Saturday 14 January 2017

Si jeni?

How are you? (formal/plural)

No, it's not what you're thinking, in fact that was the first expression in Albanian I learned (actually the native who taught me pronounced it as jenI, with the stress on the I, and it took me ages to start pronouncing it right! Blame the dialects or blame my unaccustomed ear? Who knows...) Other two that I can distinguish as my "first" ones were "Si është moti" and "Gëzuar" - definitely the survive guide in the UK, as everyone is obsessed with the weather, and saying Cheers always has its charm (I know that in a few more languages I don't speak too haha). Then I actually learned that gëzuar can be used in some expressions like "Gëzuar Vitin e Ri", "Gëzuar Ditëlindjen" and so on, so definitely a practical word to know.

Today's music is dedicated to two beautiful Kosovar ladies:

Amore, amore mio // Love, my love
Xhan më ke e xhan të kam // you love me and I love you
Amore, ti më the mua // Love, you said to me
Që më ty sonte nuk jam // that I'm not with you tonight
(The whole translation of this beautiful and catchy song is here, and it's actually done by me... I admit I'm not too good with Gheg, and I'm making myself a dictionary, which maybe I'll share someday here, but I think I started getting some things, like some changed/omitted letters)

So today I wanted to write about something really interesting I've found out from my Albanian learning - the construction "Të kam" and a noun. The Albanians actually translate it as "you are", although literally is "I have your". So as the example above it, të kam xhan is translated as "you are my soul", instead of "I have your soul". Actually "të kam xhan" is a way to say "I love you", but in a friendly/non romantic way (something like ti voglio bene in Italian), which I find really sweet, as in my native language we don't have any other expression for a non romantic love.

Actually, you'll come across that construction quite a lot in songs, such as "të kam shpirt", "të kam zemër", "të kam dashuri" and so on, all of them linked to love songs. But hey, aren't most of the songs around about it anyway, no matter what language it is?

So that's it for today, a short one, but better than nothing, as I'm trying to be consistent and write here everyday. Hope you enjoy your evening!

Natën e mirë :)

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