If......

Discussion in 'Grammar & Pronunciation' started by Tony P, Nov 27, 2003.

  1. Tony P

    Tony P Member

    I have a problem, well several, regarding Czech but one keeps rearing its ugly head. Namely when does one use 'pokud' to mean 'if'.
    I know that 'když' and 'jestli' are more or less interchangeable (more or less is good enough for me) but I feel that 'pokud' has a different shade of meaning.
    I was taught that 'pokud' equals 'provided that' so can I say:

    'pokud sníš všechné zeleniny, mužeš mít zmrzlinu' ?

    if I can, can I also say

    'jestli sníš.....'

    or is that less concrete.

    I thank in advance whoever helps me with this. Dokud se to nedozvím budu uplně zmatný.
     
  2. Starkather

    Starkather New Member

    Both sound the same to me, a native speaker.

    Pokud sníš všechnu zeleninu, dostaneš zmrzlinu.
    Jestli sníš všechnu zeleninu, dostaneš zmrzlinu.

    More formal would be:

    Sníš-li všechnu zeleninu, ...
    Jestliže sníš ...
     
  3. Missbarbecue

    Missbarbecue Member

    As a matter of fact, I think POKUD is the least tricky from the three. All of them are used to express a condition... but

    KDYŽ can also mean WHEN

    (The sentence Když ráno vstanu can be ambiguous - meaning both When I get up and If I get up)

    and JESTLI may be used similarly to WHETHER

    I can't think of an exemple where POKUD is not equivalent to IF...
     
  4. Lorenzo

    Lorenzo Well-Known Member

    Ahoj všichni,

    I was curious and I looked this word up in my dictionary and I have found a few sentences where, I think, "pokud" can't be replaced with "jestli" without changing the meaning of what is being said.


    Pokud jde o mne / pokud se tyka

    Pokud mohu / pokud vím

    Shouldn't "pokud" be translated as "as far as" in these cases?


    Lorenzo
     
  5. Missbarbecue

    Missbarbecue Member

    Lorenzo,

    You are right, in the examples you give POKUD can't be replaced by JESTLI, but I would say it's more to do with collocations than meaning...

    "Pokud jde o mne" would be equivalent to "as far as I'm concerned"

    "pokud se týká..." = "as for..." but I think "co se týče" is used more frequently

    "Pokud vím" is something like "unless I'm mistaken"

    and as for :) "Pokud mohu" - there's nothing special about it, it's quite the same as "Mohu-li" and it's a formal way to ask for permission (may I... or let me...)

    (Pokud mohu vyjádřit svůj názor.)

    With "Pokud mohu soudit" and perhaps a couple of similar phrases the situation is a bit different... Maybe someone else would be able to explain... ;-)

    [This message has been edited by Missbarbecue (edited 28-11-2003).]
     

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