# BCS: Hahaha, kako fotka!



## ryba

Hello!

I know you can say "kako dobra/lijepa (lepa, lipa)/etc. fotka", just as in Polish you can say "jaka dobra/ładna/etc. fotka" so I thought it was also possible to say "kako fotka" when commenting a photo on facebook, etc.

The thing is in Polish one can say "jakie zdjęcie!", "co za zdjęcie!" or, more colloquially, "jaka fotka!", "jaka fota!", "co za fota!", etc. to show you're impressed by the photo, you find it interesting or funny, it makes you laugh, etc. without actually using an adjective.

You know, very often it's just hard to find THE adjective, sometimes you don't want to use one but you still want to show using natural colloquial language that you are not indifferent, that's when that kind of Polish expressions come in handy. They are especially useful when the person that's talking is in the photo and wants to kind of laugh at him or herself, establish some "distance", in any case, say something.

Now, I wanted to say something meaning "Hahahah, jaka fota!!" (Polish) in Croatian but if I search "haha, kako fotka" and similar things in Google, nothing comes up.

Any help? What structure do you use instead?

Hvala puno.


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## Awwal12

I must note that in Russian the construction is actually the same and your colloquial Polish variant would be perfectly understood (since the pair "jak" <-> "kak" is evident, thanks to the Ukrainian language), but our Croatian comrades can make a surprise, so we'll better wait for comments of native speakers.


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## Bojan

You can't say "kako fotka" because "kako" has the meaning of "how". You can say "l(ij)epa fotka" (nice photo) or "dobra fotka" (good photo) or "odlična fotka" (excellent photo) or similar. You can use a metaphor too, such as "jaka fotka" (jak=strong).


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## Awwal12

In Russian/Polish "какая..."/"jakа..." also means "what a... (smth., f.g.)".

For example:
Ах, какая женщина! - Ach, jaka kobieta! - Oh, what a woman!

But looks like South Slavic languages really have got a surprise here that I was afraid of.


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## phosphore

"Kako" is an pronominal adverb and hence cannot be used with a noun. Instead, we use "kakav, kakva, kakvo", which is an adjective pronoun. So you may say "kakva fotka!", but not "kako fotka!" (actually, you might say that too, but it would be a compliment to the photographer if you consider "fotka" as a form of a verb "fotkati").


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## Awwal12

> "Kako" is an pronominal adverb and hence cannot be used with a noun. Instead, we use "kakav, kakva, kakvo", which is an adjective pronoun.


Thanks, *phosphore*, you have really cleared the things up. That strongly resembles archaic Russian interrogative/relative pronouns "каков", "какова", "каково" (replaced by quite universal pronouns "какой", "какая", "какое"), whereas the Russian analogue of "kako" is "как" (Polish "jak", Ukr. "як").


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## slavic_one

Awwal12 said:


> For example:
> Ах, какая женщина! - Ach, jaka kobieta! - Oh, what a woman!



All the same, "Ah, kakva žena!"



phosphore said:


> "Kako" is an pronominal adverb and hence cannot be used with a noun. Instead, we use "kakav, kakva, kakvo", which is an adjective pronoun. So you may say "kakva fotka!", but not "kako fotka!" (actually, you might say that too, but it would be a compliment to the photographer if you consider "fotka" as a form of a verb "fotkati").



Yes, the expression that ryba is looking would be "Kakva slika(fotka)!".
"Kako fotka!" could be as phosphore said, the same thing, but for the verb. And "Kako fotka?" as a question can be also correct, but if for example someone has some photo which is in bad condition (he accidently spilled water on it), and you ask him: How's the photo? Is it totally devastated? (Kako je slika? Je li potpuno uništena?)


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## TriglavNationalPark

phosphore said:


> "Kako" is an pronominal adverb and hence cannot be used with a noun. Instead, we use "kakav, kakva, kakvo", which is an adjective pronoun. So you may say "kakva fotka!", but not "kako fotka!" (actually, you might say that too, but it would be a compliment to the photographer if you consider "fotka" as a form of a verb "fotkati").


 
The principle is the same in Slovenian: *kako* is the adverb, while the *kakšen*/*kakšna*/*kakšno* is the adjective.


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## ryba

Aaaah, now I get it!!! Thank you so much! 

So _kako_ is a pronominal adverb and you use it to express feelings about something: _Kako_ + adjective + noun.

In Polish* we use adjective pronouns to do that: _Jaki_/_Jaka_/_Jakie_ + adjective + noun.

Is it also possible in BCS? Is it correct to say "Kakva dobra fotka!" as well?


_* Jak_ is followed by adverbs only in this kind of emphatic phrases.


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## phosphore

It is. The meaning is different though: in "kako dobra fotka" "kako" modifies "dobra" and stands for "jako", "vrlo" or some other intensifier, while in "kakva dobra fotka" "kakva" and "dobra" both modify "fotka", where "kakva" stands for any qualifying adjective.


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## Awwal12

> The meaning is different though: in "kako dobra fotka" "kako" modifies "dobra" and stands for "jako"


Again just like in Russian, as far as I got it.

Как *прекрасна* эта женщина! - How *beautiful* this woman is!
*Я не знал*, как *красива* эта фотография. - *I didn't know* how *beautiful* is this photo.

But:
Как фотография! - (Just) as a photo! (About a painting, for example. )
Как фотография? - How is a photo?


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## slavic_one

I would just like to say, that if you say "hahaha kako fotka!", it would probably be taken not as a compliment, but as deriding.


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