Everyone needs a friend

Hello and welcome to another edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn Czech phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is sung by Hana Zagorová and the word to listen out for is kamarád, meaning friend.

Photo: archive of Radio Prague

I think we can agree that everyone needs good friends. They listen to your problems and are there to support you, even if they occasionally get on your nerves – lezou ti na nervy. A kamarád, or in slang a kámoš, is someone who is cut from the same cloth as you or as the Czechs say je ze stejného těsta–which literally means being made from the same dough. Or, má stejnou krevní skupinu–they have the same blood group as you.

A good confidant is known in Czech as a vrba, or a willow tree. They understand what you are feeling by reading between the lines - čtou mezi řádky, and they will be all ears when you have something to say. The Czech version of this expression is být jedno ucho– meaning to be one big ear.

Good friends are there for you when you need them, but they will also tell you when you are wrong. If they are tired of listening to you complain, they will say mám toho plné zuby! This means that they are fed up, or in literal terms, that their teeth are full. However, even if they are sick of your complaints, they will never turn their back on you - otočit se k tobě zády.

There are people who are completely dependent on their friends. If someone is incapable of doing anything by themselves you may hear that he or she nedá bez kamaráda ani ránu, which means that they will not deliver a single blow without their friend being present.

Hana Zagorová sings that a friend stands by you even when everyone else bids you farewell, “Kamarád stojí v povzdálí, když ti každý sbohem dá.” It is true that people come and go, but good friends are forever – navždy.