Heavenly love

You’re listening to SoundCzech – Radio Prague’s weekly programme in which you can learn Czech phrases through song lyrics. Today we’ll be listening to a song from the 1960s called “Ach, ta láska nebeská“, in English “Heavenly love” or “Love made in heaven”, sung by the legendary Czech singers Waldemar Matuška and Eva Pilarová. The title of the song is also today’s featured phrase.

This romantic duet is all about love, about how there is no happiness without love and how love’s tender caress will turn life into happiness. “Láska” as you will have guessed means “love”. The adjective “nebeská” means “heavenly”, from the word “nebe” meaning “heaven” or “sky”. “Nebeská” is the feminine form of the adjective, the masculine form is “nebeský“. “Láska nebeská” is a love made in heaven.

The phrase “láska nebeská” is used in Czech to describe a really strong romantic relationship between a man and a woman. Another phrase, which we heard on this programme earlier, is “láska jako trám”, love as large as a wooden beam - however unromantic that expression may sound. “Nešťastná láska” is “unhappy or unrequited love” - which is just the opposite of “láska nebeská”.

There is another Czech saying about love: “láska nehněvaná není milovaná”– loosely translated “love without quarrelling is no genuine love”. That’s all for today’s lesson. Na shledanou.