Word
Želim ti sreću.
Meaning
I wish you luck.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
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Questions & Answers about Želim ti sreću.
What does each word in Želim ti sreću do grammatically?
- Želim = I wish / I want. It is the 1st person singular present tense of želeti.
- ti = to you / you in the dative case.
- sreću = luck in the accusative case.
So the structure is basically:
I wish + to you + luck
which matches the English idea I wish you luck.
Why is it želim, and not ja želim?
In Serbian, subject pronouns are often left out because the verb ending already shows who the subject is.
- želim already means I wish
- so ja is not necessary
You can say Ja želim ti sreću, but it usually sounds more emphatic, as if you are stressing I.
The neutral, natural version is simply:
Želim ti sreću.
Why is it ti?
Ti is the dative singular form of ti meaning you in an informal singular sense.
In this sentence, Serbian uses the dative for the person who receives the wish:
- želim ti sreću = I wish you luck