Bulgarian: usage of the long dative personal pronouns

[Evo900]

Hi everyone,

According to my grammar books, the dative clitics like "ми" are short for long forms like "на мен".
So it seems to me that most, if not all sentences should work with one аnd the other.

However I am often told be natives that the long forms don't sound right. For example:

Те са ни дали пари
Те са дали пари на нас

I've been told that the second one is plain incorrect, but I don't see anything grammatically wrong with it.
I've also been told that the second sentence could be made correct by adding an extra short dative pronoun:

Те са ни дали пари на нас

I've read about clitic doubling, but I'm not sure if that's what it is, and in any case I don't see why it would be necessary in this case.

Any insights?

Thanks

 

[DarkChild]

Of course there is nothing wrong with the sentence. It's totally correct. Use of the pronouns is a matter of stylistic choice. It's hard to formulate a rule. In general, the longer pronouns can be used for emphasis.

 

[pastet89]

"Те са дали пари на нас" sounds exactly if I am listening to a foreigner or a child learning to speak. I would never say that nor imagine a Bulgarian say that in a normal conversation.

 

[DarkChild]

"Те са дали пари на нас" sounds exactly if I am listening to a foreigner or a child learning to speak. I would never say that nor imagine a Bulgarian say that in a normal conversation.

Not necessarily. Depends on the situation. Те са (ни would make it more natural) дали пари на нас, а не на вас is a valid sentence in my opinion.

 

[bendruja]

I agree with DarkChild.

The long form is used if you want to put an emphasis on the recipient (They gave money to us.).
"Те дадоха пари на нас." could be an answer to the question: Who did they give money to?/ На кого дадоха пари? (You or them?/ На вас или на тях?).

If the question was: What did they do? or What did they give you?/ Какво направиха? или Какво ви дадоха?, the choice would fall on the short form (Те ни дадоха пари. or simply: Дадоха ни пари.)

What makes your sentence sound non-native, is the choice of tense. If you use "са дали", you imply that you haven't witnessed the act of "them" giving money to you and learned it from hearsay only. If you've received the money in person, you should use "дадоха".

"Те са ни дали пари на нас." sounds very colloquial. It is better not to use both forms in one sentence.