V hospodě je chytro

YoYo Band sang v hospodě je chytro about how very clever not only the denizens of pubs may be, but the characteristic of cleverness being adapted by the pub itself. This is linguistic balderdash, but sociological genius. Masculine animate nouns can take the adjective chytrý and feminine nouns take the adjective chytrá. For an inanimate or neuter noun to take such an adjective is, clearly impossible. Still, when you hear the line

    v hospodě je chytro,
    choděj tam jen chytrý hlavy,
    v hospodě je chytro,
    samej doktor věd

it makes perfect sense. In fact, most Czech linguists object more to the „Pragified“ (pražština) endings of the words, „choděj“ and „samej“.

14 odpovědí na “V hospodě je chytro”

  1. Tak mne ti dochtori ved v hospode pripominaj tuhle pisnicku:

    Zase zaseda vedecky kongres,
    zacal pred lety a trva dodnes,
    o prestavce v zasedani schazeji se pani uceni,
    docenti a profesori, znami vedci,
    schazeji se na jedno ci na dve deci…

    A co se tech doktoru s prazstinou tejce:

    Von profesor študuje hejly
    a různý to škodlivý bejlí,
    a říkává prej: i študovanej
    se kolikrát vošklivě zmejlí.

    Opak od chytro pak samozrejme bude blbo.

  2. V hospodě se prý vše vyřeší. Per hubam – politika, zdravotnictví, veškeré problémy státu našeho i Rwanda-Urundi (snad je to správně!), ale dřív, když člověk opravoval dům, tak řemeslníky sehnal jedině v hospodě. Tam bývali všichni. Stačilo prý jít na jedno (!) a řemeslníci přišli určitě. Jinde k sehnání nebyli. Takže bůhví co všechno se dá v hospodě sehnat.

  3. It’s a real pleasure to return to SlovoDne and Fred’s Czech Mates after a few months‘ absence on my part. The site and your insights are as enjoyable as ever.

    Yet once again, I can’t help but add a bit of completely spoilsporty formalistic nitpicking: It’s not really that much of linguistic balderdash after all: „chytro“ is in fact an adverb, not a neuter adjective. As such, it is formed by analogy to „v hospodě je mokro,“ which may be unconventional but is not completely wrong. So YoYoBand’s linguistic reputation goes on (relatively) untarnished.

  4. How could you say such junk? Are you trying to confuse people here? In the song of YoYo Band they DON’T sing anything about chytro. Not many people understand it, but they sing about KHI-TRO, which is very popular FISH from southern-chinese sea. I tasted when I was in Philippines, it was delicious!

  5. Paní Jiřinka má plnou pravdu. Hospoda je česká tradice. Pokud bych měl tu moc, tak pracovní úřady umístím do hospůdek. Třeba „U Fleků“ nebo „U kata“. Ušetřilo by se na obou stranách a ještě by byla tržba. Podpora by se vyplácela v naturáliích – pivo,utopenec. Evropská unie by jen čubrněla a nestačila by vydávat směrnice, páč by to bylo potřeba unifikovat.

  6. After conducting additional research, I have discovered that Jamie, as usual, is absolutely correct. YoYo Band contacted me in person to confirm this, as well as knock me to the floor and kick me with steel-toed boots until I could easily lick between my shoulder blades.

    I am very sorry. The song is certainly about fish, fishing, and fish related by-products. I, and the editors of slovodne, regret the error and any offence.

    Sincerely,

    Fred’s Czech Mate

  7. Slavek, as my eyes blearily attempt to focus on the screen, words merge and blend together, dripping down the glass of the monitor. There, I crosseyedly spy superimposed upon eachother two devilish terms: adverb and adjective. They look so harmless and similar, but are mean nasty dirty things, likely to lash out in spite.

    And just what are they? I’m clearly confused. Please, Slavek, just explain for us all what the difference is between these two a-words. If chytro is an adverb, which verb is it modifying?

    I await instruction, and in the meantime I’m just gonna put my head down here on the desk and take a short nap. Take care when waking me, I may be in delirium tremons…grammar does this to me.

    Fred

  8. Very good, Jamie! That was clever.

    Fred:

    Mr. Slávek is right. “Chytro” is a type of adverb. It is patterned after the forms “smutno,” “veselo,” “chladno” and so on. However, it is different from the regular adverb “chytře,” which is used to describe an action. (Example: “Jamie mluví chytře.” “Jamie speaks cleverly.” That describes the manner in which he speaks.)

    It is quite common to say “V hospodě je veselo,” meaning that the mood and atmosphere in the pub is merry, or that there is a lot of merriment in the pub. The adverb “veselo” actually modifies the verb “je,” not the noun “hospoda.” “V hospodě je chytro” could be rendered approximately as, “The atmosphere in the pub is smart,” or, “There is a lot of smartness in the pub.”

    The neuter adjective would be “chytré,” and it would require having a neuter noun or pronoun to modify. Example: “V hospodě je chytré děvče.” “There is a smart girl in the pub.” (Don’t ask me why one of the Czech words for “girl” is neuter. I have no clue. The others, “dívka” and “holka,” are feminine.) In order for the adjective to modify the feminine noun “hospoda,” it would have to take the feminine form “chytrá.” Then you would have the grammatically correct but silly sentence: “Hospoda je chytrá.” “The pub is smart.”

    In Czech grammar, these adverbs, such as “veselo,” are called “základ jednočlenných vět,” which is “the core of single-element sentences.” In other words, in a sentence with only one real element in it, instead of two or more elements (subject, verb, object etc.), these adverbs are the meat and potatoes of the sentence. “Je chladno” means “It is chilly.” The adverb “chladno” describes the state of being. There is an unspoken subject “ono,” but the adverb “chladno” does not modify it. Technically, it modifies the verb “je.”

    I can see where this would confuse you, because in the English sentence “It is chilly,” the word “chilly” is unquestionably an adjective describing “it.” Not so in Czech.

    OK, you have my royal permission to put your head back down.

  9. Admin:
    Odpovím za lahváka:
    To o těch hejlech je Emanuel Frynta (úryvek je z básně Profesor ze sbírky Písničky bez muziky).
    Zhudebnil Petr Skoumal (vyšlo na CD Pečivo).

  10. Velmi spravne, a ja bych jeste dodal ze ten prvni uryvek (Vedecky kongres) je z desky Vodnanskyho a Skoumala, myslim ze se to jmenovalo „S usmevem idiota“.

    To je legracni, kdyz jsem to posilal tak me vubec nenapadlo ze jsou to obe Skoumalovky.

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