# Serbian: jel' da da...



## film10

Hello, I have a question about how I ought to interpret an expression that I encountered in a movie. The movie is "Love and fashion", the expression is underlined, and the fragment where the expression appears is cited below. It was a conversation that a girl and a guy had while they were dancing. Actually, the dance with her was for the guy a part of the prize they were talking about. I got the transcript from another source, and it did not have any diacritics, but that's not a problem for any of you, I think.

— Vi me ne znate? (The guy is asking the girl about this).
— Kako da ne. Pa vi ste dobitnik prve nagrade.
— No, no, no. Srecni dobitnik prve nagrade.
— Neverujte uvek reklami. Ona obicno pomalo slaze.
— Ocekujes manje, dobijes vise...
— Ne. Ocekujes nesto, ne dobijes nista. Jel' da da je ovako bolje. A vi ste nesto ocekivali?

I think that means "who knows, maybe it's better that way". But there are two "buts". 1) This interpretation does not completely fit into the context (to my mind), because I don't see why failing to meet the expectations by getting nothing at all should be a good thing. "Maybe" is not an answer. Of course, you can say it might be some kind of flirt, but from the intonation it does not look that way: it seems that the girl is rather thinking to herself, but I see no reason why she should wonder about exactly that: what she loses if she meets her expectations about anything. 2) Even if it's correct, I cannot say in what way the expression "jel' da da..." contributes to this meaning, and this is very important. Could you please tell me what this expression means in this context? Thank you.


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## kloie

I think you are right,but we better wait for natives.


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## Irbis

I'm not a native speaker, but my guess is that it means (from Slovenian equivalence "Kajneda, da je tako bolje."):
Isn't it (true) that it is better this way.
or
It is better this way, isn't it.


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## film10

Thank you. Yes, that must be it. It seems there are problems with the meaning, but this is my problem in this case. 
I just was confused about this double "da" (why isn't one "da" just enough?!), so I thought maybe something is behind...
Well, if any native speaker confirms it (or even resolves my doubts in some way, about this "da" or about the girl), I'd be grateful!

Update: the point that I missed is that she probably kind of asks his opinion: is it really that to get nothing at all may be better than getting something that was expected...


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## Irbis

To me that sentence sounds like ironic question, that her understanding of situation is better than his.


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## film10

That is, "I do know that one needs to ask oneself this question, and you probably don't"? Thank you. It's a valuable suggestion.
It sounds as something like (if you permit me referring to Russian): "а может, оно ведь и лучше так"...
Yes, being ironic fits her character at the moment. She later is triumphant that she made him "angry".
And this suggestion does explain while she has the tone as if she is talking to herself...
She pretends to know life better than him and is still on the topic of advertisements...
Thank you!


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## Милан

It should be written 'jelda da je ovako bolje'.
and it means what irbis wrote 'It is better this way, isn't it'.


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## film10

Thank you! So, jelda is a special word that means "isn't it", and the second "da" is just a connection.
Thank you all, you clarified the matter for me. She is really making both the statement and the question.


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## Милан

film10 said:


> Thank you! So, jelda is a special word that means "isn't it", and the second "da" is just a connection.
> Thank you all, you clarified the matter for me. She is really making both the statement and the question.


Avoid jelda in standard Serbian, cause in Serbian dictionary it is marked as colloquialism.


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