I'll be right back
Welcome to SoundCzech - Radio Prague's Czech language series in which you can learn useful phrases through song lyrics. Today's song is called Jinde, or Elsewhere, and it is sung by Hana Hegerova - the country's most popular chanson singer.
The phrase to listen out for today is one you frequently hear in everyday life - "Budu tu co nevidět".
"Budu tu co nevidět" is the Czech equivalent of "I'll be back in the blink of an eye" or - I'll be back before you have time to notice I'm gone. Other ways of expressing the same sentiment are "budu tady hned" - "I'll be right back" - or "budu tady v mžiku" - "I'll be back in a split second". Those are probably the three most commonly used phrases. Now listen to Hana Hegerova sing "budu tu co nevidět".
Other - more colourful - ways of saying I'll be right back are "budu zpátky než rekneš švec" - I will be back before you can say "shoemaker" - though why it should be shoemaker and not butcher, baker or candlestick maker beats me. Or you can say - "budu tady co by dup" - which means I'll be back before you can stamp your foot. Not easy to remember or pronounce so unless you are advanced better stick to "budu tu co nevidět".
The most simple phrase of all - ideal for beginners - is to say - "budu tady hned" - "I'll be right back" - which is a message that you may come across taped to the door of small newspaper and cigarette shops. Of course in this case the word "hned" - does not necessarily mean "right away" - it could be five minutes or fifteen, depending on the salesperson. In the communist days notices like these were legendary. Today you can trust them to mean more or less - in a very short time. Of course Radio Prague is much more trustworthy and if I say we'll be back with a new Czech lesson for you in exactly a week's time - it means we'll be back on the dot. So remember to tune in for it. This is Daniela Lazarova saying thanks for learning Czech with me and nashledanou.
