Black eyes

Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of SoundCzech, Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. This week the music is from an old black and white movie starring comic Vlasta Burian who is presenting his own “Russian” version of Black Eyes –Oči černé.

Photo: Esra Su / freeimages

Black eyes is not, as you might expect, the result of a street fight – the Czech word for that is monokl. Oči černé means exactly what it says literally, with oči being the word for eyes and černé meaning black. There are a vast amount of phrases you may come across with the word oči. Zlatý oči means golden eyes and refers to something that is unlikely to come about or materialize – the implication being it would be golden eyes that see this happen.

Oči navrch hlavy–eyes on top of your head – indicates surprise by a given development and oči na stopkách means you are looking out for something. Opatrovat jako oko v hlavě– means to take the greatest possible care of something – to protect it as you would your own eye.

Mít nekoho na ocich is the phrase you use when you are minding or observing someone and oko za oko, zub za zub is the proverbial eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. Okatá holka is a girl with beautiful big eyes and co oči nevidí to srdce nebolí means what the eyes don’t see, the heart won’t hurt for.

Můžu na ní oči nechat means I could leave my eyes on her – or else she is so beautiful or attractive that I would never need to look at anything else. You may also hear the phrase krásná až oči precházejí– meaning she is so beautiful it makes your eyes traverse. Finally mějte oči otevřené -keep your eyes open -for our next lesson.