"You are saying the word wrong."
Translation:Říkáš to slovo špatně.
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Something I don't quite understand is that "the" should be kind of not needed in Czech unless we want to stress it (at least this was my understanding). In this case I write "Říkáš slovo špatně" and DL corrects me saying the right answer is "Říkáš to slovo špatně". Is it wrong because it is meant that it was that specific word that was wrongly said? Thus, the "the" is needed in Czech. Or is there a rule I missed that indicates when to use the "the" in Czech?
That is not really correct. Czech requires a demonstrative (and a Czech demonstrative is not the same as an English definite article) when it is not clear which specific entity it is. If we have only one dog, we can say "Pes je doma." and we know we mean "the dog", the only dog around. But there are many words, it is unlikely "slovo" would be understood as "the word" unless perhaps used in some religious meaning.
Be aware that various languages differ in this point and Czech uses the demonstratives much mar than, e.g., Russian.
Why cant you say "Říkáš špatně to slovo"? They both mean the same thing. I guess the czech incubator doesn't account for the flexibility of the language itself?
It is not very natural. The Czech word order is flexible but not arbitrary.
I had the sense that Říkáš špatně would indicate that 'you said it wrong', as I was worried that 'slovo špatně' would indicate the wrong word. But after seeing the ideal translation above, I am guessing the order to avoid is 'špatně slovo'?
Is it possible to distinguish between a word which is wrong (e.g. an incorrect translation) and a word that is bad (not used in polite company)?
The Czech sentence here has nothing to do with the latter. Firstly, špatně is an adverb and modifies the verb. Secondly, what is a "bad word"would most likely be "sprosté slovo", not "špatné slovo", in Czech.
Please always mention your complete answer.
Mluvit is like "to speak" rather than "to say". And mluvit is not used with a direct object. You may "mluvit dobře" (speak well), "mluvit česky" (speak Czech) but you cannot "mluvit slovo" (speak the word).
Either the Czech translation is innacurate or the English sentence used needs to be changed. "You say the word incorrectly" is not the same as "you speak the wrong word". These are different meanings and I cannot imagine that these can be translated to Czech interchangeably
The English sentence above is "You are saying the word wrong". To me the meaning is perfectly clear and while purists may argue that that "wrong" is not an adverb, it is commonly used as such in modern English to mean "incorrectly". It is not the word that is wrong but way it is being said. There is no ambiguity whatever in the given exercise.
These are 2 different sentences and they mean 2 different things. "You say the word incorrectly" refers to the incorrect pronunciation of a word that may very well be right but who says it is failing to say it correctly. "You are saying the wrong word" refers to the wrong selection of the word used by whoever said it. So in this case, the word used is a WRONG word despite that it may have been CORRECTLY said.
While perhaps not as significant as with Czech, word order still plays a part in English. The English sentence shown in this exercise is "You are saying the word wrong" not "You are saying the wrong word". Your comment suggests that you read the sentence wrong!
I am native AmE. I agree (approximately) a billion percent with your comments in this exchange. The sentence is unambiguously "You are saying the word wrong." Period, full stop.
Thank you. In fairness to Ral,etc. it is easy to misread a sentence ending with two short words with the same initial letter. I have often done the same myself!