# Serbian/Croatian (BCS): I wish



## kloie

How would i say
I wish I could have learned serbian when i was in school?
thanks in advance


----------



## mariox

my proposition:

Kamo sreće da sam mogao/mogla da učim srpski kada sam išla u školu!


----------



## kloie

could i say
Volela bih da sam mogla da naucim srpski kad sam bila u školi


----------



## Duya

Yes, that's correct too. _Kamo sreće_ _da_... is an idiom, describing an irrealis "I wish" (i.e. for something that didn't happen).


----------



## el_tigre

In most movies that phrase is translated with "Da bar..."


----------



## kloie

so what would be the whole sentence?
thanks in advance


----------



## Brainiac

Da sam (bar*) mogao/mogla naučiti srpski dok sam bila u školi. (Ali nisam)
(Another version)
*bar usually goes here


----------



## xpictianoc

a može se umesto bar upotrebiti makar?


----------



## Brainiac

Može dušo.


----------



## el_tigre

xpictianoc said:


> a može se umesto bar upotrebiti makar?



makar bi se koristilo kao "at least"


----------



## Brainiac

Da, i verujem da bi _makar_ moglo ići na početku rečenice. (Ali _bar_ je rasprostranjenije)
Makar da sam naučila to dok sam bila u školi (ako ne ništa drugo)
Da sam makar malo mogla naučiti srpski... (značenje je malo drukčije, ali oba kažu da se ni to (malo ili nešto drugo) nije desilo, i da postojii žaljenje)


----------



## kloie

okej hvala svima


----------



## utherpenpusher

I know it's been a month since the question was posted, but I thought I could help clear something up.

"Kamo sreće da sam...", "Da sam bar..." and "Da sam makar..." are all emphatic statements. They actually correspond to the English phrase "If only I had..."
In this case, however, the sentence in English is less emotional than that, so the only appropriate translation would be the one kloie suggested in the reply to mariox.


----------



## Brainiac

utherpenpusher said:


> In this case, however, the sentence in English is less emotional than that, so the only appropriate translation would be the one kloie suggested in the reply to mariox.



Kloie's answer is really the closest to Eng.
If you prefer less emotional answers, it's up to you.


----------



## utherpenpusher

Except it's not a matter of preference. "Kamo sreće da sam" has strong connotations that "I wish I had/could have" doesn't have.


----------



## Brainiac

Well, maybe in this case BCS expressions are more emotional than the English one. But that's our advantage....


----------

