# Croatian (BCS): Difference between "dobro veče" and "dobar večer"



## cisarro

Zdravo!

Could you tell me what's the difference between _dobro veče_ and _dobar večer_? I found something about neuter and female but didn't understand very much 

Hvala!


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## CaitlinBanks

The word for an 'evening' is either veče or večer. I am sure that there is a reason for this discrepancy in the long and convoluted evolution of the Balkan languages, but that's probably a different topic.

If you choose to use 'veče' which is a neutral noun, you have to make sure that the adjective is in correct gender. Hence _dobro veče_. If you choose to use _večer_, which is female, then you must put the adjective into female form, and you get _dobra večer_.

Does that answer your question?


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## DenisBiH

cisarro said:


> Zdravo!
> 
> Could you tell me what's the difference between _dobro veče_ and _dobar večer_? I found something about neuter and female but didn't understand very much
> 
> Hvala!



The difference, I believe, is that _večer _is the appropriate word in standard Croatian, while _veče _can have the connotation of colloquial style, specific literary style and/or a Serbism.

Note that it is not _dobar večer_ but _dobra večer_, since _večer _is feminine.


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## CaitlinBanks

DenisBiH said:


> Note that it is not _dobar večer_ but _dobra večer_, since _večer _is feminine.



You're right, I fixed it. It's been a while!


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## Anicetus

Also note that _veče_ is neuter only in nominative and accusative singular, while its other forms are feminine and identical to those of _večer_. That's because the final _r_ has been lost in pronunciation, so _veče_ ends in _-e_ and has therefore been interpreted as a neuter noun in that form.



DenisBiH said:


> Note that it is not _dobar večer_ but _dobra večer_, since _večer _is feminine.



As a matter of fact, the greeting is indeed _dobar večer_ in some regions -- in the Dubrovnik region, for example. The noun was actually originally masculine, like it still is in other Slavic languages.


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## cisarro

Thank you all. I'm sorry if I'm a little confused hahahaha. I found this in a book named: "Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, a Grammar: With Sociolinguistic Commentary" (Ronelle Alexander):



> [...] But the commonest noun with multiple genders is probably the word for _evening_. When used outside the context og a greeting, it is most commonly feminine, as in *jesenja večer* "autumm evening". In the greeting _Good evening_, however, it can occur either as *večer* or *veče*. All of the greetings given below (*) are heard, therefore (althought Serbian as a preference for *dobar* *veče*, and Croatian for *dobra* *večer*) Bosnian accepts either.
> 
> (*)
> Masculine: dobar veče, dobar večer
> Neuter: dobro veče
> Feminine: dobra večer.


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## Duya

Masculine forms are present in dialects and vernaculars, but aren't standard. And I think Ronelle got it slightly wrong here: I used to use masculine form in my native northern Bosnian dialect, but have never heard it in Serbia. In Serbia, it is neuter _veče_ in all contexts (but of course, declined _večeri_, with pl. _večeri, f._).


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## cisarro

Thnk you all


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## DarkChild

Anicetus said:


> As a matter of fact, the greeting is indeed _dobar večer_ in some regions -- in the Dubrovnik region, for example. The noun was actually originally masculine, like it still is in other Slavic languages.



This is also the greeting in Bulgarian even though the noun is actually feminine.


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## Gnoj

DarkChild said:


> This is also the greeting in Bulgarian even though the noun is actually feminine.


I've been told by a Bulgarian Bulgarian language teacher (българска преподавателка по български език) that in old Bulgarian (she didn't specify the era) the noun "večer" was masculine.


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## francisgranada

In Czech and Slovak _večer _is masculine. (The feminine form _večera _means "supper" in Slovak )


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## aprendiendo argento

_Dobar večer_ is also Kajkavian. It can be heard in Zagreb basilect, sometimes even in the mesolect...
Some have interpret it as a phonologic analogy/rhyming thing (just like _Moja baka i moja deda _many children say ), calling it _proximity agreement_ (or _attraction agreement_).
But, the dialect theory is more convincing. In Kajkavian dialects of Medjimurje is  _ dober večer,_ just like in Slovenian.


_Dobar večer_ is not really discriminated against in Zagreb, it's just like _bok_, Kajkavism that has survived the Stokavian colonization of the Croatian capital.



francisgranada said:


> In Czech and Slovak _večer _is masculine. (The feminine form _večera _means "supper" in Slovak


In BSC, _večera_ is _supper/dinner_ too.


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