravim takvu gresku



## aya_sofiya

*hello*
*Can someone please translate for me.*
*Thank you !*


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## Interfector

It is not Albanian, it's a Slavic language, I guess Serbian.
I think it means "According to me it's not mother's fault.


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## aya_sofiya

Thank you !


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## fIvaNNa

yes it's serbian, and it's a kind of swear
it means:

I swear in the name of my mother if I do the same mistake again...


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## natasha2000

Da me nema majka... is or some very colloquial expression or it is wrongly written...

More or less, the meaning would be what Fivanna said... 

I am curious... Where did you get this sentence from?


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## dudasd

It is not colloquial at all, it's good both concerning grammar and style. "Da me nema majka" literally means "May my mother have me not", meaning: "May my mother lose me" = "May I die". So the whole sentence means:

"I swear I will die if I make a mistake of that sort one more time!"

(But the second half is not gramatically correct; it should be "napravim" - definite verb form. And generally speaking, "(na)praviti grešku" is a German construction that entered Serbian language, but it is widely accepted.)


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## natasha2000

dudasd said:


> It is not colloquial at all, it's good both concerning grammar and style.



Really? I've never heard it. I heard "Dabogda crk'o", ali "Da me nema majka...." never. That is why I thought it was some colloquial expression...


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## dudasd

Compare: "Da me Bog ubije" ("Da me Bog ubije, ali ne znam to da ti odgovorim"), "Da mi umre majka" ("Da mi umre majka ako lažem"), etc., it's the same construction. It's a variant of imperative, together with "nek(a)" form, usual for 3rd sg/pl, but sometimes also used for 2nd sg/pl. (Da ideš tamo i da kažeš...") It's a very old construction, not rare in Serbian epic poetry, and alive today as well.


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## natasha2000

dudasd said:


> Compare: "Da me Bog ubije" ("Da me Bog ubije, ali ne znam to da ti odgovorim"), "Da mi umre majka" ("Da mi umre majka ako lažem"), etc., it's the same construction. It's a variant of imperative, together with "nek(a)" form, usual for 3rd sg/pl, but sometimes also used for 2nd sg/pl. (Da ideš tamo i da kažeš...") It's a very old construction, not rare in Serbian epic poetry, and alive today as well.



Не сумњам, драга/и Дудо, у граматичку и правописну исправност израза, па српски ми је матерњи језик... Само кажем да никад раније нисам чула за ТАЈ израз. Ове друге јесам. 

It seems to me as if it were some kind of expression from the South Serbia....


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## dudasd

I am not from the South Serbia (I live near Belgrade), and it doesn't sound southern to me at all. Just slightly archaic.


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## natasha2000

dudasd said:


> I am not from the South Serbia (I live near Belgrade), and it doesn't sound southern to me at all. Just slightly archaic.



Maybe you're right...  Archaic...


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## Athaulf

Unless this expression has actually been attested in real folk usage, I'd also consider the possibility that this is someone's modern attempt at making a sinister, archaic-sounding sentence. Young folks nowadays sometimes do this for humorous effect. 

As for the confusion between _pravim_ and _napravim_, here in Canada I know lots of second-generation immigrants from the ex-Yu area, or even those who came here as kids, who sometimes get lost on such points of grammar. So it might easily be someone from the diaspora; a real native speaker would definitely never make such a mistake.


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