# BCS: poslednje & zadnje



## Gnoj

What's the difference between these two words? We have only one word "posledno" in Macedonian, so I can't quite catch the difference.


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## VelikiMag

Gnoj said:


> We have only one word "posledno" in Macedonian, so I can't quite catch the difference.


How come? In Google Translate for the word _rear_ it gives translation задните, задни, задниот, etc.


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## Gnoj

VelikiMag said:


> How come? In Google Translate for the word _rear_ it gives translation задните, задни, задниот, etc.


Those refer to something that is behind or at the back side: predna stranica/zadna stranica = front page/back page and we don't use them for first/last, which is always prvo/posledno in Macedonian. Zadnji put = Posleden pat / Posledniot pat


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## VelikiMag

It is the same in BCS. Additionally, _zadnji_ can also be used in the meaning of _poslednji_, so they are synonyms. But not in every situation it sounds good. In a race for example it's better to say for a competitor who came last that he is _poslednji_, not _zadnji_. Someone might have a different opinion, though.


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## Gnoj

Alright then, thanks.


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## iobyo

They correspond in BCS and Macedonian when they are used in a spacial sense: _предњи _-_ задњи _(_преден _-_ заден_). But BCS also uses _задњи _in a temporal sense (_први - последњи/задњи_) where Macedonian only has _прв(и) - последен_.

In BCS (in a temporal sense) I understand_ задњи_ as being 'very last, last ever'. For example, _задњи пут те молим _wouldn't sound right to me with _последњи_. Then again, not being a native speaker, I could be wrong.


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## Duya

BCS purists proscribe _zadnji_ in temporal sense, though it has been recorded in many good writers, and is rather widely used as such.


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## tristian

I "ve asked my lector what is the difference between those two words in slovenian language, and he answered me that those two words in slovenian language meanthe same only difference is in popularity of those two words in different regions in Slovenia.


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## laralara

My parents, both professors of Serbo-Croatian language and literature, always corrected me when I used _zadnji_ in the meaning of _last_ and insisted that I use _poslednji_. According to them, _poslednji=last_ and _zadnji=rear_ and using _zadnji_ instead of _poslednji_ is simply wrong. Still, both _poslednji _and_ zadnji_ are heavily and interchangeably used in everyday life in the meaning of _last_, but my understanding is that using _zadnji_ is OK only in colloquial, oral situations (it likely became popular because it is a shorter word) and that only _poslednji_ should be used to say _last _in any writen text or proper/formal speech.


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