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[BCMS] Gde si ? = what’s up ?

 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages Post Reply
Evanitious
Triglot
Newbie
France
Joined 4520 days ago

36 posts - 39 votes
Speaks: French*, EnglishC1, Italian

 
 Message 1 of 5
28 September 2014 at 8:16pm | IP Logged 
Hi !

I know that in Croatian/Serbian "gdje si ?" or "gde si ?" means "where are you" ?
Sometimes I even read and hear "de si ?"

But lately I've encountered it and it seems to mean something like "what's up ?" or "what's going on ?"

Is it correct ?

What do people usually reply to that in Serbian/Croatian ? xD
I mean, most of the time when people ask me "what's up ?" I usually say "nothing much".

_Gde si ?
_pa, ništa... ništa novo
on google they translate "nothing much" by "ništa puno" but I'm not sure if it's correct, it sounds like a literal translation.

Thanks in advance.
1 person has voted this message useful



Radioclare
Triglot
Senior Member
United Kingdom
timeofftakeoff.com
Joined 4584 days ago

689 posts - 1119 votes 
Speaks: English*, German, Esperanto
Studies: Croatian, Serbian, Macedonian

 
 Message 2 of 5
28 September 2014 at 9:36pm | IP Logged 
As far as I understand, "Gdje si?" is sometimes used as an informal greeting. I've never
heard it said in real life but I've seen it on TV and I got the impression that it just
means "Hey, how are you?". I'm not sure what the correct response is but if in doubt I
would probably just smile and say it back :)

More often for "What's up?" I have heard people say "šta ima?" to which a fairly frequent
response seems to be "nema ništa". I'm guessing that's the equivalent of saying "nothing
much", in response to that question at least.
2 persons have voted this message useful



nikolic993
Diglot
Senior Member
Yugoslavia
Joined 3781 days ago

106 posts - 205 votes 
Speaks: Serbian*, English
Studies: Italian, Mandarin, Romanian, Persian

 
 Message 3 of 5
25 January 2015 at 2:59pm | IP Logged 
In Serbia we usually say "'de si?", and the most common(and I believe the only logical) response for it is "Evo me"(Here I am)+ a smile/disappointed facial expression depending on your mood. The question "Šta ima?"("What's up?" lit. What does he/she/it have.) usually comes right after it. This is of course a very colloquial register.

Edited by nikolic993 on 25 January 2015 at 3:01pm

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Γρηγόρη
Tetraglot
Groupie
United States
Joined 4456 days ago

55 posts - 154 votes 
Speaks: English*, Greek, Latin, Ancient Greek
Studies: German, French, Russian

 
 Message 4 of 5
26 January 2015 at 5:24pm | IP Logged 
I don't know Serbian, but I speak Greek, which shares many idiomatic expressions with its neighbor (i.e. both are
part of the Balkan Sprachbund). Greek uses the exact corresponding expression, Που είσαι; with the standard
response, Εδώ είμαι. In these expressions, as far as I understand it, the verb "to be" really is meant as the equivalent
of the present perfect tense in English, since Greek (and, I would guess, Serbian) lacks a perfect for "to be." So really,
these mean, "Where have you been?" and "I've been right here," and conversationally function more like, "Long time,
no see. What have you been up to lately." "Not much."
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carlyd
Groupie
United States
Joined 3990 days ago

94 posts - 138 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Spanish

 
 Message 5 of 5
26 January 2015 at 11:20pm | IP Logged 
Here I hear "Što radiš" that I've always understand meant "what's going on." Maybe it's a regional thing?


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