# Serbian/Croatian (BCS): kod



## kloie

The preposition as my books say mean to or at a place.
Are these sentences correct?

Idem kod lekara= I am going to the doctor's
Živela sam kod bake= I lived at grandmother's
Could anybody give me more sentences with (Kod)?


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## VelikiMag

The preposition _kod_ could also be translated using verb _to have_. For example:

_Moja knjiga je kod tebe = You have my book._

When in a question, you can also translate it as _where_:

Q: _Kod koga je ključ? = Where is the key?_
A: _Kod mene je. = I have it._


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## Brainiac

Svi te čekaju kod tunela. 
Everyone waits for you near/by the tunnel.

Kod mene ničeg novog.
Nothing new with me.


Want more?


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## kloie

Yes i would love more,and I hope what i wrote above is correct.
Da,Volela bih više,i nadam se šta sam napala gore tačno je


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## Brainiac

kloie said:


> Yes i would love more,and I hope what i wrote above is correct.
> Da,Volela bih više,i nadam se šta sam napala gore tačno je


_
Da, volela bih još i nadam se da ono što sam napisala gore je tačno._

Da podmažem kefalo.....

_*Kod* rešavanja ovih zadataka, potrebna je kreativnost._
~ Solving these problems requires creativity.

_*Kod *rešavanja testa, važno je pročitati svaki (ponuđeni) odgovor pre donošenja odluke._
When answering a test, it's important to read every response before making a choice.


_Te osobine se mogu naći *kod *ljudi raznih društvenih položaja._
Those traits could be found in people from all walks of life.


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## Duya

In most languages, usage of prepositions often escapes logic, and must be learned by rote, or gradually through usage. I'd say that _kod_ is one of nastier in this regard (well, just as its closest English counterpart _at_).


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## Tassos

According to Ronelle Alexander the preposition kod is difficult to define. There is no direct english equivalent. But we can say it has two main uses:

1) When it denotes physical space, it is best translated as *by* or *at*. 

Oni su tamo, kod prozora. - They are over there by the window
Svi te čekaju kod tunela.

2) When the object of kod is a person, the entire phase indicates some sort of association with the person: the meaning is usually that something or someone is in that person's vicinity. If no other contextual information is available, the phrase means at someone's place (for example *kod kuće* means at home). This vicinity can also be taken abstractly (for example to refer to the thoughts or ideas of a male person we may say that they are *kod njega*).

Moja knjiga je kod tebe.
Ona ruča kod tetke. - She has lunch at her aunt's
Kod mene ničeg novog.

The closest thing to kod are the french preposition chez and the german bei.

Now to make it even more complicated there are also differences between the standards!! (at least according to R. Alexander). In Serbian and Bosnian, kod can also have directional meaning when indicating that someone is going to a person's house/place/residence. In this usage Croatian uses k(a) + dative.

So you may have:
Večeras idemo *k Ivanu* (C) vs
Večeras idemo *kod Svetlanu* (B,S)

Now, concerning regional differences, native speakers can enlighten us more.


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## Duya

Tassos said:


> Now to make it even more complicated there are also differences between the standards!! (at least according to R. Alexander). In Serbian and Bosnian, kod can also have directional meaning when indicating that someone is going to a person's house/place/residence. In this usage Croatian uses k(a) + dative.
> 
> So you may have:
> Večeras idemo *k Ivanu* (C) vs
> Večeras idemo *kod Svetlane* (B,S) (genitive)
> 
> Now, concerning regional differences, native speakers can enlighten us more.



I think it's very exaggerated. "Idemo kod" is alive and well in Croatian, and still much more used than "idemo k" . The main difference is that the latter is used at all in Croatian (because it's almost extinct in Serbian).

P.S. I tried to link to Google searches for
"idemo kod" site:*.hr
"idemo k" site:*.hr
"idemo k" site:*.rs

but the forum software misbehaves, so I have to leave the exercise to the reader


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## kloie

hvala lepo,puno svima!


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## itreius

Usage of _kod_ is also fine in Croatian (and probably the predominant option as Duya said) but I have to admit that when I'm being completely informal and talking to people whom I know I'll usually use _k_ and _pri_.

i.e.

Idem _k Ivani_.
Bio sam _pri Ivani_.

That's probably bad style and not as acceptable everywhere.


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