Ovu noć ili ove noći?

[CarlitosMS]

Hello everybody

I would like to know the difference between "ovu noć" and "ove noći". Are there any slight nuances or differences between both adverbs or are they unnoticeable synonyms?

Context:
Dođi sa mnom ovu noć/ove noći

All the best from Spain i pozdrav
Carlos M.S.

 

[Anemona61]

These are two different cases:
"ove noći" is genitive
"ovu noć" is accusative
I would say: Budi sa mnom ove noći.
But: Provedi sa mnom ovu noć.
Is your example from some poem? Dođi sa mnom ove noći and even (although a bit "stretched") Dođi sa mnom ovu noć sound quite poetic and archaic to my ear.

 

[Lazar_Bgd]

You use “ovu noć” as the direct object, that is with verbs that require the accusative:

Ovu noć ću provesti sa devojkom (= I will spend this night with my girlfriend)

Kako je pacijent?
Mislim da neće preživeti ovu noć.
(= How is the patient? I don’t think he will get through the night)

You use “ove noći” in all other cases where you describe some activity, and here you can also use the words “noćas” and “večeras”:

Ove noći/Noćas nije bilo saobraćajnih nezgoda u gradu (= There were no traffic accidents in town tonight)
Planiram da se ove noći/večeras provedem kao nikad do sada (= I intend to have fun tonight as never before).

You can change the demonstrative pronouns to talk about past events:

Odlučio sam da tu noć provedem učeći (= I decided to spend that night studying)
Te noći sam se opio kao nikad u životu (= That night I got drunk as never before)

Your example sounds more natural with the word “večeras“: Dođi sa mnom večeras.

 

[serbianfan]

So I imagine Serbian clearly distinguishes between evening and night, like most languages but unlike English. "Tonight" is commonly used to mean "this coming evening" , while "last night" regularly means "yesterday evening". So most people would say "I'm going to a meeting tonight", where the meeting might start at 8 and finish at 9.30 or 10. Whereas in Serbian you'd presumably say "вечерас идем на састанак" (večeras idem na sastanak) and "ove noći" and "noćas" would be reserved for the "real" night-time, and the sentence "Ove noći/Noćas nije bilo saobraćajnih nezgoda u gradu" is more likely to be said by the traffic police at 5 am than at 11 pm. Am I right?

 

[Anemona61]

So I imagine Serbian clearly distinguishes between evening and night, like most languages but unlike English.

Yes.

"Tonight" is commonly used to mean "this coming evening" , while "last night" regularly means "yesterday evening". So most people would say "I'm going to a meeting tonight", where the meeting might start at 8 and finish at 9.30 or 10.

One lives and learns!

Whereas in Serbian you'd presumably say "вечерас идем на састанак" (večeras idem na sastanak) and "ove noći" and "noćas" would be reserved for the "real" night-time, and the sentence "Ove noći/Noćas nije bilo saobraćajnih nezgoda u gradu" is more likely to be said by the traffic police at 5 am than at 11 pm. Am I right?

Yes, you are right.

 

[alexl57]

Nema razlike u značenju. Meni je, ipak, oblik u genitivu "ove noći" prirodniji, a u nekim slučajevima koje su naveli pre mene i jedini moguć.
Ima, na primer, jedna poznata jugoslovenska pop pesma "Voli me još ovu noć", što je potpuno isto kao "Voli me još ove noći".

 

[serbianfan]

Thanks, Anemona! Yes, one lives and learns, and now you've learnt that one can (sometimes) find tips for learning English on the "Other Slavic Languages" forum