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Master Czech Idioms: 80 Flashcards, From Falling Handcarts to Crossed Thumbs

Learn Czech idioms with 80 flashcards: padají trakaře, vrána k vráně sedá, držet palce. Which are real Czech, which are calques, and which 8 cards to rewrite.

Crow, wooden handcart, rain cloud and dumpling among floating flashcards

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In Czech it doesn't rain cats and dogs: padají trakaře, handcarts are falling. That's what makes idioms fun, and it's also why a deck of them is hard to build. This deck has 80 English idioms with Czech equivalents. Some are real, colourful Czech idioms. Others are word-for-word translations of the English, and a few are wrong. Sort them before you memorise any.

Study this deck: Czech Idioms & Expressions

1 / 10
Question

It's raining cats and dogs

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Tap the card for the answer · swipe right if you knew it, left if not

8 cards worth learning as-is

EnglishCzech
It's raining cats and dogsPadají trakaře
Birds of a feather flock togetherVrána k vráně sedá
When pigs flyAž naprší a uschne
To beat around the bushChodit kolem horké kaše
Speak of the devilMy o vlku a vlk za humny
To kill two birds with one stoneZabít dvě mouchy jednou ranou
To keep one's fingers crossedDržet palce
To be as fit as a fiddleBýt zdráv jako ryba

What you'll cover

Real Czech idioms: být pod psa, být v kaši, prolomit ledy, být v sedmém nebi, trefit hřebíček na hlavičku, vsadit vše na jednu kartu, brát s rezervou, nevidět les pro stromy, být ve svém živlu, tvrdý oříšek, poslední kapka, zmeškat vlak. Plain paraphrases, which are useful but not idioms: ignorovat někoho, vzdát to, improvizovat, ulevit si, vyjít s penězi, být informovaný.

Tip 1: memorise the picture, not the English

The idioms worth learning are the ones where the image changes. Czech crosses its thumbs instead of its fingers (držet palce). It kills flies instead of birds. A healthy person is fit as a fish, and a miserable one feels "below a dog". Put the literal translation in each card's hint, as card 1 already does ("handcarts are falling"). These cards are the ones that make you sound native. Treat the paraphrase cards as plain vocabulary.

Tip 2: rewrite these cards

  • 27: the idiom is jednou za uherský rok, not měsíc.
  • 4: the Czech frog in the throat is a dumpling: mít knedlík v krku.
  • 41: být jen slucho isn't Czech. Write být samé ucho.
  • 16: mít něco za ušima means "to be up to something", not "to have a chip on one's shoulder".
  • 26: přilévat olej do ohně means "to add fuel to the fire". It doesn't mean "add insult to injury".
  • 72: zvěstovat means "to proclaim". For "to get wind of", use doslechnout se o něčem.
  • 80: neztrácet hlavu means "keep calm". For "keep your chin up", use nevěšet hlavu.
  • 2: for "spill the beans", vyklopit to or vykecat is more natural than vyzpívat.
  • Collisions: cards 12 and 58 share the back být v sedmém nebi, and cards 51 and 61 test the same idiom ("on the fence"). Keep one card from each pair.
  • Calques (6, 44, 51, 54) are understandable, but Czech speakers say tápat ve tmě and oplatit stejnou mincí.

Keep building your Czech

Idioms only stick once you have the basic vocabulary. Start with the 100 most common Czech words, then move on to 1000 Words and Czech food vocabulary.

You'll find Czech Idioms & Expressions (code SZ7755) in the library at flip-it.app.

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