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- "Podívej se na ten Měsíc!"
13 Comments
This is just "Podívej se na Měsíc!". The Moon is one specific entity, it does not need any demonstrative. The that makes additional emphasis that we translate with the demonstrative in Czech.
I had the same issue. I wrote "look at the moon" and it was not accepted. Maybe "The moon" is only the name but "That moon" say the direction.
Well, look at the moon, should be ok. Since, there is more than one object referred to as a moon. There is no context to the Terran moon or other moons. I hear Jupiter has a few.
But "Měsíc" (with the capital M) is only one because it is a name of the moon.
I think what may be confusing people is that it's usually not capitalized in Engltish, even when referring to Earth's moon. So should we learn from this that it's always capitalized in Czech?
No. Měsíc is seldom capitalized in formal Czech.
"Odborný hvězdářský termín je Měsíc, zatímco pokud mluvíme o měsíci jako něčem, co krásně svítí, nebo zrovna vyšlo, píšeme slovo měsíc s malým m."
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Také měsíce jiných planet jsou s malým m. A podle mě by se dalo i říci: Země má jen jeden měsíc a ten se jmenuje/nazývá Měsíc.
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So, that one and not the other ones? Are the moons of other planets also called ‘Měsic’ and shohld we capitalize this word when saying about them?
The rules are the same in Czech and in English:
The Earth's moon is called "Moon" in English, "Měsíc" in Czech. Our sun is called "Sun" in English, "Slunce" in Czech. Other moons of other planets and other suns in other solar systems are still moons and suns, but they have different names, not "Moon/Sun". This planet is called "Earth" in English, "Země" in Czech. Lower-case "earth" means dirt/soil and lower-case "země" means ground/soil.
That said, it's not mandatory to capitalize the Moon/Měsíc or Sun/Slunce, unless you're talking about astronomy.
And adding "that" is just adding emphasis - you point at the moon and exclaim "Wow, look at that moon - how big it is tonight!"
