# BCS: čemu to?



## Bresca

Dear foreros, 

in a dialogue in a film subtitled in Serbian  one character gives some documents to another character, who asks him: "čemu to?"

To me it would sound better "čemu je to?" and the question is: is this a correct question in Serbian or just a shortened version due to the lack of space for subtitles?

Thanks.


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## Duya

It's a fixed expression, so it's not much use to analyse its grammar. However, if I'd have to guess its origin, it would rather be a shortening from _čemu to vodi?_. Also, it might be a Russism, or a remnant from Church Slavonic where _pochemu?_ means 'why'?


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## slavic_one

You can use that normally. "Čemu to?" means "why is that (necessary)?", while "čemu je to?" sounds to me more like "what is it for?".
Почему? → pa čemu (to)?  (just a joke).


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## Duya

_Čemu je to?_, in isolation, does not even sound grammatical to me. It might be part of a longer expression, e.g. _čemu je to namijenjeno?_.


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## Bresca

I've found right now in the web: " Po čemu vam je zanimljiv vas hobi?" 

That "po čemu" means "zašto? (the Russian Почему?)

Thanks


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## slavic_one

"Čemu je to?" also sounds unnatural to me.

"Po čemu vam je zanimljiv vaš hobi?" - What makes your hobby interesting to you? (You can also say "što čini vaš hobi zanimljivim"?)
In that sentence, "po čemu" is, I would say, more narrow than "zašto". Compare English translation with "Why is your hobby...".


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## Apollodoros

I (being a non-native speaker of BCS) felt it more as true dative of the pronoun _šta/što_ > i.e. _čemu_, in its natural meaning without a preposition needed. In the above context the sense would be: _čemu to?_ *'for what' is it/this*? Is that right?


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## slavic_one

_Čemu_ is dative form of _što_, there is nothing disputable about it. It can be also translated as "for what?" or even better "what good it makes?".


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## Anicetus

Apollodoros said:


> I (being a non-native speaker of BCS) felt it more as true dative of the pronoun _šta/što_ > i.e. _čemu_, in its natural meaning without a preposition needed. In the above context the sense would be: _čemu to?_ *'for what' is it/this*? Is that right?



You're right, it's just that plain dative isn't used to express cause or purpose outside this example in modern BCS.

By the way, _po_ actually requires locative in BCS, rather than dative like in Russian. The ending is the same as for dative, of course, but the accent is different in some nouns: _po grádu_, not *_pȍ grādu_ or *_po grȃdu_.


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## elalba

It's the same as _What was that for? _The other suggestions sound unnatural in English to me. _What is it for_ is not the translation, that would be _Zašto je to? Para que sirve esto?
What was that for _is the exact translation and it's not a shorter version of čemu je to, because čemu je to rige algo más en la continuación  
No sé cómo de dice exactamente en castellano, pero sería como decir _Y eso por? __Čemu to _is the same as _Čemu je to (bilo) potrebno? _Lo ves?


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## Bresca

I suppose that's the same in Spanish: ¿Para qué es eso? vs ¿Para qué? The first one is polite/complete, while the second one is more oral and familiar. (What is it for?/What for?)


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## Duya

Yes, sounds like an apt comparison.


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