Bosnian to Estonian: the object ending can describe the event’s extent
An accusative source object does not select one target case
The Bosnian specification distinguishes an accusative object form such as čovjeka from other cases of the same noun. Estonian also marks grammatical relations, but its choice of object form can additionally express whether an action is bounded and how much of the object is involved. A Bosnian accusative therefore cannot be replaced by one fixed target ending.
EKI contrasts poiss sõi putru with poiss sõi pudru ära. The first describes eating porridge; the second presents the bounded consumption of the relevant whole. The target object form and the result-oriented construction work together. Recognising the same eating verb and food noun would miss that difference.
For a Bosnian report about work on a document, establish whether the source says the work was underway or that a bounded task was finished. A target object choice should not silently turn an activity report into a completion claim. The source’s case identifies an object, but its event meaning helps determine the Estonian construction.
A whole quantity and a completed result are separate conditions
EKI explains that total-object use requires several conditions together: an affirmative clause, a result-bounded activity, a whole object or defined quantity, and a verb permitting that object type. One favourable condition does not remove the others.
A Bosnian source can mention a particular object without claiming that the action reached its endpoint. It can also describe a completed action involving an unspecified quantity. The translator should therefore avoid selecting a total object solely because the item is identifiable or because the source predicate appears in a past form.
The distinction is useful in an instruction followed by a progress update. The source may first specify the complete set to be processed, then report activity whose final result is not yet established. Repeating the same target object form mechanically through both messages can obscure the difference between the intended task and the report about its progress.
Negation affects the target construction without changing the object’s identity
EKI’s negative comparison poiss ei söönud putru ära retains the partitive object even with a result-oriented element present. A source saying that the entire task was not completed should not be interpreted as completion merely because an equivalent of up or away remains in the target.
The guidance also notes a special contrastive pattern corresponding to not X but Y in which total-object forms can occur with negative material. This prevents an oversimplified rule that every printed negative word makes all target object choices identical. Determine what the negation actually applies to.
Bosnian person and noun case information still matters independently. If one person fails to complete a task for another, keep actor and recipient distinct while choosing the Estonian object construction. An unusual target case is not proof that the object became an owner or recipient.
For this direction, recover the Bosnian participants, then read the event’s extent, quantity and polarity together. Estonian object marking can preserve distinctions that the source distributes across verb choice and surrounding wording. A case-by-case noun replacement would leave the most consequential part of that meaning unchecked.
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