# Croatian/Serbian (BCS): Kaj bre briješ?



## Yasminne

Hey people
what does this sentence mean?
"Kaj bre brijes"


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## DenisBiH

Yasminne said:


> Hey people
> what does this sentence mean?
> "Kaj bre brijes"



I've always had trouble understanding the full range of meaning of Croatian colloquial "brijati" but I think it might be something along the lines of "Šta si umišljaš" which I again can't translate properly. Perhaps a combination of "Who do you think you are?" + "What's up with that line of thinking?", with exact meaning depending on the context.

A Croatian speaker may know better.

Btw, the title is just about right - _kaj_ is markedly Croatian, and _bre_ is markedly Serbian.  This was probably something said from a Croat to a Serb or the other way around and intentionally phrased that way. I don't think it could ever appear in everyday speech of either Serbia or Croatia.


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## Yasminne

DenisBiH said:


> This was probably something said from a Croat to a Serb or the other way around and intentionally phrased that way.



You're good  Yes it was!
So would you say this a somewhat "angry" statement?


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## DenisBiH

Yasminne said:


> You're good  Yes it was!
> So would you say this a somewhat "angry" statement?




Well, not really angry. Maybe half-sarcastic/insult, but I think more context would be needed, and a Croatian speaker who knows the nuances of "brijati". If said by a Croat, which I think most likely, it would be something like "What's up/wrong with you / What was that you said, you Serb?" (the "you Serb" part would be understood from _bre_)


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## doorman

Heh, this is really a hard one. It can mean literally anything. Its exact meaning depends on a great number of factors, such as (but not limited to) intonation, context, situation, etc...

However, introducing _bre_ pretty much limits it to hate talk (in most cases). If so, it can be understood as _Who do you think you are, talking to me like that?_. This particular phrase is used in Croatians' hatred-coloured down-talk.

If hate is out of context here, you will need to tell us more about it.


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## miuccia

The verb ''brijati'' means literally to shave, but colloquial it means to think. Kaj ti briješ? What do you think about that? Then, when 2 friends are takling for example about a singer, X says she's great, and Y says: ma kaj briješ!? She's horrible!! So, the meaning is - wtf, are you crazy!?
Hope you get it


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## vatreno

Jel ima znacenje vise kao 'sto mislis?' ili 'jesi lud? / sto (kaj) je tvoj problem?'

Mislim da ovdje bre ne bilo hate-talk takodje. Ovisi kako je on to rekao.


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## kalidas

Well, this phrase is a slang, a mixture of Croatian language ( Kaj - What; usually spoken in Zagreb and surroundings ) and Serbian ( Bre - an exlamation to empower what you are saying ).

I would translate that as : What's wrong with you, man?


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