# BCS: ... i po



## sesperxes

Hello forer@s, 

I'd like to know if the expression "biti+noun i po" has only the meaning of "very capable, very skilled..." or if it depends on the context. 

I mean, if we are talking about a student, "Marko je đak i po" means that he is very good at school, but when we talk about a picture of Picasso ( a pretty girl, a good wine, a cake...) and we say "ovaj je slika i po",  could it  mean that the picture is "very nice" (very pretty, very tasty, very sweet...)?

Can we enrich this expression to increase the degree of the quality?


Hvala (i po?)


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## Gnoj

The literal meaning of "i po" is "and a half". It's usually used with nouns. So "žena i po" would mean "more than a woman".


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## Duya

sesperxes said:


> Hello forer@s,
> 
> I'd like to know if the expression "biti+noun i po" has only the meaning of "very capable, very skilled..." or if it depends on the context.
> 
> I mean, if we are talking about a student, "Marko je đak i po" means that he is very good at school, but when we talk about a picture of Picasso ( a pretty girl, a good wine, a cake...) and we say "ovaj je slika i po",  could it  mean that the picture is "very nice" (very pretty, very tasty, very sweet...)?



_*Ovo* je slika i po_, actually. Yes, the expression works pretty generically for any noun to express that something is outstanding. But, have in mind that it's slangy, not really suited for fine conversations.



sesperxes said:


> Can we enrich this expression to increase the degree of the quality?



You mean, like, _slika i tri četvrtine_ is better than a _slika i po_?  Nope, it's a fixed expression. 



sesperxes said:


> Hvala (i po?)



Nope, it won't work. _Hvala_ is not a noun. Or is it? Our grammarians can't seem to agree which type of word it is.


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## Gnoj

"Hvala" takes the roll of a noun in sentences like "Od tebe sam bar jedno 'hvala' očekivao" or "Dobiti kola u znak zahvalnošću je hvala i po".


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## sesperxes

Gnoj said:


> The literal meaning of "i po" is "and a half". It's usually used with nouns. So "žena i po" would mean "more than a woman".



With this  equivalence with "more than ...", would it work a touristic ad saying something like "razgledaj Lisabon: grad i po"?  or  a sentence like "Za mene, Jovan je prijatlej i po"? If they fit, I'll catched the idea!  Hvala.


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## Duya

Yes, they fit, although "_Lisabon: grad i po_" would hardly be appropriate to a touristic ad. More like in a conversation between close friends. Closest English expression that I can think of is _helluva_: _Go see Lisbon, it's a helluva city_!


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## Gnoj

sesperxes said:


> With this  equivalence with "more than ...", would it work a touristic ad saying something like "razgledaj Lisabon: grad i po"?  or  a sentence like "Za mene, Jovan je prijatlej i po"? If they fit, I'll catched the idea!  Hvala.


As Duya said, the expression is slangy and isn't appropriate for serious conversations. But yes, "prijatelj i po" and "grad i po" do sound fine in certain contexts.


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## sesperxes

> You mean, like, _slika i tri četvrtine_ is better than a _slika i po_?  Nope, it's a fixed expression.


No, sorry, I explained it wrongly. I meant adding something as "Vaistinu je glumac i po" or "On je veliki glumac i po" or "On je jedan veliki glumac i po" (I'm thinking in my language, and all these constructions would be OK to express that: "wow, he is a really pretty good actor"). 

And likewise, if our actor is not so good, may I say that "on je samo po glumca" / "on je po glumca i dosta"?

Thanks


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## Gnoj

sesperxes said:


> I meant adding something as "Vaistinu je glumac i po" or "On je veliki glumac i  po" or "On je jedan veliki glumac i po" (I'm thinking in my language, and all these  constructions would be OK to express that:  "wow, he is  a really  pretty good actor").


1. I haven't heard "vaistinu" in BCS in context other than greeting Christmas or Easter (since it is an archaic church Slavonic expression), they usually use "zaista", "uistinu", "stvarno" in BCS or "zbilja" (Croatian only). 
2. "Veliki glumac i po" sounds kinda wrong. It's either "veliki glumac" or "glumac i po", they don't both fit at the same time.



sesperxes said:


> And likewise, if our actor is not so good, may I say that "on je samo po glumca" / "on je po glumca i dosta"?


No, there's no such an expression.


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## sesperxes

Uistinu imate pravo! I took the adverb from the 2nd part of Hristos voskrese..


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## Duya

Gnoj said:


> sesperxes said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And likewise, if our actor is not so good, may I say that "on je samo po glumca" / "on je po glumca i dosta"?
> 
> 
> 
> No, there's no such an expression.
Click to expand...


The only context where it's common to use "pola čoveka (žene)" is the following situation:

_- Jao, što ti lepo izgleda taj kolač!
- Hoćeš pola?
- Neću, nisam ti ja pola čoveka!_


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## sesperxes

Allright, thanks.


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