Začli se mnou čerti šít

Welcome to SoundCzech, the programme in which you can learn Czech through song lyrics. This week we’ll be looking at a song all too familiar to yours truly – “Dominiku” - it is originally a French song, but the Czech version was famously sung by Judita Čeřovská in 1964. The phrase to look out for is “začli se mnou čerti šít.”

The song’s chorus is the same throughout the song. “Dominiku, ty jsi sám jak poustevník…” which means “Dominik, you are alone like a hermit.” – poustevník is the Czech word for hermit. “Já hříšnou duši mám.”– a hřích is a sin and duše means soul, so its “I have a sinful soul.” “Můžeš zázrak udělat, když mě budeš míti rád, peklo, ďábla překonám.”“You can make a miracle if you will like me, and I will overcome both hell and the devil.” Peklo is hell and ďábel is a devil.

“Plnovous měl jako svatý, začli se mnou čerti šít, jaká by to krása byla, kdyby mě chtěl políbit.” This means “He had a beard as full as a saint, the devils started to make me fidget, how beautiful it would be if he wanted to kiss me.” Certainly an unusual sentence. The word “šít” can also mean to sew, but in this case, its second meaning is used – to fidget. There is also a difference between “ďábel”, meaning devil and “čert” which is also a devil, but more in the fairytale sense.

That’s all for today’s SoundCzech. See you next time.