# Bosnian: Present Indicative



## bcslearner

I'm trying to get a better grasp of Bosnian tenses compared to English tenses. One tense in particular that I'm confused about is the present indicative. For example, in English there is the following sentence:

I sit.

Is there an equivalent tense in Bosnian? Is there a distinction between I sit and I am sitting? Examples will help.

Thanks


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## Eunos

I don`t think you should compare slavic languages` tenses with English tenses. There aren`t even two if them which are analogical. 
In Bulgarian and I`m sure it`s the same in BCS, the equivalent for Present Simple and Present Continious is Present tense.
There is no difference between I sit and I`m sitting, only the rest of the whole sentence could explain in which case it`s used. 

For example - Всеки ден сядам на това място/Bulgarian/ - Svaki dan sedim na ovo mesto/Bosnian/ - Every day I sit on this place
                             Сядам тук                                   - Sedim ovdje                                     - I`m sitting here

I don`t claim that the sentences in Bosnian are very correct, but you`ll get the idea.


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## bibax

As a Bulgarian you forget to decline the nouns, pronouns and adjectives: sedim na *ovom mestu*.

Not many languages distinguish between "I sit" and "I am sitting". Most languages use an adverbial of time like 'now, just now, every day, time to time, seldom, regularly, etc.' to differentiate the meaning. Or context, of course.


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## FairOaks

bibax said:


> As a Bulgarian you forget to decline the nouns, pronouns and adjectives: sedim na *ovom mestu*.


Well, don't you worry about that, because he even managed to get the Bulgarian sentence wrong.
седя на стола = sedim na stolici = ich sitze auf dem Stuhl
сядам/седна на стола = sedam/sednem na stolicu = ich setze mich auf den Stuhl


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## Duya

Well, _to sit_ is a particularly bad example to start with, as it has one perfective translation (AFAICT, in both BCS and Bulgarian) -- _sesti_ and two imperfective ones -- stative _sedeti_ 'to be sitting' and repetitive _sedati_ 'to seat oneself [repeatedly]'. A similar distinction exists in English (sit vs. seat), but with somewhat different usage.


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## Anicetus

All three of you also forgot about the reflex of yat in Bosnian: it's _s*je*dim na ovom m*je*stu_.

As for the actual subject, you're mostly right, but there is more. Namely, BCS uses the present tense of perfective verbs slightly differently than most Slavic languages. That is to say, it can be used in a main clause to signify a habitual action (and it never expresses a future action in a main clause). However, this is still very different from the English simple vs. continous distinction because perfective verbs always express a *finished* action. So, for example:
_Svaki dan sjednem na ovo mjesto_ means _I sit *down* in this place every day_, _I *seat myself* in this place every day_ (or in German: _Jeden Tag *setze* ich *mich* auf diesen Platz_).
Note that _ovo mjesto_ is the accusative case, as _sjednem_ denotes motion.


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## bibax

A simpler example (English - BCS? - Czech):

*We bake* kolaches _every day_. = _Svaki dan_ *pečemo* kolače. = _Každý den_ *pečeme* koláče.

What are you doing _(just now)_?
*We are baking* kolaches. = *Pečemo* kolače. = *Pečeme* koláče.


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## Eunos

I`m sorry for my misleading. As I was trying to help, it looks like that I confused the author even more.


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## Duya

@bcslearner: For a very broad overview of present tense, which is inextricably linked with the verb aspect, I suggest you peruse the following:

http://basic-croatian.blogspot.com/2009/01/17.html

(Actually, I think the whole site, written from a non-expert but insightful perspective, is an excellent resource)

There is a broad connection between English continuous tenses and BCS imperfective aspect, and between perfect tenses and perfective tenses aspect, but beware of generalizations.


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## bibax

Eunos said:


> I*'*m sorry for my misleading...


Essentially you were right. The question was quite simple. A simple answer: The present tense form sjedim (sedim, sedím, siedzę, сижу, etc.) means 'I sit' as well as 'I am sitting'.


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## bcslearner

Thank you all. It's clearer now.


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