Hello and welcome to this weekâs edition of SoundCzech, Radio Pragueâs Czech language series in which you have a chance to learn some interesting phrases through songs lyrics.
Todayâs song Tichá domácnost, or âQuiet Householdâ, comes from a 1995 album, of the same name, by the Eben Brothers. The phrase to listen for is âje pozdÄ honit bychaâ.
âJe pozdÄ honit bychaâ literally translates as âItâs too late to chase after the âwouldâ or âwhat ifââ. The Czech word âbychâ is the first person singular of the conditional form of the verb âbýtâ â to be. The word âbychâ comes after the verb to To have milk on your chin ...
CzechRep may face trial over recognition of qualifications ... form a conditional â for example âdÄlámâ means I do, whereas âdÄlal bychâ means I would do. In the phrase âje pozdÄ honit bychaâ the interesting point is that the verb âbychâ becomes a noun, taking the accusative suffix âa. You canât chase after a verb!
In the song, the Eben Brothers sing about a quiet household. But âtichá domácnostâ does not mean that the couple in the household are nice and quiet â but rather that they had a fight and are now not talking to each other. The guy in the song came home at 4:30 in the morning, and heâs getting âtichá domácnostâ. His wife does not scream or tells him off â instead, she is giving him the silent treatment. And he knows itâs too late to ask what if he had come home earlier â âje pozdÄ honit bychaâ.
You can say the same, or similar, using the Czech phrase âkdyby jsou chybyâ â literally meaning âifs are mistakesâ â all the could haves, would haves and should haves are wrong. A similar meaning can also be expressed with the phrase âplakat nad rozlitým mlékemâ which has a direct English counterpart â to cry over spilt milk.
(radio-Prague)
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