I'd be interested to know how you express politeness in Czech when you're asking someone to do something. In English, you tend to use the conditional and rather indirect phrases. Are there similar expressions to the following: "I wonder if you could ..." [e.g. "I wonder if you could open the window"] "Would mind ..." [e.g. "Would you mind answering a few questions?"] "I wonder if you'd mind ..." [e.g. I wonder if you'd mind moving your car"] "Could I ask you to..." [e.g. "Could I ask you to close the door"] "Would you have time to..." [e.g. Would you have time to repair the lock?] Or do you say it more directly?
1) I wonder if you could open the window - (Zajímá mě, jestli by jsi mohl otevřít okno.) 2) Would you mind answering a few questions? - (Mohl by jsi mi odpovědět na pár otázek?) 3) I wonder if you'd mind moving your car - (Zajímá mě, jestli by jsi mohl přesunout (přeparkovat) své auto.) 4) Could I ask you to close the door - (Mohu tě požádat, aby jsi zavřel dveře.(?)) 5) Would you have time to repair the lock? - (Měl by jsi čas opravit zámek?.) It is my opinion, but I´m not exactly sure, what is the perfect translation of "I wonder" from English => Czech. I am thinking, that it is the"Zajímá mě", isn´t it? But other czech phrases are certainly right.... PS: Doufám, že to pomůže. Nerad bych, aby se někoho ze zkušených pomocníků fóra dotklo, nebo mu dokonce vadilo, že přebírám jeho "funkci". Určitě máte s vysvětlováním větší zkušenosti než já, ale rád pomáhám, pokud to jde. Jinak samozřejmě fajn stránky, fórum a vzájemná nápomoc. To se mi moc líbí. Jen tak dále :wink:
Ahoj Lyuku I see in the examples above, you are using by jsí and aby jsí. Are these the same as bys and abys.
No, it is not the same. The forms “bys” and “abys” are the only correct ones. The forms “by jsi” and “aby jsi” are ungrammatical colloquialisms or dialectal forms. There is more ways to express the politeness. You can be never wrong with the magic word “prosím” (= please) which makes a polite appeal even of a rude order: Otevři okno! (uncivil order) Otevři prosím okno! (polite request) We also tend to use questions in conditional as you in English. We either use directly the conditional form of the verb of meaning: Otevřel bys (prosím) okno? (polite request) or the conditional of the verb “moci”: Mohl bys (prosím) otevřít okno? (more polite request) We also tend to use negative questions. It expresses you are not so sure of positive answer. In other words, it is rather a suggestion than request: Neotevřel bys (prosím) okno? Nemohl bys otevřít okno? All the examples were for the informal “thou”. As always in Czech, you could make it more polite/formal by using the plural form. That’s only the literal translation. Nobody uses such a construction. I think the best way to express the English “I wonder (if)…” is the negative question as in the examples above. This works, but you could use the negative question again. (Nemohl bys…) As in number one, this is not natural. In fact, it is a notification you wonder about something, not a request at all. Again, in this case I would prefer the negative question: Nemohl bys (prosím) přeparkovat? but the Czech equivalent of “would/could you mind” is rather the conditional of the verb “vadit”: (Ne)vadilo by ti, kdybych tu kouřil? (= Would you mind my smoking here?) Good example how no to ask in Czech. For Czechs, this is request for permission to ask, not a request for opening the door. Měl bys čas na opravu toho zámku? Udělal by sis čas na opravu toho zámku?
