Advanced clitic placement

Lesson opening

This is the first part of the lesson. The rest, the exercises and the reviews are in the app.

Clitics in hard cases: splitting, climbing and style

Clitics are the short unstressed words such as sam, je, se, mi, ga, li, ću: they never open a sentence and lean on the word before them. “The second-place rule” showed where they go, and “Internal clitic order” lined up their chain in six groups. What remains is the hardest part: the hard cases that trip up even fluent speakers. What counts as “first place” when a sentence opens with a preposition, with a first name and surname, with two subjects joined by i? Where do clitics go after a comma, after a parenthetical word, after a name used to address someone? Do they stay in their own part of the sentence, after da, koji or jer? And why does Moj ga je brat video sound bookish, while Moj brat ga je video sounds like talk at the dinner table?

One idea settles all of these: a clitic leans not on a word on paper but on what is said as one word. Where the voice pauses, the count to second place starts again; where a preposition and its word run together in speech, nothing can be squeezed between them. And where Serbian allows two orders, choosing one means choosing between speech and writing.

First place: one word or the whole phrase

When a sentence opens with a group of words, Serbian allows two orders, and both are standard. Either the clitic waits until the whole opening phrase has been said, which we will call the unbroken order. Or it stands straight after the first word of the phrase and splits it in two: the split order. Compare:

The key is the last pair: the split order puts the chain strictly after the first word, not after the second. “Moja starija je sestra stigla” is wrong: the clitic has overshot its place. There are no halfway stops: either right after the first word, or after the whole phrase. A split comes most naturally when the first word describes its noun: a possessive (moj, naš, njegov “my, our, his”), a demonstrative (taj, ovaj, onaj “that, this, that over there”) or an adjective.

Which should you use? The standard allows both. In everyday speech in Serbia the unbroken order is usual; the split one is more often met in writing: in the papers, in books, in official speech. The longer the opening phrase, the more natural it is to put the clitics after all of it: Moja starija sestra iz Novog Sada mi je poslala paket. “My older sister from Novi Sad has sent me a parcel.” A title or job with a surname is kept whole in the same way: Profesor Petrović nam je to objasnio. “Professor Petrović explained that to us.”

What never splits

The split is not always available. Some groups are never broken up, and they are the commonest trap for learners who have mastered the split and use it everywhere.

The reasons differ. A preposition is unstressed and leans forward onto the next word: u sobi “in the room” and sa bratom “with my brother” are said as one phonetic word each, and there is no room to squeeze a clitic in. A split after this fused lump is perfectly normal, though: in U ovoj je sobi hladno “It’s cold in this room” the clitic stands after U ovoj, the first phonetic word of the sentence. Two words joined by i are equal partners under one conjunction; splitting them would break the link itself. A first name with a surname is not “describing word plus noun” but a single label for one person, and it is not split.

A pause cancels the host

Clitics obey not commas on paper but pauses in speech. Where the voice pauses, the count starts again, and nothing before the pause can host a clitic any more.

Cheat sheet

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Clitics in hard cases: splitting, climbing and style

A clitic’s host is the first phonetic word (said as one: u sobi, ne vidim) or the whole opening phrase; after a pause the count starts again.

Two placements, both right

Split strictly after the first word (not “Moja starija je sestra stigla”). Keep a title + surname whole: Profesor Petrović nam je to objasnio.

Never split

A pause resets the count

• In commas: Ja, tvoja majka, obećala sam ti to. I, your mother, promised you that.
• Part first: Kad sam stigao, žena me je čekala. When I arrived, my wife was waiting for me. (not “me je žena”)
• Parenthetical: Nažalost, ne mogu ti pomoći. Unfortunately, I can't help you.
• Address: Marko, daj mi ključeve. Marko, give me the keys.

Hosts

After i, a the clitic waits; after da, jer, kad (and usually ali, pa, ili) it comes at once: jer smo se umorili. li follows a verb or da (Vidiš li?) or, for emphasis, another word put first: Sutra li dolaziš? je drops by se: Zašto se smejao?

Clitic climbing

An infinitive has no second place: its clitics climb into the main chain. Out of a da-clause they hardly ever come; none stays by the infinitive (“Mogu pomoći ti”). Climbing verbs: moći, morati, hteti, smeti, želeti, početi, nastaviti, prestati, umeti. Purpose da never: Došao sam da ti pomognem.

Hard cases

• ne + verb = one word: Ne vidim ga. / Ja ga ne vidim. I don't see him. Not “Ne ga vidim”.
• evo, eto, eno, nema + genitive: Evo ga! Eno je na terasi. Nema ga kod kuće. Here he is! There she is on the terrace. He isn't home.
• Before a stressed negative: Ja te nisam video. I didn't see you.