73 NW Čakavian, Part 2

[under construction]

After nouns, adjectives and pronouns, verb patterns of Northwestern Čakavian are much more similar to the Standard.

pers.	"be"	neg. "be"	cond.	"go"
1st sg.	sân	nīsân, nîs	bîn	(g)rên
2nd sg.	sì	nīsì	bìš	(g)rêš
3rd sg.	jê, j	nî (!)	bì	(g)rê
1st pl.	smò	nīsmò	bìmo	(g)rēmò
2nd pl.	stè	nīstè	bìte	(g)rētè
3rd pl.	sû	nīsû	bì	(g)rēdû

The special conditional verb (actually, similar to other verbs) is another characteristic of Čakavian dialects.

The verb gren is normally used in present only, it means "go"; for the past participle, you should use šal, šla (perf.); for the past part. impf. you should use hodil, hodila (Standard versions are in curly brackets).

Gren va grad. {Idem u grad.} "I'm going to the city."
Šal san va grad. {Otišäo säm u grad.} "I went to the city."
Hodil san va grad. {Išäo säm u grad.} "I was going to the city."

There are no full version of auxiliaries (san, bin, ću); the same words can be used in the first place of a sentence, but then the words are pronounced longer. Normally li is not used. The same words can be used for answers:

Sî šal va grad? {Jesi li otišao u grad?} "Did you go to the city?"
Sân. {Jesam} "I did."
Bîš ga prevarila? {Bi li ga prevarila?} "Would you cheat on him?"

Even when people, who normally speak Čakavian at home, try to speak Standard in public, they frequently use bin, biš....

NW Čakavian uses as a generic verb "do" delan ~ storin instead of the Std. radim ~ napravim:

Ča si storila? {Što si napravila?} "What have you done?" (speaking to a female person)
Ča delaš? {Što radiš?} "What are you doing?"

Of course, delan means "work in a factory", etc. Delo means "work", but posäl "job" is also used.

Some Characteristic Words

Instead of prepositions s and iz, there is only one: z. This applies to prefixes as well: zmëšat vs. Std. izmijëšati. There is a lot of Venetian and Italian loans. Some characteristic nouns and adjectives are (Standard words are in curly brackets):

beči f pl. "money" {noväc, novci} besèda "word, speech" {rijëč, govor} kulìk adj. "how big" {kolik} kūntênt adj. "satisfied, happy" {zadovoljan} kûs "piece" {komad} lačän adj. "hungry" {gladän} lahki adj. "lightweight" {lagan} leto "summer, year" {ljëto, godina} libär (or libra) "book" {knjiga} mići adj. "small" {mali}

nona "grandmother" {baka} pāntigân "rat" {štakor} petèh "cock" {pijëtäo} šetimana "week" {tjedan} šugamân "towel" {ručnik} tepäl "warm" {topäo, topla} trd "hard" {tvrd} užãnca "custom" {običaj} veli adj. "big" {velik} zajìk "tongue, language" {jezik}

I list here some characteristic verbs; I'll give only presents, and other forms only if they cannot be deduced from the present using the standard rules; don't forget that in this dialect infinitives end on just -t or -ć, and past part. m have final -l instead of the Standard -o:

arivan perf. "arrive, make on time" {stignem, stigao, stigla, stići}
delan ~ storin "work, make, do" {radim ~ napravim}
išćen, iskal "look for, search" {tražim}
iman, imel "have" {imam, imao}
kantan "sing" {pjëvam}
parićujen, parićeval ~ parićan, parićal "prepare" {pripremam ~ pripremim}
pasan perf. "pass" {prođem, prošao, prošla, proći}
priden, prišal, prišla, priti (!) perf. "come" {dođem, došao, došla, doći}
pen or pejan "drive" {vozim}
sopen, sopal, sopla, sost (!) "play (music)" ~ {sviram}
štiman "respect" {poštujem}
tancan "dance" {plešem}
tečen, tekal, tekla, teć "run" {trčim}
vadin ~ na- "learn, get used to" {učim ~ na-}
(po)zabin perf. "forget" {zaboravim}
zamen, zel "take" {uzmem, uzeo}

Prepositions, conjunctions and adverbs:

aš "because" {jer} brez "without" {bez} ća "away" danaska "today" {danas} čera "yesterday" {jučer} čez prep. (+ acc.) "through" {kroz} čuda "many, a lot" {mnogo, puno} jur "already, really" {već, baš} leh "only, just" {samo, nego} lišo "easily, without consequences" kadè "where" {gdjë} kot "as, like" {kao}

morda "maybe" {možda} med prep. (+ins.) "among"; (+acc.) "into" {među} nutri, nutra "inside" {unutra} pul, pu prep. (+gen.) "by, at, near" {kod} sopet "again" {opet} tr "and, well" {pa} va prep. (+loc.) "in"; (+acc.) "to" {u} vavek "always" {uvijëk} vaje "at once" {odmah} z prep. (+gen.) "from, off"; (+ins.) "with" {iz, s} zmed prep. (+gen.) "among" {između} zač "why" {zašto}

We see that there are many differences between NW/C Čakavian and the Standard. In the modern age, fewer and fewer people are using it in everyday life, except in smaller towns and villages. However, there are music festivals, some supplements in newspapers, some very local newspapers with articles written in Čakavian, etc. Some manifestations, companies, bars have čakavian names (see right, the name of Rijeka half-marathon). Sometimes articles otherwise written in the Standard quote what somebody said in čakavian, e.g.:

Niki nas neće zet va teh letah. lit. "Noone will take us in those years" (meaning, having such age) {Nitko nas neće uzeti u tim godinama.} (Novi List, 2010-04-02)

To find texts written in this dialect, search for a characteristic phrase, e.g. "va keh" site:.hr using Google™.

The dialect is quite unknown outside its home area and sounds strange to many Croatians. But it's so conservative in some features that it's worth knowing a bit.

Samples

A short text by Ivanka Glogović Klarić (source) with my translation.

NW Čakavian

Standard

Negdere san već jedanput napisala kako se lahko dogodi da se judi krivo razumeju. Ne zaradi tega aš oni ki govore lažu, a oni ki ih poslušaju misle da govore istinu (al pak nopak!), leh zato aš njin beseda ku čuju znači neš drugo. »Bilo j' tamo čuda i jako interesantneh judi« bi mogal neki ki ne zna baš dobro domaći razumet da j' tamo bilo mirakuli i jako interesantneh judi. Čudo j' nan mirakul, a kako se i va književnen zajike more reć da j' negdere bilo »čudo toga«, va smisle čuda tega, te besedi su sigurno va rode. Kako ja vavek iman neku teoriju na ki način judi zmišjaju i rabe besedi, računan da kad je nečesa bilo puno – čuda, posebe hrani, da j' to nekada bilo pravo čudo, pravi mirakul!

Negdjë sam već jedanput napisala kako se lako dogodi da se ljudi krivo razumiju. Ne radi toga jer oni koji govore lažu, a oni koji ih slušaju misle da govore istinu (ili pak obrnuto!), nego zato jer njima rijëč koju čuju znači nešto drugo. »Bilo j' tamo čuda i jako interesantneh judi« bi mogao netko tko ne zna baš dobro domaći razumjëti da je tamo bilo čuda i jako interesantnih ljudi. Čudo je nama mirakul, a kako se i u književnom jeziku može reći da je negdjë bilo »čudo toga«, u smislu mnogo toga, te rijëči su sigurno u rodu. Kako ja uvijëk imam neku teoriju na koji način ljudi izmišljaju i koriste rijëči, računam da kad je nečeg bilo puno – mnogo, posebno hrane, da je to nekada bilo pravo čudo, pravi mirakul!

I will also quote part of a poem by Drago Gervais (1904-1957) without translation, just with some words explained:

Pod Učkun kućice bele, miće, kot suzice vele. Beli zidići, črjeni krovići, na keh vrapčići kantaju. Mići dolčići, još manje lešice na keh ženice kopaju. Cestice bele, tanki putići, po keh se vozići pejaju, i jedna mića, uska rečica, pul ke se dečica igraju. Na sunce se kućice griju, na turne urice biju.

Učka a mountain suzica diminutive of suza "teardrop" dolčić "small field"; lešica "small seed bed" vozić "small cart, driven by animals" turän "(church) tower"