Matters of the heart

Czech from head to toe is back after a week, this time to take a closer look at one of the most vital organs in the human body - the heart. Although the heart is primarily responsible for keeping up the circulation of blood in our bodies, in popular opinion, the heart - srdce - is the centre of all emotion.

We love with all our heart - milujeme celým srdcem - and we thank people from the bottom of our heart - z celého srdce. If someone doesn't care about something too much, they do it light-heartedly - s lehkým srdcem - and perhaps their heart is not in it - nedávají do toho srdce. On the other hand, if people care too much, they take things to heart - berou si to k srdci. We make unpleasant decisions with a heavy heart - s tì¾kým srdcem - and sometimes we can't even make them because we simply don't have the heart - nemáme to srdce. When we are nervous, expecting something unpleasant, we say mám srdce a v krku, literally my heart is in my throat. In these situations, English speakers have their heart even higher up - in the mouth. When that difficult situation is over and people feel a great relief, they say spadl mi kámen ze srdce, which literally means "a stone has fallen off my heart".

When we are in love or in trouble, we often want to pour our heart to somebody - vylít si srdce, and have a heart-to-heart talk - od srdce si popovídat, especially if that person has a heart of gold - má zlaté srdce. About such kind people we also say they have their heart in the right place - mají srdce na pravém místì, or nosí srdce na dlani - they carry their heart in the palm of their hand, or in proper English, they wear their heart on their sleeve.

And that's all for today's episode but don't forget that on our website you can read or listen to our previous lessons to your heart's content. Until next time, na shledanou.