Word
Boli me noga.
Meaning
My leg hurts.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
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Questions & Answers about Boli me noga.
Why is it boli, not bolim?
Because boli agrees with noga (leg), which is the thing that hurts.
In Serbian, this sentence is built more like:
The leg hurts me.
So:
- boli = it hurts
- me = me
- noga = leg
A learner may expect something like I hurt in the leg, but Serbian uses a different structure. The body part is treated as the subject of the verb.
What case is me here?
Me is the accusative form of ja (I / me).
In Boli me noga, me means me as the person affected by the pain.
Some pronoun forms:
- ja = I
- mene / me = me
Here, the short unstressed form me is used, which is normal in this kind of sentence.
Why is noga in the nominative?
Because noga is the grammatical subject of the sentence.
Even though in English we think of I as the main person in My leg hurts, Serbian structures it as:
Leg hurts me.
That is why stays in the :