# Serbian (BCS): Da su noci duge



## pallina89

*Hi! I found this sentence (I think about love) on the facebook of my friend, can you tell me what does it mean? I just know that 'Ja te volim' means 'I love you'. Thanks in advance.
*

*Da su noci duge koliko te ja volim, nikada ne bi svanulo..*


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## slavic_one

If the nights are long as much as I love you, the Sun (dawn) will never come.


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## pallina89

*Thanks for your answer *slavi_one*
I'd like to understand this word:
Nikada = never ?
duge koliko = are long as much as ?
And, why is it written 'te ja volim'? And not 'ja te volim'?
Maybe it is a poem way to write?
Thanks again for our precious answers!
*


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## phosphore

Actually, it is "_f the nights were as long as how much I love you, the dawn would never come..." or something like that.

nikada - never
duge - nom. f. pl. of dug - long
koliko - how much

As to why "te" is placed between "koliko" and "ja" and not between "ja" and "volim", I don't think there is some easy way to explain it, I can only say that "koliko ja te volim" would be incorrect. Position of clitics, as far as I know, has posed much trouble not only to learners but to grammarians too._


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## pallina89

*Ah, i see.
So, if I want to write ''If the....'' the construction is ever ''If the...''
Becouse I thought that 'da' was used too much as ''I think that....=Ja mislim da....''
Or it is wrong?
*


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## slavic_one

phosphore said:
			
		

> Actually, it is "_f the nights were as long as how much I love you, the dawn would never come..." or something like that._


_

Yes, "would" is better here, but as for "as much as I love" I think it's the same.



			
				phosphore said:
			
		


			As to why "te" is placed between "koliko" and "ja" and not between "ja" and "volim", I don't think there is some easy way to explain it, I can only say that "koliko ja te volim" would be incorrect. Position of clitics, as far as I know, has posed much trouble not only to learners but to grammarians too.
		
Click to expand...


It's just "u duhu jezika". Although I need to correct you and say that "koliko ja te volim" is not at all incorrect, but just emphasising subject "ja"._


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## slavic_one

pallina89 said:


> *Ah, i see.
> So, if I want to write ''If the....'' the construction is ever ''If the...''
> Becouse I thought that 'da' was used too much as ''I think that....=Ja mislim da....''
> Or it is wrong?
> *



Sorry, I think I didn't get it.
Can you write some examples and we'll correct you.
Actually, I am not sure if "Da su noći duge" is 100% correct, or if it should be "Kada bi noći bile duge koliko te volim...".


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## slavic_one

"Mislim da su noći duge" (I think that nights are long) is correct, as well as "Da su noći duge, to već odavno znamo" (The fact that nights are long, we all already know for a long time). But in your sentence am not sure if it's written good. Because I think that it goes with some fact, and in your sentence it isn't a fact, but analogy.


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## Majalj

"If the nights are long... the dawn will never come" is the 1st conditional and translates as "ako su noći duge... nikad neće svanuti" (although it makes little sense with nights and dawns) or "kad noći budu duge..." 

"If the nights were long... the dawn would never come" is the 2nd (hypothetical) conditional and translates as "da su noći duge... ne bi nikad svanulo" or "kad bi noći bile duge... nikad ne bi svanulo" (both are correct).


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## pallina89

*@Slavic one
I wanted to just know if i read a sentence as ''Da su....'' i must think of it as ''she\he thinks that ....''
Or 'Da su' is only translated 'if the'.

@Majalj.
So 'Ako' is translate as 'If'' too?*


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## slavic_one

Majalj said:


> "If the nights are long... the dawn will never come" is the 1st conditional and translates as "ako su noći duge... nikad neće svanuti" (although it makes little sense with nights and dawns) or "kad noći budu duge..."
> 
> "If the nights were long... the dawn would never come" is the 2nd (hypothetical) conditional and translates as "da su noći duge... ne bi nikad svanulo" or "kad bi noći bile duge... nikad ne bi svanulo" (both are correct).



I don't know, I always had problems with conditional clauses.



pallina89 said:


> *@Slavic one
> I wanted to just know if i read a sentence as ''Da su....'' i must think of it as ''she\he thinks that ....''
> Or 'Da su' is only translated 'if the'.
> 
> @Majalj.
> So 'Ako' is translate as 'If'' too?*



"Da" = "that".
On misli *da* su noći duge. = He thinks *that* nights are long.
I don't know how you can translate "Da su" as "(S)He thinks that". "Su" is auxiliary verb for 3rd person plural, doesn't mean "(S)He thinks".
"Ako" = "if", that's correct.
Ako su noći duge, dani su kratki. = If nights are long, days are short.

But I think "Da su noći duge koliko te ja volim, nikada ne bi svanulo." is incorrent sentence. It could be sth like "Da su noći duge koliko te ja volim, to je istina, jer te volim puno, a noći su duge." = "The fact that nights are long as I love you is true, because I love you so much, and nights are long."


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## pallina89

*Ok, probably I will post in a new topic questions about *conditional clauses* altough i go for *off topic* here.
Thanks guys! *


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## phosphore

pallina89 said:


> *Ah, i see.*
> *So, if I want to write ''If the....'' the construction is ever ''If the...''*
> *Becouse I thought that 'da' was used too much as ''I think that....=Ja mislim da....''*
> *Or it is wrong?*


 
Actually, "da" has three main translations: "yes", "that" as a conjuction and "if" used with second and third conditional.

Da je noć duga koliko te ja volim, nikad ne bi svanulo.
"If the night were as long as how much I love you, the dawn would never come."

Da je noć bila duga koliko te ja volim, nikad ne bi svanulo.
"If the night had been as long as how much I love you, the dawn would have never come."

Anyway, for me "koliko ja te volim" is simply incorrect: you may say "koliko te ja volim" or "koliko ja tebe volim", but "koliko ja te volim" sounds really odd.


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## Majalj

slavic_one said:


> I don't know, I always had problems with conditional clauses.


 
*0 *conditional - whenever the condition is met, the result happens: 
If you drop an egg, it breaks. 
Ako/kad/*kad god *ispustiš jaje, razbije se. 

*1st *conditional - when the condition is met (in the future), the result will happen. 
If it rains tomorrow, I'll take my umbrella. 
*Ako *sutra *bude *padala kiša, ponijet ću kišobran. 

*2nd *conditional - hypothetical, usually about impossible or unlikely conditions: 
If I were you, I wouldn't do that. 
Da sam ja ti/*kad bih *ja bila ti (odnosno na tvom mjestu), ne bih to uradila. 

*3rd *conditional - about a condition that was not met in the past: 
If I had seen him, I would have told him. 
*Da sam *ga vidjela, rekla bih mu (ali nisam pa mu nisam ni rekla). 

Any clearer? 
And yes, *ako *translates as *if*. And so does *da *and *kad*. I cannot think of any more words that can be translated by if, but that doesn't mean that there aren't any. 

Ergo: 
_Da su noći duge koliko te ja volim _- If the nights were as long as I love you 
_nikad ne bi svanulo _- the dawn would never come/the sun would never rise/it would never dawn
Meaning: I love you so much that if the nights would last that much, it would be dark forever. I love you to eternity. 

In support of da = if, let me remind you younger generations of verses from two very famous songs I am sure you have heard of: 
Da sam ja neko, ne bi ljudi život proklinjali... - If I were important, people would never curse life... (Indexi) 
Da sam pekar (koji noću radi), da li bi me htjela? - If I were a baker (that works nights), would you still want me? (Bijelo dugme)

Koliko te ja volim vs. koliko ja te volim: 
the latter would be only acceptable for some esthetic reasons (rhymes, etc.) but you would never hear it in everyday speech.


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## slavic_one

Hvala, Majalj! 

Ali mene više muči je li je ispravno reći "Da su noći duge koliko te ja volim, ne bi nikada svanulo."!


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## Majalj

Pa jest malo nategnuto, ovo poređenje dužine noći i jačine ljubavi, ali znaš kako je kad je čovjek zaljubljen - učini mu se da se to može porediti.


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## slavic_one

Da, nezgodno je to. Ali nije tu noć i dan u pitanju, a niti ljubav, ali to nesretno "da" na početku.


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## pallina89

Hi guys! 
I'm reading all the conversation...but what does the last sentence of *slavic_one* mean?



> Da, nezgodno je to. Ali nije tu noć i dan u pitanju, a niti ljubav, ali to nesretno "da" na početku.


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## phosphore

He's arguing that the sentence from the start is not correct because of this "da" at the beginning.

Da su noći duge koliko te ja volim, nikad ne bi svanulo.
Da slušaš (na časovima), znao bi.
Da si učio (za ispit), položio bi.

To me all these sentences seem perfectly correct. I could even say that they are not completely interchangable with the forms "kad bi noći bile duge..." or "kad bi slušao...", because these forms "da su noći duge..." and "da si slušao..." emphasise a little more the irreality of the hypotheses in question.


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## slavic_one

phosphore said:


> He's arguing that the sentence from the start is not correct because of this "da" at the beginning.
> 
> Da su noći duge koliko te ja volim, nikad ne bi svanulo.
> Da slušaš (na časovima), znao bi.
> Da si učio (za ispit), položio bi.
> 
> To me all these sentences seem perfectly correct. I could even say that they are not completely interchangable with the forms "kad bi noći bile duge..." or "kad bi slušao...", because these forms "da su noći duge..." and "da si slušao..." emphasise a little more the irreality of the hypotheses in question.



Može biti. Prosto nisam siguran pa sam htjeo čuti još mišljenja, jer sam se i sam prisjetio nekih primjera za koje bih rekao da su točne, a isto su s "da" u tom smislu. Valjda tu isto igra ulogu glagolsko vrijeme.


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## th3ana

phosphore said:


> He's arguing that the sentence from the start is not correct because of this "da" at the beginning.
> 
> Da su noći duge koliko te ja volim, nikad ne bi svanulo.
> Da slušaš (na časovima), znao bi.
> Da si učio (za ispit), položio bi.
> 
> To me all these sentences seem perfectly correct. I could even say that they are not completely interchangable with the forms "kad bi noći bile duge..." or "kad bi slušao...", because these forms "da su noći duge..." and "da si slušao..." emphasise a little more the irreality of the hypotheses in question.



 "da" is used for unrealistic conditionals, and "kad bi" is used for hypothetical ones... so in this case I vote for "da su noći duge" rather then "kad bi noći bile duge"


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## doorman

th3ana said:


> "da" is used for unrealistic conditionals, and "kad bi" is used for hypothetical ones... so in this case I vote for "da su noći duge" rather then "kad bi noći bile duge"



Hmmm. Strange, I have always associated "da" exclusively with the 3rd conditional.

So, my vote goes to "kad bi..."


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## th3ana

doorman said:


> Hmmm. Strange, I have always associated "da" exclusively with the 3rd conditional.
> 
> So, my vote goes to "kad bi..."



what's even stranger to me is that croatian language has only 2 conditionals...
1.conditional is present conditional and 2.conditional is past conditional -the difference between them is not in the use of 'da' and 'kad bi' -both forms are used with both conditionals (depending on the action being unsure or impossible)


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