Clitics and Word Order

01

The Second-Position Rule

Clitics want the second slot in the clause - right after the first stressed word or phrase. They can never begin a sentence.

• Vidim ga.

  I see him.

• Često ga vidim.

  I often see him.

• Jučer sam ga vidio.

  I saw him yesterday.

Watch what moves in that last sentence:

• jučer yesterday - the first stressed word, so it takes slot one
• sam ga - both clitics pile into slot two, before the verb they belong to
• vidio the participle, left at the end

English keeps "saw him" together. Bosnian splits the pair and puts the pieces around the second slot.

02

When Several Clitics Meet

If a clause has several clitics, they line up in a fixed order: first the question word li, then the auxiliary (sam, ću, bih), then a dative pronoun, then an accusative pronoun, then se, and finally je.

• Dao sam mu ga.

  I gave it to him.

• sam the auxiliary, then mu to him, then ga it - never any other order

• Dat ću ti ga sutra.

  I will give it to you tomorrow.

• ću the auxiliary, ti to you, ga it - the same three slots in the same three places

03

The Odd One Out: 'je'

The third-person je ("is", or the perfect auxiliary) breaks the pattern. Every other auxiliary goes in front of the pronouns; je goes last, behind them.

• Drago mi je.

  I am pleased.

• Žao mi je.

  I am sorry.

• inside the cluster the order is mi then je - the reverse of sam mu ga above, where the auxiliary came first

• To je moja sestra.

  That is my sister.

Where je would land next to a reflexive se, it drops out of the sentence altogether.

• Ona se udala.

  She got married.

• Kako se to dogodilo?

  How did it happen?

04

Clitics Split Phrases

"Second position" can be counted two ways, and Bosnian allows both. Usually the whole opening phrase fills slot one and the clitic waits until it is finished.

• Tvoj računar je tamo.

  Your computer is over there.

• tvoj računar your computer - two words but one phrase, so je comes after both

But the slot can also be just the first word, and then the clitic drops in behind it and cuts the phrase in half.

• Sedam je sati ujutro.

  It is seven in the morning.

• sedam sati seven o'clock is one phrase, and je lands inside it, straight after sedam

• Odličan je gitarist.

  He is an excellent guitarist.

• odličan gitarist an excellent guitarist, opened up the same way

Both orders are correct and mean the same thing. The split version sounds a little more formal and leans on the word left standing in front, so you meet it in writing, in fixed expressions of time, and whenever a speaker wants to lead with one particular word. English can do none of this - "is" never moves inside "your computer" - which is why a split Bosnian sentence can look at first as though its pieces are in the wrong order.

05

Stressed Forms for Emphasis

Each short pronoun has a long, stressed twin used for emphasis or after a preposition: me / mene, mu / njemu. Use the long form to stress, the clitic otherwise.

• Vidiš li me?

  Do you see me?

• Mene vidiš, a nju ne.

  You see me, but not her.

06

Otherwise Flexible Order

The rest of the sentence is fairly free - you can front whatever you want to stress - but the clitics always reclaim their second-position slot however the rest is arranged.

• Knjigu sam pročitao.

  The book, I have read.

• Pročitao sam knjigu.

  I have read the book.

07

Future and Conditional Run on Clitics

The future tense and the conditional are built from clitic auxiliaries, so they obey the same second-position rule. The future uses ću, ćeš, će; the conditional uses bih, bi, bismo.

• Sutra ću doći.

  I will come tomorrow.

• Doći ću sutra.

  I will come tomorrow.

• Htio bih kafu.

  I would like a coffee.

08

It Counts Words, Not Meaning

The second-position rule counts the first stressed unit, whatever it is - a subject, an adverb, an object, even a question word. The clitic lands right after it, often nowhere near the main verb.

• Ja sam ti to rekao.

  I told you that.

• Danas sam ti to rekao.

  I told you that today.

• Ko te zvao?

  Who called you?