# BCS: Reflexive si/sebi



## Bresca

Dear foreros, I have a doubt with the reflexive verbs with the pronoun "se". If I say "I buy an ice cream to me" (maybe this sentence in English is a bit strange, but for instance in Italian it would be very natural "mi compro un gelato"), what's the colloquial (and correct) way of saying it in BCS: "kupim sebi sladoled" or "kupim si sladoled"? I think that I've heard the second one, but I'm not sure.

Thanks.


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## Duya

Non-clitic _sebi_ is correct in all BCS standards.

Clitic form _si_ is used in Croatian, particularly in colloquial, much less so in Bosnian, and it is not used in Serbian at all. 

By the way, *_Kupim sebi sladoled._ is not a grammatical full sentence in either BCS standard: present tense of perfective verb _kupiti_ cannot be used in a main clause (with certain exceptions, e.g. expressing repetitiveness). You have to use imperfective form _kupujem_ or another tense (_kupiću, kupio sam_).


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## Bresca

Hvala. Onda, kupiću sebi sladoled!


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## nrocco1

Bresca, I would add that sebi is most often used emphatically, where si is the more common reflexive form. Croatians would certainly say: "Kupit cu si sladoled" (or kupujem or whichever form of the verb). Sebi would be used where the speaker wishes to emphazise that the ice cream is for him/her and not for others: "Kupit cu sebi sladoled, a tebi novine".


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## Bresca

Thanks, Nrocco: 

so, si/sebi mantains in Croatian the same pattern of non emphatic/emphatic meanings, like mi/meni, me /mene.. itd. of other personal pronouns.

Hvala.


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## nrocco1

"so, si/sebi mantains in Croatian the same pattern of non emphatic/emphatic meanings, like mi/meni, me /mene.. itd. of other personal pronouns. Hvala."

*Exactly!
*


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## Bresca

If I use the 2nd singular person of biti (si), a sentence like: "ti si si kupio novi auto" would be OK or Croatians would prefer saying "sebi ti si kupio novi auto"? (I say this because of the doble "si", that maybe disturbs...)


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## nrocco1

Sebi would only be used for emphasis. To avoid a double-si, which - as you correctly assume - disturbs the ear, Croatians would usually just leave it out: "Kupio si novi auto".


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## Bresca

Bože moj! I didnt' thought in this obvious option!! Thanks.


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## Duya

That is basically how Serbian handles absence of the clitic form: since possession is most often understood from context, it is simply dropped:

_Kupio sam * novi auto.
Nađi * nešto čime ćeš se zabaviti.
Našao sam * devojku._

In places marked with asterisks, Croats would often insert a _si_ (particularly in colloquial, I don't find it much high-register), while Serbs would omit it. When an emphasis is needed, then the emphatic _sebi_ is used anyway.


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