I have to write my midterm Croatian exam tomorrow. I'm studying hard to keep my cases straight, and learning new vocabulary at the speed of light, and trying to remember when k changes to c and when a singular masculine noun is alive vs not alive, etc. I can store most of this stuff nicely in my brain, but I've got a block when it comes to pronouns. Seriously. Don't ask me why I can't remember these things. The pronouns in Croatian are a bit of a handful. In English they are pretty easy to keep straight: I, me, my, theirs, them, his, him, etc. Simple stuff. And I study them in Croatian. Really really study them. And I feel super confident when I sit down to write a test...and then it happens. Whammo-bammo, the pronoun section of my brain goes out for coffee and leaves something useless in its place, like a pop tune or an old jingle.
So here's what's going on in my head as I'm trying to write the pronoun section of the exam:
Me: Alright pronouns! I know this stuff like the back of my hand. Let's see, second person plural locative.
Brain: we're sorry, all our operators are busy; please hold the line
Me: okay don't panic, I'll just go to the next one. Hmm, this one needs third person singular masculine in the accusative. No problem. I know this one, it goes like...
Brain: YMCA, it's fun to stay at the YMCA
Me: oh help! come on, I know this stuff. How do you say 'with her' in Croatian?
Brain: I'm a Pepper, you're a Pepper, he's a Pepper, she's a Pepper
Me & Brain: wouldn't you like to be a Pepper too! Be a Pepper, drink Dr. Pepper!
It's grammar-jingle-dyslexia. With flying monkeys and hula hoops.
If the teacher only knew what was going on in my head......
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