"You've made your bed, now lie in it."
You're listening to SoundCzech - our new Czech lesson in which we introduce you to useful phrases through song lyrics. And the phrase we have for you this week is from the song "1. Signální" from one of the country's most popular pop bands Chinaski.
The phrase you'll learn today is: "jaký si to uděláš, takový to máš". You may hear it in a slightly different variation too "jak si to uděláš, tak to máš". They are both correct and the literal translation of the phrases is: "as you do it for yourself, so you have it". The equivalent idiom that we use in English would be: "you've made your bed, now lie in it." There actually is a direct Czech version of that: "jak si usteleš, tak si lehneš". But here's the Czech phrase "jaký si to uděláš, takový to máš" for you:
The word "jak" or "jaký" means "how", "udělat" means "to do", and "to" is "that" or "it". When you have "si" or "se" together with a verb then it is turned into the reflexive form, so it means it's for yourself. So, "jak si to uděláš" literally means "how you do it for yourself". While "jak" means "how", "tak" or "takový" means "like this", "thus", "so" or "the way". And our last word that we need to learn is "máš". "To have" in Czech is "mít"; "you have" is "máš". So, "tak to máš" means "that's the way you have it". Here's the phrase again in song:
And that's the end of this edition of SoundCzech. Since you've learned the words "jak", "se", and "máš" then you've learned another popular phrase: "jak se máš?", which means: "how are you?". I hope you're doing great and will join us again next week when we'll be back with another new phrase. Until then, learn the idiom "jaký si to uděláš, takový to máš"
