# All Slavic languages: ommiting the verb "owe" in "I owe you (money)"



## dihydrogen monoxide

Is this kind of construction possible in other Slavic languages? BCS has a tendency to produce this kind of sentence:
A: Ja tebi 5 maraka. (I owe you 5 marks.), in this case the verb that should be in there but can be ommited are doći/dođem. I am wondering the reason behind this?
As for Slovene the same construction cannot be possible, in fact you could only say Pridem ti pet mark. I don't think Jaz tebi pet mark works in Slovene. What about other Slavic languages?


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## Kolan

dihydrogen monoxide said:


> As for Slovene the same construction cannot be possible, in fact you could only say Pridem ti pet mark.


The same thing is in Russian - omission would not be understood: "Я *должен* тебе пять марок."


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## TriglavNationalPark

dihydrogen monoxide said:


> As for Slovene the same construction cannot be possible, in fact you could only say Pridem ti pet mark.



*"Pridem* ti pet mark"?  Is this regional slang? Even though I'm a native Slovenian speaker, I wouldn't even understand *priti* (= to come) in this sense.

Instead, I would say:

"*Dolžan/dol**žen* *sem* ti pet mark/evrov/dolarjev."

This is a very idiomatic construction in this context.

In any case, *biti dolžan/dol**žen *can't be omitted either.


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## Azori

It's not possible in Slovak: Dlžím/Dlhujem ti päť mariek.
or
Som ti dlžný/dlžná päť mariek.


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## TriglavNationalPark

Lior neith's response about Slovak reminded me of another way this can be phrased in Slovenian:

"*Dolgujem* ti pet mark."


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## Duya

dihydrogen monoxide said:


> BCS has a tendency to produce this kind of sentence:
> A: Ja tebi 5 maraka. (I owe you 5 marks.),



I'd say that "tendency" is quite an overstatement here. Without context, I'd parse "ja tebi 5 maraka" as "I [will give] you 5 marks", not as "I [owe] you". In any case, it's very colloquial and bordering on slang.

Even in informal registers, one would normally say "dođem ti 5 maraka".


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## dihydrogen monoxide

Duya said:


> I'd say that "tendency" is quite an overstatement here. Without context, I'd parse "ja tebi 5 maraka" as "I [will give] you 5 marks", not as "I [owe] you". In any case, it's very colloquial and bordering on slang.
> 
> Even in informal registers, one would normally say "dođem ti 5 maraka".


 
Why is the verb ommited? And why only in BCS?


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## Duya

dihydrogen monoxide said:


> Why is the verb ommited?



Because of natural tendency of the language to drop elements perceived as redundant. But the omitted verb is usually "give", not "owe" in this context. Thus, for example:

_Ja tebi pare, ti meni telefon, i svi zadovoljni.

_is aperfectly common colloquial expression.



dihydrogen monoxide said:


> And why only in BCS?



If you change the target from "owe" to "give", I bet you will encounter similar examples in other Slavic languages. But then, I'm not sure.


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## TriglavNationalPark

Duya said:


> Because of natural tendency of the language to drop elements perceived as redundant. But the omitted verb is usually "give", not "owe" in this context. Thus, for example:
> 
> _Ja tebi pare, ti meni telefon, i svi zadovoljni._



This same omission (of *dati *= to give) is also common in colloquial Slovenian:

"Jaz tebi denar, ti meni telefon, pa bova oba zadovoljna." (Idiomatically: "...pa sva bot" or "...pa sva kvit.")


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## texpert

lior neith said:


> It's not possible in Slovak: Dlžím/Dlhujem ti päť mariek.
> or
> Som ti dlžný/dlžná päť mariek.


 

It's not possible in CZ either, but the colloquial form is "*viset*" (to hang).
_Visím ti pět marek _(I hang five mark to you, dlužím ti pět marek). Any paralles?


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## cajzl

In Czech it is possible only in context, e.g.: - Dlužím ti pět korun. - A já tobě pět marek. /// But also: - Dal/vzal/ukradl jsem ti pět korun. - A já tobě pět marek. //// Another common ellipses: Jak ty mně, tak já tobě. -- Dnes mně, zítra tobě.


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## WannaBeMe

It is not possible in Serbian or Croatian or all other variations of it (but if you have heard it, it must have been Bosniac language). 
Normaly one would say:

Dugujem ti pet maraka.
Dužan sam ti pet maraka.

or coloquial:

Dodjem ti pet maraka / marki.


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## .Jordi.

cajzl said:


> In Czech it is possible only in context, e.g.: - Dlužím ti pět korun. - A já tobě pět marek. /// But also: - Dal/vzal/ukradl jsem ti pět korun. - A já tobě pět marek. //// Another common ellipses: Jak ty mně, tak já tobě. -- Dnes mně, zítra tobě.



In Polish it's possible only in the same context:
- Wiszę ci/jestem ci winien/dłużny pięć złotych.
- a ja tobie cztery.


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## WannaBeMe

Such ommision is possible only if one mentioned one of the verbs _dati, ukrasti_ or similar in the sentencs before, like:

*Dam* ti četiri marke, *a ti meni* dva eura.


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## dihydrogen monoxide

WannaBeMe said:


> *It is NOT possible in BCS !!!*
> 
> Such ommision is possible only if one mentioned one of the verbs _dati, ukrasti_ or similar in the sentencs before, like:
> 
> *Dam* ti četiri marke, *a ti meni* dva eura.


 
Of, course, if I'd say to you "Ja tebi pet maraka", you'd know that dođem,dam iz ommited and the sentence structure is possible, no matter the context. Or you could just say:
Someone is counting the money and says:
Ja tebi pet, ti meni šest and so on...


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## WannaBeMe

dihydrogen monoxide said:


> Of, course, if I'd say to you "Ja tebi pet maraka", you'd know that dođem,dam iz ommited and the sentence structure is possible, no matter the context. Or you could just say:
> Someone is counting the money and says:
> Ja tebi pet, ti meni šest and so on...


 
I dont think you realy understand that, do you? 
I am talking pariculary for Serbian: One verb can be ommited only if it is well known what the orator means, thus if he´s already mentioned the verb before. Otherways the interlocuter cannot know what the orator wants to say. (Especially if there are even no nouns mentioned in the sentence).
With other words: You cannot just say:" Ja tebi pet maraka".
If you still think it is possible, just try to say it to a person on the street and you will see how they are going to look at you. If you would tell it to me, I would ask myself: "What the hell he wants now, to give me the five marks, or to borow, or to steel, and all possible ditransitive verbs that you can use with the noun "money". 

But if you would have talked about giving the money, or borowing or whatever before you said "Ja tebi pet maraka" I could understand it. Thats why I said, only in this context. Do you understand what I mean?


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## Thomas1

texpert said:


> It's not possible in CZ either, but the colloquial form is "*viset*" (to hang).
> _Visím ti pět marek _(I hang five mark to you, dlužím ti pět marek). Any paralles?


Yes, in Polish you can say that too:
Wiszę Ci 5 marek.
It is colloquial too.


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## dihydrogen monoxide

WannaBeMe said:


> I dont think you realy understand that, do you?
> I am talking pariculary for Serbian: One verb can be ommited only if it is well known what the orator means, thus if he´s already mentioned the verb before. Otherways the interlocuter cannot know what the orator wants to say. (Especially if there are even no nouns mentioned in the sentence).
> With other words: You cannot just say:" Ja tebi pet maraka".
> If you still think it is possible, just try to say it to a person on the street and you will see how they are going to look at you. If you would tell it to me, I would ask myself: "What the hell he wants now, to give me the five marks, or to borow, or to steel, and all possible ditransitive verbs that you can use with the noun "money".
> 
> But if you would have talked about giving the money, or borowing or whatever before you said "Ja tebi pet maraka" I could understand it. Thats why I said, only in this context. Do you understand what I mean?


 
I know what you mean. But I was talking about the sentence structure being possible. Ommiting the verb. I know what you want to say, because you'd have to know what was said before the verb was omitted. I'm not looking for semantics but syntactic part of the sentence. Well, you've said it, the verb can be omitted. 
What would you say about this:
You've robbed a bank and you're counting the money and sharing it with the accomplice. In English you'd say: One for you,one for me.... or I'll give you 1,.....
But in BCS, it would be possible to say just:
A: Ja tebi pet
B: Ti meni pet
Because you know, it refers to money being counted so you know what is going on with the money, thus the verb can be ommited.
I am not asking for semantics of the sentence but syntax. You can say Ja tebi pet maraka, but that sentence cannot stand alone, it needs another sentence to go with it.


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## WannaBeMe

dihydrogen monoxide said:


> I know what you mean. But I was talking about the sentence structure being possible. Ommiting the verb. I know what you want to say, because you'd have to know what was said before the verb was omitted. I'm not looking for semantics but syntactic part of the sentence. Well, you've said it, the verb can be omitted.
> What would you say about this:
> You've robbed a bank and you're counting the money and sharing it with the accomplice. In English you'd say: One for you,one for me.... or I'll give you 1,.....
> But in BCS, it would be possible to say just:
> A: Ja tebi pet
> B: Ti meni pet
> Because you know, it refers to money being counted so you know what is going on with the money, thus the verb can be ommited.
> I am not asking for semantics of the sentence but syntax. You can say Ja tebi pet maraka, but that sentence cannot stand alone, it needs another sentence to go with it.



Well, it can stand alone but in some special occasions, like that what you said but normaly it cannt stand alone. If the queston here was, if it can be said, the answer is _it can_. Everithing can be said BUT... the next question is if you would be understood and if this question doesnt metter then you are completely right it can be said any time.


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## dihydrogen monoxide

WannaBeMe said:


> Well, it can stand alone but in some special occasions, like that what you said but normaly it cannt stand alone. If the queston here was, if it can be said, the answer is _it can_. Everithing can be said BUT... the next question is if you would be understood and if this question doesnt metter then you are completely right it can be said any time.


 
Glad we understand each other.


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## Heroj_MKD

In Macedonian

1. Должен сум ти пет марки / евра / долари
2. Јас тебе ти должам пет марки / евра/ долари


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