# BCS: Samo da +



## Miliu

Good morning, foreros,

I'd like to know what verbal tense must be used with this conjunction: sometimes it has a normal present indicative (samo da te vidim, samo da odem..) and sometimes a momentaneous present/dvovidni prezent (samo da rata ne bude).


Thanks.


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## Duya

_Samo_ is more or less just an intensifier here, and _da_ starts a dependent clause, expressing a desire. Thus, _samo da_ can be replaced with e.g. _želim da_ or _volio bih da_, with the same meaning: irealis, i.e. wishing that something is different than it is/was.

Generally, there seems to be a choice of two tenses: past (indicating desire that something had happened but actually didn't) and present of perfective verb
(desire that something happens now or soon).

_Samo da (želim da) sam otišla!_ (I wish I left (but I didn't))
_Samo da odem!_ (I wish that I go (but I'm still here))

However, with verb _biti_, the choice of _je/bude_ is really between present and future tense. The latter is not strictly irealis, obviously, because we don't know what will happen in the future.

_Samo da nije bilo rata!_ (I wish the war hasn't happened (but it did).)
_Samo da nije rat!_ (I wish that we aren't in war (but we are).)
_Samo da ne bude rata!_ (I wish that the war will not happen).


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## Vanja

My English is far from perfect, but just to correct Duya  


> Where 'will' means a future event, we cannot use 'wish' and must use 'hope'.


http://www.english-grammar-lessons.com/wish/menu.php

I hope there will be no war.



> _Samo da odem! (I wish that I go (but I'm still here)) I just wish to go away_


I just want to get out of here! or Oh, just to leave this place!

Samo da .... = If only... If just....
samo = just (Samo da te vidim na trenutak- Just to see you for a moment)


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## Miliu

> Samo da .... = If only... If just....
> samo = just (Samo da te vidim na trenutak- Just to see you for a moment)



[/QUOTE]

So, if I am in a bar and say "samo da odem telefonirati" means, "I just want to make a call? (I don't want to have a drink, just a call)


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## Duya

Yes. You can express the same with present indicative, or future: "samo idem telefonirati" or "samo ću otići telefonirati". The version "samo da odem telefonirati" is slightly more polite, because it expresses asking permission: "I'd like to make a phone call [if you let me]".


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## Miliu

As Stevie Wonder would say, samo da zovem za kažati "hvala" (I just call to say... I mean)


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## Duya

You're welcome 



Miliu said:


> As Stevie Wonder would say, samo da zovem za kažati da kažem "hvala" (I just call to say... I mean)



Pardon my indiscretion, but I'd like to correct you above.

Infinitive can fit only after modal verbs, and _zvati_ is not one. That is so even in Croatian, which "dislikes" da+present constructions: 

_Samo sam želio kazati hvala. _ OK, modal.
_Samo sam morao kazati hvala._  OK, modal.
_Samo sam došao kazati hvala._  not modal; use _da kažem_, making it a full-blown compound sentence. 
_Samo sam nazvao kazati hvala._  not modal; use _da kažem_

Now, the category of modal verbs in BCS is a tricky one. Here's a short list, but it's quite incomplete. The full-fledged modals are _moći_ (‘may’), _morati_ (‘must’), _trebati_ (‘need’), and _valjati_ (‘ought to’), which always requre a verbal complement. However, there's a wider class of verbs (semi-modals), which have an optional verbal complement (they can also have a noun complement). I found a much more detailed and complete study here:

Karabalić, Vladimir: _Sintaksa glagola nepotpunog značenja u hrvatskom i njemačkom jeziku na primjeru modalnih glagola_ SL 72, 171–185 (2011)

Which also gives the examples:

_(1) *Boji se* priznati što se dogodilo.
(2) *Ne plaši se* reći kako je bilo.
(3) Više su puta *odlučivali prekinuti* suradnju.
(4) Napokon je *uspjela položiti* ispit.
(5) *Počeo je* graditi kuću.
(6) *Nastavljamo* raditi kao i dosad.
(7) Više je puta *prestajao* pušiti._

Sorry if I give too much information, it's all rather tricky...


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## Anicetus

Duya said:


> _Samo sam došao kazati hvala._  not modal; use _da kažem_, making it a full-blown compound sentence.



Er, actually, that one is perfectly okay, at least in Croatian -- both standard and colloquial. Of course _doći_ isn't a modal verb, but it works as a derivative of _ići_ and it can take an infinitive to express purpose when that action also represents the destination of motion -- just like you may say _idem spavati_ or _poći ću u grad kupiti cipele_. Admittedly, using a full final clause (_da kažem_) is also possible, but the infinitive sounds more natural to me.
I think verbs of motion work that way in most other Slavic languages. Slovene and Kajkavian even have a special verbal noun for this purpose -- supine -- distinguished in form from the infinitive by the absence of the final _i_ and sometimes also by accent.

By the way, the construction za + infinitive isn't standard, but it's used quite a lot in colloquial language in Croatia (see how many hits Google gives for "za jesti", for instance). However, it wouldn't be used in the example above.


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## Vanja

In Serbian slang is "za pojesti", made from "za poneti", as a joke. (_Imate li nešto za pojesti?_)

— Došao sam vidjeti vas... Ništa drugo nije važno. —Uđite. — Uvela sam ga u malu sobu u koju se ulazilo iz predvorja akoristili smo se njome za primanje gostiju. - Izvolite sjesti. Stavio je šešir na stol....
_(Rajski Otok - Holt Victoria)
_
"Došao sam k vama ne da vam zahvalim, to sam mogao učiniti i pismom, nego sam došao k vama da vas vidim kad više niste tamnički nadstražar i kad ja više nisam uznik. Došao sam vidjeti kako obojica izgledamo kao ljudi...."
_(Klačina - Jozo Laušić)_

_Samo sam došao da te vidim - Kemal Malovčić_ (song)


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