Grammar 1: Who? What?

Vidim nanu: I See Nana

Goal: I can put -u on the -a word that receives the action: kahva becomes kahvu, nana becomes nanu.

Welcome to Nana's grammar school. No tables, no homework, one small rule at a time. Today's rule is the one heritage speakers lose first: 'vidim nana' is exactly what gives diaspora kids away, and 'vidim nanu' is what makes the whole čaršija ask where you learned such nice Bosnian.

Stvari i ljudi: Things & People

Goal: I can leave burek alone and give brat an -a: masculine things stay the same, male people change.

Why do people change and things don't? Bosnian pays living beings the compliment of extra grammar. It is why 'pozdravi brata' sounds warm and correct, and why nana always knows exactly who did what to whom, in any kitchen, through any wall.

Nema kahve!: There's No Coffee!

Goal: I can say what there's none of (nema kahve), where someone is from (iz Bosne), and whose place I'm at (kod nane).

The 'of' form is the busiest ending in Bosnian small talk: odakle si (iz Amerike), kod koga si (kod nane), čega nema (nema kahve), koliko košta (pet maraka). Four questions of every family visit, one ending. 'Nema kahve' also doubles as the only sentence that can make a Bosnian household move fast before ten in the morning.

Nanina provjera: Nana's Check

Goal: I can hear nana's shopping orders and answer with the right endings: kahvu, pite, tetku, od nane.

You just finished your first real grammar unit and nobody showed you a table. That is on purpose: one contrast at a time, inside sentences you already own. When relatives notice your endings this summer, and they will, tell them nana taught you.

Next unit: Grammar 2: Where? Where To?.