Questions & Answers about Onaj mi se sviđa, ali ovaj nije skup.
Why are onaj and ovaj used without a noun? Shouldn’t there be a word like kaput or auto after them?
In Serbian, demonstratives like ovaj and onaj can stand on their own, just like English this one and that one.
So:
- onaj = that one
- ovaj = this one
The noun is simply understood from context. For example, the full idea might be:
- Onaj kaput mi se sviđa, ali ovaj kaput nije skup.
But Serbian often leaves the noun out if it is obvious.
Also, ovaj and onaj change for gender, number, and case. Here they are masculine singular nominative, which suggests the omitted noun is masculine singular.
Why does Serbian say mi se sviđa instead of using a verb like volim?
Because sviđati se works differently from voleti.
- voleti = to love / to like in a more direct way
- sviđati se = to be pleasing to
So Onaj mi se sviđa is literally closer to:
- That one is pleasing to me
That is why Serbian uses:
- mi = to me
- se sviđa = is pleasing / appeals
This is one of the most important patterns to learn, because English speakers often want to build it like , but Serbian structures it differently.