# All Slavic languages: clitics



## jazyk

Do other Slavic languages (Southern maybe?) use clitics in the same way as Macedonian? I know that Polish, Russian, and Czech don't.

Macedonian: Мамата им ја чита кннигата на децата. (Mamata im ja čita knigata na decata.), in which им is a dative plural clitic agreeing with на децата and ја is the feminine accusative clitic agreeing with кннигата (the book, as it's been mentioned here that Macedonian has articles, contrary to most Slavic languages).
Polish: Mama czyta dzieciom książkę.
Czech: Máma čte dětem knihu.
Russian: Мама читает детям книгy.

Maybe one of the reasons Macedonian acts in such a way is that the language has pretty much lost all its cases. Also, I wonder if this has anything to do with the Balkansprachbund, as can be seen in Romanian:

Mama îi citeşte cartea copiilor, 

where îi has the same function as им above, to refer to copiilor, dative/genitive plural of copii, singular of copil, child.

Jazyk


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## Maja

I don't think that it is a Balkan "thing", since we don't use them in Serbian  and neither do Croats. We would say: Mama čita deci knjigu (Mama чита деци књигу).
But since Macedonian is very similar to Bulgarian, maybe  Bulgarians use them as well!!!

Pozdrav!


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## nimak

jazyk said:


> Macedonian: Мамата им ја чита книгата на децата. (Mamata im ja čita knigata na decata.), in which им is a dative plural clitic agreeing with на децата and ја is the feminine accusative clitic agreeing with кннигата (the book, as it's been mentioned here that Macedonian has articles, contrary to most Slavic languages).


You explained it well, but "Мама (mama) = _mom_" never takes definite articles except in curses, swears and insults. "Тато (tato) = _dad_" never takes definite articles too. You can use definite articles with "мајка (majka) = _mother_" and "татко (tatko) = _father_".

Мајката им ја чита книгата на децата. (Majkata im ja čita knigata na decata.) - It means the mother is reading to the children the particular book which we are/were talking about.

If you want to say that the mother is reading to the children a book, it is more natural to say:
Мајката им чита книга на децата. (Majkata im čita kniga na decata.) or
Мама им чита книга на децата. (Mama im čita kniga na decata.)



jazyk said:


> Also, I wonder if this has anything to do with the Balkansprachbund
> 
> Do other Slavic languages (Southern maybe?) use clitics in the same way as Macedonian? I know that Polish, Russian, and Czech don't.





Maja said:


> But since Macedonian is very similar to Bulgarian, maybe  Bulgarians use them as well!!!


Yes, it is the _Balkan sprachbund_ Balkan sprachbund - Wikipedia
Direct and indirect objects are cross-referenced, or doubled (Clitic doubling - Wikipedia), in the verb phrase by a clitic (weak) pronoun, agreeing with the object in gender, number, and case or case function. This can be found in Romanian, Greek, Bulgarian, Macedonian, and Albanian. In Albanian and Macedonian, this feature shows fully grammaticalized structures and is obligatory with indirect objects and to some extent with definite direct objects; in Bulgarian, however, it is optional and therefore based on discourse.

Look at these examples:

_English_: I gave the book to Maria.
_Macedonian_: Ѝ ја дадов книгата на Марија. (Ì ja dadov knigata na Marija.)
_Bulgarian_: Дадох книгата на Мария. (Dadoh knigata na Marija.)

Ѝ is the dative feminine clitic agreeing with "на Марија (na Marija)" and ја is the feminine accusative clitic agreeing with "книгата (knigata)".

_English_: I took the book and read it.
_Macedonian_: Ја зедов книгата и ја прочитав. (Јa zedov knigata i ja pročitav.)
_Bulgarian_: Взех книгата и я прочетох. (Vzeh knigata i ja pročetoh.)

И is conjunction meaning _and_.


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## DarkChild

Yes, in Bulgarian we use them as well, but not exactly as they do. In the examples above you can see that the clitics are used together with the object which seems redundant. You can still say it that way for emphasis but it's not mandatory.
Also, in Bulgarian you cannot begin a sentence with a clitic.


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## DarkChild

Maja said:


> I don't think that it is a Balkan "thing", since we don't use them in Serbian  and neither do Croats. We would say: Mama čita deci knjigu (Mama чита деци књигу).
> But since Macedonian is very similar to Bulgarian, maybe  Bulgarians use them as well!!!
> 
> Pozdrav!


Serbian and Croatian aren't part of the Balkanschprachbund


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## Christo Tamarin

*The clitic doubling is natural to all Bulgarian dialects*, both to the East and to the West:

Майката *им я̨* чете книгата на дѣцата. 
Дадох *ѝ я̨* книгата на Мария. 
Върнах *му ги* парите на Петър. (I gave the money back to Peter.)
Взех *я̨* книгата и я̨ прочетох.

*This is a normal Balkansprachbund feature.*

A total Russification happened to Standard Bulgarian in the end of the 19th century.
That's why many Bulgarians use to omit "redundant" clitics.
"Higher educated" people omit "redundant" clitics more.


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## Christo Tamarin

*All Slavic Language: clitics.*

Please relate the other Slavic languages to the following three marks:

*Balkansprachbund members* (Bulgarian+Macedonian): *extended usage of clitics*. Please note that the definite articles are also clitics.
*Serbo-Croatian*: *normal usage of clitics, *as in OCS (Old Common Slavic).
*Russian*: *no clitics*. Actually, -*ся* is the only remnant. However, that Russian -*ся* is not a lexeme anymore.


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## DarkChild

Well, they are redundant as they don't provide any additional information. I don't know if there was a process to change the grammar, but I can see it eventually getting to that point anyway, as language tends to simplify over time.


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## Christo Tamarin

The extended usage of clitics has its role in the Balkansprachbund languages. It is a tool to keep the word order free.

Болестта го лѣкува доброто настроение. Illness heals good mood.
Болестта я̨ лѣкува доброто настроение. Good mood heals illness.


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