16 Comments
The audio on this is inaccurate. 'Nikam' is pronounced on the recording without a palatal 'n'. The next recording with 'nikam' is accurate, however (nejdeme nikam)....
you are correct. this tts mangles certain sentence-initial words, and "nikam" is one of them. all we can do is disable the listening comprehension challenges.
Thanks. I would if I could, but it's not unlocked for me yet. I am only on "Adverbs." How would you say "I don't go anywhere?"
I read in another thread about "double negation" in Czech. Does this mean that "nikam" can only be used in the negative sense (i.e., "I'm not going anywhere," "it doesn't lead anywhere," etc.)? For example, would "nikam" be the incorrect word to use when trying to say something like "I can go anywhere I want"?
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That's right. You can use -ni- in nikam as a hint that it carries negative meaning. You'd need to use another set of words that indicate the idea of unlimited choice: kdokoli, cokoli, kdekoli, kamkoli etc.
In your example you'd have to use "kamkoli".
nikam = nowhere. anywhere = kamkoli, also kdekoli (as place, not direction)
And if you are interested, there are also cases where you use more than two negations. For example „Nikdy nikam s nikým nechodit.“ Nikdy = never; nikam = to nowhere, s nikým = with no one, nechodit = not to go. This is one of interesting properties of Czech language.
So, would "Nikdy nikam s nikým nechodit“ be translated as "No one ever goes anywhere with anyone"?
"Nikdy nikam s nikým nechodÍ." "He/She/They never go(es) anywhere with anyone."
If you also want "no-one" you need to add "nikdo".
