12 Comments
It did not take "I am waiting on a man." This is somewhat distinct from "I am waiting for a man," so I wonder, how would one differentiate between the two in Czech?
It is definitely different from "I am waiting for my husband."
This is a tricky one. As a native speaker I would always understand that as "my husband". Because if she (or he) was waiting for 'a man' they would say 'some' or 'one' or use some other determinant.
Čekám na nějakého muže. Čekám na jednoho muže.
If this sentence was used by a male that I know is married to a woman, I would be completely confused and likely ask "whose husband"?
I understand how this is confusing and am sorry about that.
I completely forgot that muž means "man" and wrote "husband" because of Russian, and I accidentally got it right. Muž i žena is "husband and wife" in Russian.
As someone studying both Czech and Russian, I appreciate your posting, va-diim. Very useful bit of information.
Thanks! Some people get annoyed that I do that. You should try Ukrainian and Polish on Duolingo too. They really bridge the gap between Russian and Czech.
Love your detailed answers. They are always so instructive! Thank you, Katerina.
The "my" in "for my husband" comes from the need of some determiner in English. The sentence would be incomplete with just "for husband". So in English we add "my" before the husband to completely specify it. In Czech it is quite clear she is waiting for her husband.
I am not a native English speaker but I think "my man" is not a correct way to refer to "my husband" in English.
You can also understand the Czech sentence as "I am waiting for a man.". Then no "my" is necessary, but again English requires an indefinite article here, just "for man" would be ungrammatical.
