# o / pro



## djwebb1969

This is my last question relating to the first 2 chapters of Communicative Czech (I have 392 words in my spreadsheet from that - so they are chunky chapters). 

I found: zajímat se o (co)

But when I looked up "o" on its own (in Wiktionary), it showed o+Accusative (čtvrtý pád!) means "for". Yet "pro" also means "for" (dárek pro vás). Can you also say *dárek o vás*?


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## Enquiring Mind

> Can you also say *dárek o vás*?


 Well in theory you can say it (but even then the vás can only be prepositional, definitely not accusative), but it would mean "a gift *about* you" and I can't really imagine a context in which it would realistically be said. English prepositions are notoriously hit-and-miss in back translation from other languages, and off the top of my head, the only context I can think of where "o + acc" would be translated by "for" is in connection with words like "boj", "zápas", e.g. _zápas o moc_, _zápas o vedoucí úlohu_, _boj o život_, _boj o nezávislost, _and even then "za" is also an option.   

More "o + acc": O co jde? What's the problem? What's the matter? What's the big deal? What's the point here? What's at issue here? What's up? What are we actually talking about here? What's the deal? (etc., according to context); Opřít se o co - lean on something; uhodit se o co - bump into; má o kolečko víc - he's [= he is] two sandwiches short of a picnic, he's [= he has] got a screw loose. 

Quite a few common Czech verbs (or phrasal verbs) take o + acc: pokusit se, požádat (there's a list in the Tahal grammar linked to recently)

Stát o koho/co : Docela bych o to stál - I('d [= I would]) quite like the idea; sounds pretty good to me; I'd [= I would] be happy to give it a go; I wouldn't mind at all; sure, why not?, etc. 

_Po 22 letech manželství jsme zjistili, že nám to nějak neklape, tedy mně  ano, ale mému manželovi se mnou ne, takže se poohlížel po jiné  zajímavější přítelkyni a mně se to prostě nelíbilo, spěte s mužem, o  kterém nevíte kolik jich ten týden bylo před vámi. Když mi definitivně  řekl, že* o mě už nestojí* tak jsem se z toho zhroutila, ale Bůh je tu s  námi a tak mi poslal na pomoc kamaráda, který mě trpělivě vyslechl,  mohla jsem se mu vybrečet na rameni, prostě jsem se zamilovala podruhé v  životě._ (source: plastikapraha.cz)
... when he finally told me he didn't *want* /_ *care about*_ me any more ...

Mít strach o + acc (the "o" actually collocates with _strach_, rather than _mít_)
_Princ William *má strach o *miminko Kate. S druhým dítětem na cestě dolehly na prince Williama (32) temné  vzpomínky. Podle magazínu National Enquirer se bojí, že očekávaná dcera  krásné a obdivované manželky Kate Middleton (32) za svou slávu zaplatí  stejnou cenu jako zesnulá princezna Diana (+36) ... _(source: sip.denik.cz) 
.... has fears for ..., ... is worried about ...
_
Před lety jsem takhle opakovaně *umírala strachy o* jednoho (__s prominutím__) hajzlíka, ovšem o jeho partnerce jsem tenkrát ani nevěděla..._ (source: rodina.cz)
Years ago I used to keep *worrying myself sick* about a certain bastard (if you'll pardon my French*), but of course at the time ...

[* yes, really! That's the idiomatic equivalent. "Pardon me"  "Forgive me"  Not idiomatic in this kind of context]

O/pro in Czech don't have the very close overlap in meaning that о/про do in Russian.


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## hypoch

No, you must say "dárek pro vás". The problem with prepositions is there are a lot of fixed uses in different languages in addition to the typical meanings. You just have to learn "zajímat se o + accusative". 

The typical meaning (i.e. the first I spontaneously think of without context) of "o" is "about" + Locative (šestý pád). Actually, when we were taught cases at school, we were also taught a preposion for some of them. This was in order to memorize them, and one of these associations I still have in my minds is: "šestý pád - o kom, o čem". 

However, there are other less frequent meanings of "o" that are tied to the accusative, such as "by" as in "zvýšit se o 10%" = "to increase by 10%". Plus there are collocations where certain words come with fixed prepositions without obvious rationale - I don't see any logical meaning of the "o" in "zajímat se o". I suppose the Wiktionary translation of "o" as "pro" must be based on some collocation with "o" that has a corresponding English translation with "for". No such concrete collocation occurs to me though.


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## djwebb1969

It seems it doesn't really mean "for". You mention "Opřít se o co - lean on something", and Russian *o* can take the accusative as in *о стену* (against the wall). I think I'll forget about this preposition meaning "for" and concentrate on the idiomatic usages. 

Thanks to both of you.


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## hypoch

And guess how you say "lean against the wall" in Czech - yes, you got it, it is "opřít se o stěnu"


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## djwebb1969

Interesting, hypoch - as I never know when there'll be e and ě in Czech - so it is stěna.


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## hypoch

Yes, it is. Only a little warning, there are two words in Czech for wall. "Stěna" is usually indoors and 2-dimentional whereas "zeď" is outdoors and 3-dimentional (Velká čínská zeď). So you'd lean "o zeď" if you're standing outside a house and leaning against its wall but "o stěnu" if you are in a room.


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## djwebb1969

OK, i see.


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