I've never told her but I'd liked her

Today, two sentences form Zoe Trope blog (http://zoe-trope.livejournal.com) are enough to be confused. Let's have a look at the strange sign called apostrof (´).

Zoe Trope writes about her boyfriend Matt:
Matt's back from California and he's decided that he wants to try to be a vegetarian. That's cool, 'cuz meat is expensive and bad for the environment.

“Matt's back…” – this can have two meanings at the first sight. 1. the part of his body, tedy Mattova záda, 2. Matt is back from…(Matt je zpátky z…) The second option is correct, of corse.

“he's decided…” = he has decided (present perfect) BUT he's deciding = he is deciding (present continuous)

“That's cool…” = that is cool

“'cuz…” = because

As we can see the apostrof is a bit tricky, especially when followed with the letter “s”. We need to know something about English grammar to know if “it's“ means it is OR it has. The same situation is with combination “I'd” which can mean I had OR I would.

Zoe Trope also writes:
I started reading In Cold Blood last night and I'd like to finish it before the month's over. That's tomorrow, for those of you who've lost count.

In Cold Blood is a well-known novel by Truman Capote (Chladnokrevně). We can use this expression in its normal meaning. For example: “They killed innocent civilians in cold blood.“

“I'd like…” = I would like… BUT in the sentence “I've never told her but I'd liked her too.“ I'd liked = I had liked

“the month's over…” = the month is over BUT “month's” can also be an adjective = next month's elections, this month's theme, last month's results etc.

“That's tomorrow…” = that is tomorrow

“who've lost…” = who have lost (present perfect)

Have a nice day. It´s Wednesday. I'm free this afternoon. Strange.

There are a few things I'll be getting in exchange...

Zoe Trope (http://zoe-trope.livejournal.com) is a nickname of a girl (she is about 20) from Porltland, Oregon. When she was 16 she published a book about what was it like to be a freshman (a freshman = a new university student) which has become pretty popular and she´s still got some flashback on it. I like this girl for her nice sence of dry humor and her way of writing. The following is the first paragraph of her last entry from the weekend.

She wrote:

I've been home for a little over a week now and I haven't done much. I took Matt to the airport at 5:30 a.m. on two hours of sleep, I've eaten a lot of frosted shredded wheat and I've had sushi twice--once from a conveyor belt, once at a Japanese restaurant. I've watched almost every episode of both Family Guy and Reno 911! and I've played 10+ hours of Burnout III. I've written long e-mails late at night and I've tried to bake a chocolate chip pound cake. (Tried being the key word there.) I had a fancy dinner at an Italian restaurant on someone else's dime (thank you, Julie!) and I took my mom's new cat to the vet. I gotta pick up Matt from the airport on Monday morning, which means giving up my sweet, sweet independence and freedom. But there are a few things I'll be getting in exchange, so I'm okay with that.

conveyor belt = dopravní pás (těžko říct, jak se bere sushi z dopravníkového pasu, míní se tím nejspíš cosi jako samoobslužná jídelna)
frosted shredded wheat = jakási zmražená obilnina

Try and notice all the using of present perfect again in the first part of the paragraph. She is writing about events that started in the past and continued. The first sentence is an excellent example of it.

Then she changed the tense from present perfect to past simple:
„I had a fancy dinner at an Italian restaurant on someone else's dime (thank you, Julie!) and I took my mom's new cat to the vet.“ All this happened in the past and was finished.
There´s a nice expression „on someone else's dime“. Dime je deseticent, desetník, šesták a onen výraz musí dozajista znamenat „na něčí účet“. Na čí, to vysvětluje ona závorka.
And you can also notice the short noun a vet = a veterinarian.

In the last part she is talking about her plans for the future:
„I gotta pick up Matt from the airport on Monday morning…“ – GOTTA = I have got to, tedy mít či muset (něco udělat), it is the same case like WANNA = I want to nebo GONNA = I am going to.

Finally, we can see future continuous in the last sentence:
„But there are a few things I'll be getting in exchange, so I'm okay with that.“

future continuous = will be + -ing – we use this tense to talk about definite arragements for the future, where a specific future time is started or understood. Neboli používá se pro popis akce, která bude probíhat po určitou a v určitou dobu v budoucnosti. (for example: This time next year I will be lying on a beach in Greece.)
Celá poslední část se dá přeložit asi takto: Musím v pondělí ráno vyzvednout přítele Matta na letišti, což znamená vzdání se sladké, sladké nezávislosti a svobody. Ale je pár věcí, které dostanu výměnou (in exchange), tak jsem s tím v pohodě.

(and I wonder what kind of things she was expecting)

P.S.
and for Jan jr. the blog address where he can see how one girl from Texas hit a pig with her car
http://laurawxx.livejournal.com/307849.html#cutid1

Something about present perfect

Hi everyone,

As I´ve promised I am bringing some grammar things from blogs. This time I used one paragraph from Carol´s last entry.

V prvním odstavci jejího posledního vstupu „amsterdam“ jsou hezké příklady užití předpřítomného času neboli PRESENT PERFECT. Což je čas, který je záludný ze dvou důvodù – jednak ho v češtině nemáme a navíc, ačkoliv se jmenuje perfect, což odkazuje na minulost, patří do skupiny časů přítomných. My pak máme jednak problém si vùbec vzpomenout, že bychom ho měli použít, a při překladu z angličtiny pak tápeme, jestli použít čas minulý nebo přítomný.
Carol taky použila dva podmiňovací zpùsoby (něco pro Lenku), jednou v přítomnosti, jednou v minulosti.

Carol píše:
The last day was a GREAT day. I couldn't have asked for anything more, except maybe a little sunshine and warmer weather, but then it wouldn't be Prague in May (the last week of May, no less), and I wouldn't have wanted Prague to be anything less than the Prague I have known.

„I couldn't have asked for anything more…" - neboli Nemohla jsem si přát (doslova žádat) nic víc. My bychom zřejmě měli tendenci říct „I couldn't ask for anything more…“, což by bylo gramaticky správné, ale vyjádřili bychom tím jen nějaký určitý moment v minulosti, která už skončila. Zatímco Carol jistě chtěla říct že si to nemohla přát víc celou to dobu, co tu byla s námi, tedy – od nějakého momentu v minulosti až do teď.

„…but then it wouldn't be Prague in May…“ – neboli Nemohla jsem si přát nic víc, snad kromě trochu sluníčka a teplejšího počasí, ale pak by to nebyla ona Praha v květnu… Čili – šlo o ten její poslední den s námi, šlo o čistou přítomnost. Ale věta vzápětí pokračuje:

„… and I wouldn't have wanted Prague to be anything less than the Prague I have known.“ – neboli …ale nechtěla bych, aby Praha byla něco méně než ona Praha, kterou znám. Uf. Nechtěla bych to od nìkdy až do teď, proto I wouldn't have wanted… A ze stejného dùvodu Carol vzápětí použila předpřítomný čas …the Prague I have known. Všimli jste si, že zatímco ten první předpřítomný čas se nejlépe přeloží minulým časem, ten druhý přítomným? A všimli jste si, že ačkoliv nás učili, že názvy jsou bez členù, Carol napsala „the Prague“, čili ona Praha nebo ta Praha?

A ještě pár drobností:

„I couldn't have asked for anything more, except maybe a little sunshine…“ – Nemohla jsem si přát nic víc… Doslovnější překlad by zřejmě byl Nemohla jsem si přát cokoliv jiného… Anglická věta má vždy jen jeden zápor, takže když začíná „I couldn't have asked…“, už v ní nemùže být další záporný výraz „nothing“ ale výraz kladný, tedy „anything“. Což my si ovšem do češtiny klidně přeložíme druhým záporem. Zrada je, když na to zapomeneme během anglické konverzace a přeložíme oba zápory, takže vznikne gramatický nonsens typu I couldn't have asked for nothing more… Fuj, fuj.
„except maybe a little sunshine…“ – snad kromě…, angličtina v má v tomto případě opačný slovosled, my říkáme snad kromě, angličtina kromě snad.

Tak co, je to k něčemu? Does it make any sence? Let me know please whether or not to continue. Have a nice week. Next time we could mention something about conditionals, a special theme for Lenka. Oh, I don´t have her address, can any of you send her the address of this blog. Thanks.

P.S. I am afraid there will be a huge gap on Wednesday afternoon but maybe this blog could make up for being without Carol. (oh, do you know that phrasal verb make up for?)