# Macedonian: ама туку но



## cr00mz

Hello

What is the difference between all these 3 words? They seem to translate to English with the same word, *but*. I am very familiar with ама, not so familiar with но (are they interchangeable?), never heard туку before, I found out about it while reading some Macedonian articles.


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## Gnoj

"Но" and "ама" have the same meaning and are interchangeable. "Но" is preferable in print, but they are both used frequently in standard language texts and you can even find them both in a single sentence. For example "Ти можеби сакаш да го исфрлиш, *но* тоа не би било убаво од твоја страна, *ама* јас нема да се обидам да те спречам" (You may want to throw him out, *but* that wouldn't be nice of you, *but* I won't try to stop you). "Ама" is Turkish word, something that seems to have left in our language from the 5-century Ottoman rule.

"Туку" has a completely different meaning, at least it's not interchangeable with но/ама in Macedonian:
Не јас, *туку* ти = Not me, *but* you
Не ова, *туку* она = Not this, *but* that
Тоа што го јадеш не е кисело млеко, *туку* мајонез = What you're eating is not sour milk, *but* mayonnaise.

There's also "туку што", which is a completely separate expression:*Туку што* пристигнав = I have *just* arrived

In cases when you are excluding something and "but" is interchangeable with or close to "other than", in Macedonian we use "освен" (which can also mean "except", "besides" or "other than" in different occasions):
No one *but *her = Никој *освен* таа
It's nobody's fault *but* mine = Никој не е виновен *освен* јас/Ничија е вината, *освен* моја
You have no choice *but* to follow me = Немаш друг избор *освен* да ме следиш


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## cr00mz

Would this be correct? 

јас не отидов дома, туку брат ми отиде

Also about Туку што, can it be changed with баш?


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## Gnoj

Yes, "јас не отидов дома, туку брат ми *отиде**" is correct (***отиде is optional here, either way would sound just fine).
If you want to emphasize "јас" and make easier to understand that it is a question of 'who' (јас or брат ми) and not 'where' (дома or somewhere else), you can change the order of some of the words and say "не отидов јас дома, туку брат ми".
And if you want to emphasize 'where' instead of 'who', you would say "**јас* не отидов дома, туку кај мојата девојка" (***јас is optional here).
But you don't have to bother this much.

As for "туку што", it can't be replaced by "баш". "*Баш* пристигнав" would sound more like "Arriving is *just*/*exactly* what I did". So "баш" is actually "exactly" and it is another word of Turkish origin.


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## cr00mz

Ok, thanks for all your help


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## iobyo

_Туку_ follows a negative clause and provides a positive one as with Gnoj's examples: 'it's not _x_, but (rather) _y_'.

_Но_/_ама _is a plain 'but': _тие се ученици, но ние не сме _('they are students, but we are not'). It implies total opposition. 

_А _is used contrastingly: _јас сум иобјо, а тој е крумз _('I am iobyo, and/but he is cr00mz').

As far as _но_ and _ама_ are concerned, nobody would ever use _но _in speech, and _ама _should not be used in print (i.e. a standard-language text). _Ама _is permissible in print only in direct dialogue and occasionally in news headlines; the journalistic style uses _ама _to give the headline a familiar or casual feeling.

By the way, _тукушто _is written conjoined.


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## cr00mz

In your third example, а, can it be replaced with и?


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## Gnoj

iobyo said:


> By the way, _тукушто _is written conjoined.



Thanks. My bad.


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