Bosnian to Italian: appointment times and the viewpoint on an event
A time phrase is not an owner
Alexander describes Bosnian adjective-and-noun time phrases in the genitive without a preposition. The Bosnian example iduće sedmice means next week. For Italian, interpret that phrase as locating the event in time, not as an ownership relationship merely because the source uses a case also found with possessive expressions. An appointment message needs the intended week attached to the planned action.
The same grammar distinguishes words meaning before or after in prepositional use from their use as independent adverbs. This matters when a Bosnian message says later rather than after a named event. The Italian translation must preserve whether the source supplies a reference point or leaves it recoverable from the conversation. Adding lunch, arrival or another event as an invented reference can change when the recipient understands the appointment to be.
A planned future can appear in an Italian present
Treccani explains that Italian present forms can refer to planned future events, supported by a future time expression. A Bosnian plan for next week should therefore be evaluated together with its time phrase before an Italian present-tense result is judged to mean today. The apparent tense label alone does not establish that the translation has moved the event into the present.
Conversely, the Italian construction stare per followed by an infinitive expresses imminence; Treccani illustrates sto per uscire. This is more immediate than simply locating a Bosnian event in the coming week. A scheduled departure and a departure about to occur need different temporal interpretations even if both lie after the moment of writing. The target must preserve that distinction rather than selecting the most future-looking form available.
Source aspect and Italian narrative time work together
Bosnian aspect partners distinguish an activity from a bounded event. Alexander’s example pairs čekati with dočekati, where waiting reaches the expected person’s arrival and reception. Italian has its own resources for showing whether an event is viewed in progress or as concluded. Treccani contrasts andava with andò in this respect, so a Bosnian travel account needs its event viewpoint carried through as well as its chronological setting.
The Italian imperfetto also serves descriptive and habitual functions, and its use is not limited to an unfinished event interrupted by something else. Therefore, the translation of a Bosnian account of regular waiting should not be forced into the same Italian form as one completed reception at the station. Ask what the source presents as routine background and what it reports as the occurrence that advances the story.
A respectful request still needs the right addressee
Molinelli’s Treccani account describes Italian tu and courtesy Lei, including cases where the pronoun is omitted but verbal agreement carries the address. A Bosnian message to one unfamiliar professional should therefore be interpreted as a communicative exchange, not assessed by searching for an explicitly printed Italian word for you. Respectful address can be grammatically present without an overt pronoun.
The article also distinguishes plural voi from singular courtesy address and notes that very formal Loro is rare. For a Bosnian appointment message addressed to a group, do not turn every polite request into singular Lei. Preserve who is being asked and let the Italian verb agree with that choice. Courtesy and the number of actual recipients are connected decisions, but they are not interchangeable.
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