# Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian (BCS): I'm at home



## dihydrogen monoxide

What would be the correct way of saying I'm home in BCS and what would be the most widespread and the most used. I know of two ways you can say this.

a) Kući sam.
b) Ja sam kod kuće.

Although jokingly you could say that if you're kod kuće, that that doesn't mean you're in the house, but that you're about to step in the house. But I've heard both usages a) and b).


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## kusurija

What does mean BCS? Does it mean *B*osnian *C*roatian and *S*erbian??


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## dihydrogen monoxide

kusurija said:


> What does mean BCS? Does it mean *B*osnian *C*roatian and *S*erbian??


 
Yes, it does.


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## Athaulf

dihydrogen monoxide said:


> What would be the correct way of saying I'm home in BCS and what would be the most widespread and the most used. I know of two ways you can say this.
> 
> a) Kući sam.
> b) Ja sam kod kuće.



Yes, you'll hear both these expressions in different places. The version (b) is strongly preferred in the standard language; (a) is not only substandard, but also sounds intuitively ungrammatical to many BCS speakers. Thus, I would advise you to stick to (b).

Another colloquial expression with the same meaning is _doma_ (as in _"ja sam doma"_). It's very popular in large parts of Croatia, but as far as I know, it's not used in Bosnia and Serbia. I would avoid it in formal writing, but it's immensely popular and firmly entrenched in educated urban Croatian speech. 



> Although jokingly you could say that if you're kod kuće, that that doesn't mean you're in the house, but that you're about to step in the house.


If you're saying that you're _kod kuće_, that's just like saying that you're "home" in English: it doesn't necessarily imply that you're _inside_ the house. You might also be in the yard or on the roof. Therefore, I see no basis for such quips.


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## Athaulf

kusurija said:


> What does mean BCS? Does it mean *B*osnian *C*roatian and *S*erbian??



Yes, since the breakup of Yugoslavia it's become a very popular designation for what used to be called "Serbo-Croatian". I like it because it sounds politically neutral, toning down the ethnic names and arranging the letters in alphabetic order. Or at least it was so before the issue of Montenegrin popped up ; perhaps BCMS would now be in order, but I haven't seen it catching up yet.


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## sokol

Athaulf said:


> Another colloquial expression with the same meaning is _doma_ (as in _"ja sam doma"_). It's very popular in large parts of Croatia, but as far as I know, it's not used in Bosnia and Serbia.


"Doma" (in this use) is Kajkavian*), right? (Or at least not Štokavian.)
*) It's the same in Slovenian, but that just as a sidenote.

In that case this would be a feature of Zagreb speech, I guess?!


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## dihydrogen monoxide

sokol said:


> "Doma" (in this use) is Kajkavian*), right? (Or at least not Štokavian.)
> *) It's the same in Slovenian, but that just as a sidenote.
> 
> In that case this would be a feature of Zagreb speech, I guess?!


 
It would be the case of Zagreb speech, since if you listen to Zagreb speech it's almost always doma. It's basically kajkavian influence in Zagreb speech.
It is the same in Slovenian, although literal translation of Croatian Kod kuće sam would really sound  weird in Slovenian.


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## Athaulf

sokol said:


> "Doma" (in this use) is Kajkavian*), right? (Or at least not Štokavian.)
> *) It's the same in Slovenian, but that just as a sidenote.
> 
> In that case this would be a feature of Zagreb speech, I guess?!



Yes, I would guess it's a Kajkavian influence. However, it's one of the most widespread Kajkavian influences on modern colloquial Croatian. I'm not sure about its exact geographical distribution, but I've heard many people using it who don't show any other traces of Kajkavian in their accent, grammar, or vocabulary.


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## dihydrogen monoxide

Athaulf said:


> Yes, I would guess it's a Kajkavian influence. However, it's one of the most widespread Kajkavian influences on modern colloquial Croatian. I'm not sure about its exact geographical distribution, but I've heard many people using it who don't show any other traces of Kajkavian in their accent, grammar, or vocabulary.


 
You can hear it in chakavian too.


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## WannaBeMe

Hello,
it is the same case as in german "ich bin zuhause" and "ich bin daheim".
no matter which one do you say everyone would understand you. But one or the other version is used to be prefered in diverse parts of ex yugoslavia.
The meaning of "kuca" or older "hiša" in BCS is the hause, and "dom" is more like home.
You can say "moja zemlja je moj dom, moj grad je moj dom, moja kuca je moj dom" but you cannot say "moja zemlja je moja kuca" that´s why the term "kuci sam" or "kod kuce sam" is more prefered.


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## orijan

In Croatia it's better to use _Doma sam_, as well as _Idem doma _(I'm going home). It's more simple and it's the form used in everyday speech by most people. In fact, you can even hear people say _doma doma_  but almost never _kući kući_. For example, if you know a student who lives in a residence, and he tells you he's going home (_Idem doma_), you can ask him _Doma doma?_ What you're asking is if he's going to the residence or is he going to visit his parent's house (the place he's from).


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## sokol

orijan said:


> (...) you can ask him _Doma doma?_ What you're asking is if he's going to the residence or is he going to visit his parent's house (the place he's from).


When I did learn Croatian (the little I ever _did _learn) I did learn _kući _- definitely not a construction similar to Slovenian "sem doma", "grem domov" or similar (I did learn Slovenian first and to me it was one of the false friends). But that was some time ago and as you say it seems that this has changed since.

Note that there might also be a difference in colloquial BCS if you are at home _(kod kuće sam) _or if you go there _(idem kući) _when you use _doma._ Or is it really that doma could be used in both cases easily as described by orijan - or is this just a feature of some region (like, say, Zagreb)?
(There _is _a difference in Slovenian as mentioned above, therefore I'm curious ...)


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## WannaBeMe

Well, the use of doma sam, idem doma, is common in Croatia as in Slovenia ( and it means the same) but not in Serbia and Bosnia, and if you say it there, they would know that you are from Croatia. Actually it doesn´t matter, you can say the both, you are free to choose.


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## Duya

sokol said:


> Note that there might also be a difference in colloquial BCS if you are at home _(kod kuće sam) _or if you go there _(idem kući) _when you use _doma._ Or is it really that doma could be used in both cases easily as described by orijan - or is this just a feature of some region (like, say, Zagreb)?
> (There _is _a difference in Slovenian as mentioned above, therefore I'm curious ...)



_Doma_ in the sense "home" is basically limited to [colloquial] Croatian; it's prevalent in wider Zagreb area, but one can often hear it in other Croatian speeches, possibly under Zagreb influence. 

The phrases read _doma sam _and_ idem doma_; it's not correct to say "kod doma sam".


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## TriglavNationalPark

WannaBeMe said:


> Well, the use of *doma sam, idem doma,* is common in Croatia as in Slovenia ( and it means the same)


 
Of course, it's slightly different in Slovenian: "doma s*e*m", "*grem* dom*ov*"


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## sokol

Duya said:


> The phrases read _doma sam _and_ idem doma_; it's not correct to say "kod doma sam".


Thank you, that's what I meant and what I suspected.


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## Athaulf

Duya said:


> it's not correct to say "kod doma sam".



More precisely, it is grammatically correct, but it has a different meaning: it would mean something like "I am around/near/by/beside the home." Here, "the home" is understood to be not the speaker's own home, but some other building to which he refers to as "the home". Such a sentence would sound natural in more contexts than in English, because in BCS, _dom_ has a variety of other meanings besides "home" (various clubs, associations, military, government and medical institutions, etc. often have "dom" in their name).


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## el_tigre

sokol said:


> "Doma" (in this use) is Kajkavian*), right? (Or at least not Štokavian.)
> *) It's the same in Slovenian, but that just as a sidenote.
> 
> In that case this would be a feature of Zagreb speech, I guess?!



I don't think it has any connection to kajkavian.

It is normal usage in littorial Croatia.

I am home_Doma sam/san
I go home -Iden/idem doma (or Gren doma)


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## sokol

el_tigre said:


> I don't think it has any connection to kajkavian.
> 
> It is normal usage in littorial Croatia.


So you mean Čakavian only, or both Čakavian and Štokavian as spoken on the Adriatic coast?



el_tigre said:


> I am home_Doma sam/san
> I go home -Iden/idem doma (or Gren doma)


For the benefit of learners of Croatian who haven't come across the ending /-n/ yet I think we should add that standard language ending of first person singluar is /-m/ and that /-n/ is colloquial (also literature, of course, Vladimir Nazor for example; /-m/ to /-n/ also occurs with nouns, adjectives and prepositions).


Well anyway, it may be that this use of 'doma' is both typical for Čakavian and Kajkavian and probably Štokavian coastal dialects.
But probably it would be good if you could specify if you mean Čakavian _only _or (coastal, probably specifically Istrian*)?) Štokavian; I certainly couldn't verify this anyway of course, but as others already have stated that they don't know this use from Štokavian I think this would be relevant here.

*) I have read a bit about Croatian dialectology but I have no sources right now at hand; what I think I remember is that Istro-Štokavian has been under some influence of local Čakavian.
Also it is thinkable that in other coastal regions which once were Čakavian people now speak Štokavian dialect with Čakavian influences.


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## el_tigre

sokol said:


> So you mean Čakavian only, or both Čakavian and Štokavian as spoken on the Adriatic coast?



Both of them. Most of continental Dalmatia lost chakavian features due the last 2 centuries.
I was watching the movies about Split that were made 20 years. the vocabulary and pronounciation is quite distinctive.
Ex. today they mostly say:
_Pivali smo pet pismi_.( We were singing five songs.)
_Radili smo s judima.(we were working with the people)_
_Živim u kući._ (I live in the house)

In the past they used to say :
_Pivali smo pet pisan.
__Radili smo s judin._
_Živen u kući ._
They use it in Dubrovnik region -which is 100 % štokavian. Under Dubrovnik (speaking ) region I think the city of Dubrovnik, region of Konavle, Dubrovnik litorrial ("Dubrovačko Primorje") and East Pelješac)




sokol said:


> For the benefit of learners of Croatian who haven't come across the ending /-n/ yet I think we should add that standard language ending of first person singluar is /-m/ and that /-n/ is colloquial (also literature, of course, Vladimir Nazor for example; /-m/ to /-n/ also occurs with nouns, adjectives and prepositions).


using the /-n/  ending  instead of /-m/  is typical chakavian feature.
vidi*n* ,čuje*n*, jesa*n* etc.


sokol said:


> Well anyway, it may be that this use of 'doma' is both typical for Čakavian and Kajkavian and probably Štokavian coastal dialects.


I would say so as well.


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## sokol

el_tigre said:


> Both of them. Most of continental Dalmatia lost chakavian features due the last 2 centuries.


Yes, all authors I've read claim that Čakavian dialect were giving way all the way down the coast.

So after all it seems that the use of "doma sam/idem doma" could have been, on the coast, a feature which originally was rather Čakavian (and Kajkavian too, of course) than Štokavian but survived (at least in some regions) when Čakavian dialect speakers slowly became assimilated to Štokavian dialects - or that is at least what I have gathered from the discussion so far.

(Or _at least_ it seems that "doma sam/idem doma" is not a feature of Neo-Štokavian = the dialect group on which the modern BCS standard language was based as it is clearly "kući sam/idem kući" there.)


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## Athaulf

sokol said:


> (Or _at least_ it seems that "doma sam/idem doma" is not a feature of Neo-Štokavian = the dialect group on which the modern BCS standard language was based as it is clearly *"kući sam/idem kući"* there.)



Actually, in standard BCS it's *kod kuće sam*/*idem kući* (see post #4). Otherwise you're correct.


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## sokol

Athaulf said:


> Actually, in standard BCS it's *kod kuće sam*/*idem kući* (see post #4). Otherwise you're correct.


Thanks for the correction, I was lazy there.


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