I’m scared!

Welcome to SoundCzech – our Czech language series in which you can learn Czech phrases and idioms through song lyrics. In today’s edition, we will be listening to a song by the famous Czech singer-songwriter Karel Kryl, a famous dissident who some dubbed “the poet with a guitar” because of his well-written lyrics. The word to listen out for is tréma.

“Mít trému” can be translated as having cold feet or experiencing stage fright. In contemporary Czech, the term is quite often used to express simply that you are afraid, even if it doesn’t involve an exam or a stage performance.

Of course, there are many ways to say that you are afraid of something in Czech. “Mít strach“ literally translated means to have fear. The thing that you fear is added to the expression with the preposition “z”. If you want to say you are afraid of spiders, in Czech you should say: “Mám strach z pavouků.” If you want to say you are nervous about something, you can say “Mám z toho trému.“ Have another listen.

From the word “strach” also comes the verb “strašit,” which means to frighten someone as in „Čarodějnice straší malý děti,” meaning “witches frighten small children.”, and the adjective “strašlivý,” which means dreadful or in a certain context big, such as in “Mám strašlivý hlad”– I have a big hunger. The word “strašpytel” is the equivalent of “little coward” and is mostly used by children. Directly translated it means a bag full of fear.

Another word for being afraid is "bát se,“ often used as an imperative by parents: “Neboj se!” means “Don’t be afraid.” Or you will hear them say “nebuď strašpytel” - don’t be such a bag of fear. With this, I’m afraid, we’ve reached the end of the program. My name is Sarah Borufka, thanks for tuning in for another musical lesson of Czech. Na shledanou!