Learn some common Czech idioms
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Intro |
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| Antoni: What are some common Czech idioms? |
| Veronika: And how are they used? |
| Antoni: At CzechClass101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Sasha Lee encounters an expression she has never heard before. She asks her friend, Ela Erbanová, what it means: |
| "What does "It's a Spanish village to me" mean?" |
| Sasha Lee: Co znamená "to je pro mě španělská vesnice?" |
| Dialogue |
| Sasha Lee: Co znamená "to je pro mě španělská vesnice?" |
| Ela Erbanová : To znamená, že člověk nechápe, co se říká. |
| Antoni: Once more with the English translation. |
| Sasha Lee : Co znamená "to je pro mě španělská vesnice?" |
| Antoni: "What does "it's a Spanish village to me" mean?" |
| Ela Erbanová : To znamená, že člověk nechápe, co se říká. |
| Antoni: "It means that one can't understand what is being said." |
Lesson focus |
| Antoni: In this lesson, we'll talk about idiomatic expressions, or |
| Veronika: Idiomatické výrazy |
| Antoni: Idiomatic expressions, or idioms for short, are expressions with a meaning that's very different from the individual words that compose them. We use idioms if we want to convey what would be a long message using as few words as possible. A good example for this is "a piece of cake," which in English means that something is very easy. It's important to learn idioms when studying a new language like Czech, as they provide a window into better understanding a culture and its people. |
| [Recall 1] |
| Antoni: For us to understand things better, let’s take a closer look at the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Sasha says "What does "It's a Spanish village to me" mean?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Veronika as Sasha: Co znamená [to je pro mě španělská vesnice]? |
| [Recall 2] |
| Antoni: Now, let’s take a look at our second sentence. |
| Do you remember how Ela says, "It means that one can't understand what is being said?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Veronika as Ela: To znamená, že člověk nechápe, co se říká. |
| Antoni: Most cultures around the world share common idiomatic expressions. The saying "It’s a Spanish village to me" is one idiom that many languages have their own version of. Its equivalent in English would be, "It’s all Greek to me." This idiom refers to something that is difficult for the speaker to understand. It was in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar where the saying was first recorded. When asked if Cicero said anything, the character Servillius Casca who spoke no Greek answered, "It was Greek to me." |
| [Summary] |
| Antoni: So far, you have learned that idiomatic expressions, or |
| Veronika: Idiomatické výrazy |
| Antoni: are non-literal phrases that are used to emphasize your statement. They are used to help the speaker better get their message across. |
| Expansion/Contrast (Optional) |
| Antoni: We have covered one idiomatic expression commonly used in Czech, but don’t worry because we have more to share with you. Learning and using idioms will help you to use Czech more freely, and to express your feelings in a more accurate way. To help you with idioms, we created a list of ten very common idioms in Czech, with a short description of what they mean. The first is |
| Veronika: Platný jak mrtvýmu zimník. |
| Antoni: It means, "He needs it like a dead man needs a winter coat." This one is sarcastic, for why would a dead man need a winter coat at all? What this idiom refers to are things that obviously aren’t useful in a particular situation. Our next idiom is |
| Veronika: Zaplatit majlant. |
| Antoni: This one is the equivalent to "To cost an arm and leg." The literal translation would be "To pay Milan." Apparently, the city of Milan was a very expensive city during the Middle Ages. Here’s our third idiom: |
| Veronika: Chodit po tenkém ledě. |
| Antoni: It means "to walk on thin ice," which means being in a situation where you are highly likely to cause trouble. A similar idiom would be |
| Veronika: Hladit hada bosou nohou. |
| Antoni: This literally means "Stroking the snake with bare feet" and is equivalent to the saying "to walk into the lion's den." It means deliberately placing oneself in a dangerous situation. Here’s our fifth idiom: |
| Veronika: Mám toho plné zuby. |
| Antoni: This literally means "I have my teeth full of it," which is equivalent to saying "I’m fed up with it." We hope you’re not fed up yet because we still have more Czech idioms on our list. The next one is |
| Veronika: Zlom vaz. |
| Antoni: This one literally means "To break some ligaments." You’re right if you’re thinking that it’s the same as saying "break a leg," which means "Good luck! From ligaments, let’s move on to skeletons. |
| Veronika: Pohnout kostrou, |
| Antoni: literally meaning "to move one's skeleton," this is equivalent to the idiom "to shake a leg," which basically means to get moving or to rouse oneself. Our next idiom is |
| Veronika: Špička ledovce, |
| Antoni: which means "The tip of the iceberg." As you might already know, this idiom means that the thing you’re seeing now is just a small part of something that is much bigger—just like our list of idioms right now, which is just a small portion of what Czech idioms have to offer. Now, onto our last two idioms. |
| Veronika: To si piš. |
| Antoni: This one literally means "You must write it," and is equivalent to the English "You bet!" Finally, we have |
| Veronika: Zatím to ujde, |
| Antoni: which literally means "so far, it’s working." For English speakers, it’s popularly known as "So far, so good." |
| Cultural Insight/Expansion (Optional) |
| Antoni: It may come as a surprise that, even though football is the most popular sport in the Czech Republic, the Czech language doesn’t have a lot of football-related idioms compared to English-speaking countries like the US and the UK. You’ll find more Czech idioms that are based on chess, horse racing, and card games. That’s because football didn’t enjoy the primacy that it has now among the Czech people, unlike chess, horse racing, and card games, which have established a traditional position in Czech culture. One popular Czech idiom related to chess would be |
| Veronika: být jen figurkou ve hře, |
| Antoni: which means "to be a pawn." It literally means, "to just be a figure in the game." To be a pawn means to be unwittingly used by others in a scheme, just like a pawn in a game of chess that has the least value among the pieces on the board. As for horse racing-related idioms, there’s the idiom, |
| Veronika: držet otěže zkrátka, |
| Antoni: which means "to keep a tight reign." It means keeping a limit on something, such as one’s expenditures. Finally, a common card-related Czech idiom would be |
| Veronika: odkrýt karty |
| Antoni: which means "to show one’s cards." It refers to the act of coming out in the open or making one’s plans, ideas, or intentions known to others. |
Outro |
| Antoni: Do you have any more questions? We’re here to answer them! |
| Veronika: Na shledanou! |
| Antoni: See you soon! |
| Credits: Veronika Ageiwa (Czech, Prague), Antoni (English, synthetic voice) |
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