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- "We respect these people."
"We respect these people."
Translation:My si těchto lidí vážíme.
25 Comments
772
We appreciate these people. That would be a more accurate translation. To respect someone is "respektovat někoho"
345
Can a native speaker explain to all of us the idiomatic usage of Czech, e.g. why neutral English "We respect these people." is preferentially translated as "My si těchto lidí vážíme." instead of ordinary SVO word order "My si vážíme těchto lidí." This has happened throughout the course, and it has to have some idiomatic explanation, I hope.
Both two are completely fine and natural. It is all about the topic and the comment in the actual conversation. Is the new information that it is these people whom you respect or is it the fact that you respect them? Those are two different situations and lead to different word order.
There is nothing idiomatic here.
345
Thanks. Does it mean that Czech sentences always have some kind of stress in the meaning? What I mean is this: the English sentence "We respect these people." does not stress either Respect or These people or We, at least to my ear. It is just a narrative statement, with an equal stress on all members. I call it neutral. Do we have such completely neutral sentences in Czech? Thanks.
In English you can stress any of the words during the pronunciation of the sentence. In Czech you can do similar things, but in the default pronunciation, especially with non-default word orders, the final element is stressed and carries the new information (comment, rheme focus). However, that is extremely simplified and for more you have to study the link provided or even some more advanced literature.
19
1) tohoto is for singular nouns. You need těchto for plural nouns.
2) člověků doesn't exist. člověk has an irregular plural lidé (genitive: lidí)
Pražský Výběr would disagree https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hODsGA113A but that is a humorous usage in a colloquial Common Czech text immitating a child. And some real children too https://www.ceskatelevize.cz/ivysilani/10662825726-tvminiuni/215562270100008