# Bosnian (BCS): ma boli me briga



## vatreno

1) Can some one help me translate this Bosnian phrase: ma boli me briga.
It was said "grrrrrrrr... ma boli me briga."

I am guessing that ma is just short of mama and that briga- brigati= to care for?

xxx


Thanks.


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## dudasd

"Ma" is similar to English "well", though a bit more energetic. The whole phrase is hardly translatable word by word; but the meaning is:

Well, I don't give a damn!


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## vatreno

haha ok that makes sense!

Hvala


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## farisca

I don't care...


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## musicalchef

If it's closer to dudasd's translation, is it a bit naughty in Bosnian?  For example, is it something you could say among: observant Muslims; someone's grandmother; your boss and senior coworkers; or just close friends?


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## Athaulf

musicalchef said:


> If it's closer to dudasd's translation, is it a bit naughty in Bosnian?  For example, is it something you could say among: observant Muslims; someone's grandmother; your boss and senior coworkers; or just close friends?



The expression is neither vulgar, nor offensive in any way. In that regard, it's more similar to "I don't care" than to "I don't give a damn", since "damn" can still be considered as an expletive, especially among religious people (although not a very strong one these days). 

On the other hand, the expression is informal and a bit slangy, so I wouldn't use it in very formal situations. Still, I'd say it's totally OK for all informal situations -- for example, I've used it in front of my parents and other older relatives, in front of whom I never swear and instinctively speak and behave politely. You could definitely use it among your coworkers, and even in front of your boss, unless he expects you to use a very formal and distant tone.


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## jazyk

When I first saw it, I thought it meant My stomach hurts. Any relation?


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## Athaulf

jazyk said:


> When I first saw it, I thought it meant My stomach hurts. Any relation?



Good guess.  Generally, _boli me X_, with _X_ in nominative, means "my X hurts". Thus, "my stomach hurts" would be _boli me stomak_/_trbuh_. The expression in the title sarcastically exclaims "my worry hurts [me]". 

Grammatically, the construct is analogous to the Spanish _me duele el estomago_, except that _me_ in BCS is the accusative, not dative (whereas in Spanish, it would be _le duele_, not *_lo duele_ in the third person where the difference still exists).


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