Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2020 October 25

= October 25 =

Czech question
I remember seeing some kind of Czech TV show where a school class was going to see The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky in a theatre. There was an announcement over the speaker: "Those students who want to see The Idiot should come to the principal's office." Everyone thought this was funny, as apparently in Czech, this can just as well mean: "Those students who want to see an idiot should come to the principal's office." (It works just like that in Finnish.) How does one say this in Czech? J I P &#124; Talk 17:07, 25 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Google translate translates both sentences into Ti studenti, kteří chtějí vidět Idiota, by měli přijít do ředitelny, except that the second one has a lower-case idiota. However, apparently the actual sentence from the show was Rodiče, kteří chtějí vidět Idiota, nechť se dostaví do ředitelny! (Parents who want to see The Idiot should come to the principal's office!), from the 1991 comedy film Obecná škola (The Elementary school). This pun should be preserved in the other Slavic languages, as well as in most other languages that have neither a definite nor an indefinite article.
 * English has both definite and indefinite articles, but the pun works just fine. --Khajidha (talk) 13:13, 26 October 2020 (UTC)
 * What is the grammatical difference between by měli přijít do ředitelny and nechť se dostaví do ředitelny? I don't understand anything about Czech grammar, but I picked up from context that by měli přijít and nechť se dostaví are different. Or is one of them ungrammatical in the first place? J I P  &#124; Talk 23:52, 26 October 2020 (UTC)
 * My understanding of Czech is also rather limited, but I think that by měli expresses a modality of obligation, while nechť expresses necessity. Furthermore, vidět přijít suggests the actual process of walking to the office, while se dostaví indicates the result of this process, that of presenting oneself there, whether achieved by walking or by teleportation. --Lambiam 00:17, 27 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Both versions have kteří chtějí vidět Idiota, which I picked up from context should mean "who want to see The Idiot". Did you mean something else than vidět? J I P  &#124; Talk 00:24, 27 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Yes, I meant of course přijít. --Lambiam 10:12, 27 October 2020 (UTC)