"Dnes na ni nemáme čekat."
Translation:We are not supposed to wait for her today.
24 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
"We are not supposed to" gives the impression that someone told us not to. Is this the same impression that you get from "nemam"?
From my earlier comment: The construction mít-plus-infinitive generally translates as "to be supposed to" or "to be meant to." But since your question is a little nuanced, one of the Czech natives on the team may have something to add.
'we are not expected to wait for her today' is not accepted. I was just experimenting. It seems to me we are in the realm of social expectations, even ethics. In another language 'be expected' might be used. 'Not supposed' can mean 'forbidden'. But in English 'to be supposed' isn't always used as a social expectation, rather as a possibility, eg 'What was I supposed to do?'.
When someone asks,'What do I do?', they can mean 'What should I do?'.
I don’t understand why “we don’t have to wait for her today” is not accepted ?
"Today we shouldn't wait for her." is what I wrote and it was counted wrong. A previous exercise "Nemas rikat tak hloupe veci" is translated as "You SHOULD NOT say such stupid things." So, this seems (as we say in English) 6 of one or a half dozen of the other. Which is the preferred translation in these situations; "should not" or "not supposed to"? Is one "More wrong" or "more right" than the other?
From VladaFu's answer to a question from 2FH3n0AZ, it sounds like both are acceptable: "The Czech verb means to be supposed do, should." But it will be interesting to see if someone comes back with context or nuance considerations that we'll need to remember! :-)
Right! Yet another thing we NEED to remember (but I WON'T)! Glad I have a sense of humor about all this!
My translation “ we needn’t wait for her today “ wasn’t accepted. I can’t think why.
The construction mít-plus-infinitive generally translates as "to be supposed to" or "to be meant to." They have a somewhat different meaning than "to need to." Translations using "need" are not accepted, because that is closer to the verb potřebovat.
I put in "Nemáme na ji čekat dnes", why is it not accepted? Is it because of the "ji"? If so, when to use "ji" and when to use "ni"? Could someone explain?
I am native AmE. I don't know if this will make sense, but...
In the Czech sentence, what is "negated" is the verb that implies the expectation relative to the waiting -- NEMÁME čekat -- not the verb that identifies the action that we are not to perform, i.e., the verb is not NEčekat. Someone else may offer a better explanation!
I don't disagree with the discussion but how, in czech, are we supposed to know it's "supposed to" and not "have to" ? It's like guess work here.
From my earlier comment in response to a question from 2FH3n0AZ: The construction mít-plus-infinitive generally translates as "to be supposed to" or "to be meant to."
So, when you see "mít-plus-infinitive" in a sentence, it's pretty safe to assume "supposed to [verb]" would be an accepted -- and likely the expected/preferred -- translation.