Building long sentences

Lesson opening

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

Building long sentences: put together and take apart

You already hold every part: the map of clause types (“Subordinate clauses overview”), the types one by one (“Relative clauses”, “Causal, conditional & concessive”), the punctuation (“Commas in clauses”), what goes first and what last (“Topic & focus”). One step is left: to assemble these parts into a long thought, three or four parts in one sentence (the main one, a time, a reason, a “which”), in a clear order, so that the reader never loses the thread.

The second half runs the other way. Written Serbian can make a clause disappear: fold it into a verbal adverb, a participle or a verbal noun. The same thought lives in two shapes, unfolded (conversation) and folded (newspaper, law, report), and an advanced speaker moves both ways: unfolding the folded in their head when reading, choosing the unfolded when speaking.

Architecture: the storeys of one sentence

Let us take a five-clause sentence apart, storey by storey. Storey 1 holds the main clauses, equal to each other; below hangs everything that depends on them.

One main clause can carry several subordinate clauses at once. The two ways of joining work on different axes: ali sets two main clauses side by side as equals, while da hangs a clause beneath the second one. And each clause has its own second place for clitics, the short unstressed words like je, su, se, mi. In a subordinate clause they come right after its da, koji, kad or jer (da su te nedelje bili), in a main clause after its first word (javili smo se), as “Advanced clitic placement” showed.

The simplest way to parse: count the finite verbs. As many verbs that show the person, as many clauses.

There are five finite verbs, rekao je, će doći, završi, treba, čekamo, so there are five clauses: the main one; two da clauses on the same level, both hanging on rekao je (which is why i joins them); a time clause with čim “as soon as” hanging on the first of them; and one more da hanging on treba.

Depth: chaining to the right and nesting inside

A sentence can have more than two storeys: a subordinate clause can carry a subordinate clause of its own. But there are two ways of adding depth, and they read differently.

Chaining: each new clause hooks onto the end of the previous one, and the sentence grows to the right. Serbian handles such chains with ease:

The first example has four storeys (rekao je → da poznaje → koji radi → u kojoj sam bio), yet it reads easily: each clause is finished before the next begins. The second is an everyday chain of three da: it bothers nobody, because each da hangs on its own verb.

Nesting: a subordinate clause sits inside the main clause and splits it in two. Serbian takes one split calmly, especially a short one:

Notice the first one: English drops “which” or “that” (“the book you sent me”), but Serbian never drops koji or da, however long the sentence. A nest inside a nest is too much: the predicate moves so far off that the reader loses the subject. Both sentences below are grammatical, but the second is far more natural:

The difference is where the predicate stands. On the left you fight through two subordinate clauses to reach nije se javio “hasn’t been in touch”, holding the subject kolega in mind. On the right the verb has moved to the front and the clauses have gone to the right: the long part goes last, as in “Word order and style”. The rule: nest no more than one clause inside the main clause, and keep it short; unfold everything else to the right.

Cheat sheet

The cheat sheet — everything essential from the lesson on one page. In the app it opens at any time.

Building long sentences

As many finite verbs (verbs that show the person), as many clauses. Coordination (i, a, ali, ili) sets clauses side by side as equals; subordination (da, koji, kad, jer…) hangs one beneath another. Condensing: replacing a clause with a form that shows no person.

Parsing in four steps

1. Count the finite verbs = the number of clauses.
2. Find the main clause: the one without a signal word.
3. Give each signal word (da, koji, čim…) its host.
4. Check for nesting: is a clause split by an insert? (then two commas)

Depth

• Chain to the right: any number of storeys: Rekao je da poznaje čoveka koji radi u firmi u kojoj sam bio.
• Nest inside: at most one, and short: Knjiga koju si mi poslao stigla je juče. Two inside the subject? Unfold to the right: Nije se javio kolega koji je izgubio knjigu koju sam mu pozajmio.
• Clitics: right after each clause’s signal word (Kad sam, jer sam, koju mi je). Never drop koji or da as English drops “that”.

Clause order

Known first (the frame), new and long at the end. Commas as in English: after a clause in front, round an extra-information koji, before a, ali; none before da, a defining koji or a joining i.

Build: Kad sam juče bio u gradu, svratio sam u knjižaru jer sam hteo da kupim knjigu koju mi je Ana preporučila. Split: lost the subject? Use a full stop.

Cohesion

• Repeat the signal word: Rekao je da će doći i da će doneti knjige., stan koji je blizu centra i koji nije preskup.
• Paired words: tako … da, toliko … da, onaj … koji, ono … što, na to da / o tome da.
• Pointing back to a whole clause: to, zbog toga, takav, pomenuti.

Condensing a clause (written register)

In conversation, the full clause. A headline is condensation minus the je: Usvojen novi zakon. New law adopted.