# BCS: Kako da ti kažem moja draga da mi nisi više tako draga



## sesperxes

Dear foreros,

in this sentence "Kako da ti kažem moja draga da mi nisi više tako draga" (it's from a text of Dino Merlin), I understand that "kako da ti kažem" means "kako trebam reći tebi / kako treba da kažem tebi"  itd. itd.

Am I right? 

Thanks


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## Duya

Why 'treba'? It's simply a question of ability, 'How will/could I tell you...' I have a hunch that Spanish has a closer translation than English, if only I spoke it...


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## sesperxes

Therefore, "kako da pripremam hemendeks bez šunke? would be the same that "kako može da pripremam / kako mogu pripremati..."?


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## tosamja

> kako da pripremam hemadeks bez šunke?


 
Kako da _pripremim_ hemendeks bez šunke? (better use "pripremiti" than "pripremati")



> kako može da pripremam / kako mogu pripremati...



Kako _mogu_ da pripremim... / kako mogu pripremiti ...

And yes, all these constructions mean basically the same, except that in Serbian (and other Slavic languages) we sometimes drop the modal verb can (moći) in this context: one would never say "kako mogu da ti kažem volim te?" but only "kako da ti kažem volim te?". On the other hand, in the ham and eggs sentence, you can keep "mogu", it wouldn't sound too bad, but the most natural way would be I guess to say: "Kako se priprema hemendeks?"


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## Duya

tosamja said:


> And yes, all these constructions mean basically the same, except that in Serbian (and other Slavic languages) we sometimes drop the modal verb can (moći) in this context: one would never say "kako mogu da ti kažem volim te?" but only "kako da ti kažem volim te?".



I don't think there was a verb to be dropped here in the first place. Check the following development:

_1. Kako napraviti pitu? 'How to make a pie?'
2. Kako se pravi pita? 'How *does* one make a pie?'
3. Kako [ja] da napravim pitu? 'How *do* I make a pie?'_

Constructions 1) and 2) are impersonal, involving infinitive or impersonal reflexive. Construction 3) is personal, and involves a verb phrase (clause). However, no additional verb is semantically involved; I would argue that English grammar is "anomalous" here, requiring a "dummy" verb _do_ (or _can, will_), serving only syntactical function
.


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## sesperxes

> we sometimes drop the modal verb can (moći) in this context: one would never say "kako mogu da ti kažem volim te?" but only "kako da ti kažem volim te?".



In these sentences, the "context" is related to "ability, possibility" (moći), but in constructions like "sada ne znam šta da radim", the context would be related to "need" (trebati), isn't it?

  So, are there more contexts/verbs where we can drop out  modal verbs?  (I'm thinking about morati, umeti, znati, ... and questions introduced by ko, koji, koliki, gde, kad, zašto... ). 

Said otherwise, when native speakers "feel" that these constructions are more fluent/correct than the full sentence with the modal verb?

Hvala svima.


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## tosamja

Duya said:


> I don't think there was a verb to be dropped here in the first place.



As I said, we don't say "kako mogu da ti kažem volim te?" but rather "kako da ti kažem volim te?", dropping the "moći", which you might call dummy, but for people thinking in other languages an additional verb is quite logical to be used here. My point is that the constructions using "moći", while sounding awkward in Serbian, are definitely not grammatically incorrect, and semantically are almost equivalent, so they can help foreign learners (as a certain bridge) to digest better sentences like "kako da ti kažem volim te?".


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## tosamja

sesperxes said:


> In these sentences, the "context" is related to "ability, possibility" (moći) , but in constructions like "sada ne znam šta da radim", the context would be related to "need" (trebati), isn't it?



I don't think really of the sentence "kako da ti kažem volim te?" as having a specific modal dropped. It's just like that: when you don't know (or can't, or don't dare, or whatever the reason) how to say I love you, then you wonder "kako da ti kažem volim te?". It seems to me that the reason why one is in doubt how to say I love you is just not revealed.

On the other hand, "sada ne znam šta da radim" is simply "I don't know what to do know", identically built as in English.


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## Duya

tosamja said:


> dropping the "moći", which you might call dummy, but for people thinking in other languages an additional verb is quite logical to be used here.



I just think that you both focus too much on that elusive modal verb, i.e. analyse the syntax through skewed English perspective. Different languages have different ways of expressing it. Unfortunately, my knowledge on Sesperxes' native Spanish is too superficial, so instead of trying to make parallels, I'll just go into analysis of BCS syntax.

Basically, _Kako da joj kažem?_ is near-synonymous with _Kako ću joj reći_? The same goes with other wh- words:

_Kad da joj to kažem? ~ Kad ću joj to reći?
Gde da joj to kažem? ~ Gde ću joj to reći?
Zašto da joj to kažem? ~ Zašto ću joj to reći?_

The difference is in mood; future tense is indicative, and asserts that I'm certainly going to tell her, just asking how/when/where/why. The da-sentences are... sort of subjunctive, and denote speaker's insecurity and even anxiety. _Kako da joj kažem_? -- 'OMG should I tell her and how I'm going to tell her?'


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## sesperxes

_OK, McKey, let's close this thread! _


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## Vanja

Oh, just want more thing:
"Kako da ti kažem moja draga = kako to da ti sauopštim, kako da skupim hrabrost i na koji način sada ovu lošu vest da ti kažem.... (a da ne planeš/naljutiš/rasplačeš... gađaš me pikslom... )
 da mi nisi više tako draga"


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## žaoka

Vanja got the point.


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## qwqwqw

Vanja said:


> Oh, just want more thing:
> "Kako da ti kažem moja draga = kako to da ti sauopštim, kako da skupim hrabrost i na koji način sada ovu lošu vest da ti kažem.... (a da ne planeš/naljutiš/rasplačeš... gađaš me pikslom... )
> da mi nisi više tako draga"



A šta znači "pikslom"?


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## tosamja

qwqwqw said:


> A šta znači "pikslom"?



piksla ili pepeljara = ashtray (in English)


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