Arabic and Persian Words
Sevap (a good deed), merhamet (mercy), dunjaluk (this world) and ahiret (the world to come) are common in religious and literary Bosnian.
How It Works
| Word | Meaning | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| sevap | good deed | Arabic |
| merhamet | mercy, kindness | Arabic |
| dunjaluk | this world | Arabic, with a Turkish ending |
| ahiret | the next world | Arabic |
| čaršija | old market, town centre | Persian, through Turkish |
Some of these words are part of daily life for many speakers: čaršija is the old market, and sevdah is the deep longing in a sevdalinka. Others, like ahiret, belong to religious language.
These words say something about the history of the language, not about the people who use them. Anyone can use a word like merhamet in a plain sentence: Treba imati merhamet.
Check the gender and the stem of each word when you learn it. Sevap is masculine, merhamet is masculine and čaršija is feminine.
Examples (4)
- Pomoć komšiji je veliki sevap.
Helping a neighbour is a great good deed.
Sevap is masculine.
- Treba imati merhamet prema starijima.
One should be kind to older people.
Merhamet is a noun for kindness.
- Ljudi kažu da je dunjaluk prolazan.
People say that this world is passing.
Dunjaluk is a literary and traditional word.
- Čaršija zna sve o svima.
The town centre knows everything about everyone.
Čaršija also means the local gossip of a town.
How It Connects
Learn This First
Loanwords.
Related Patterns
Words in This Pattern
Practice Arabic and Persian Words in Bubblegum
Poppy, your AI tutor, writes Bosnian lessons at your level. Tap any grammar point in a lesson to see its full explanation.
