# All Slavic languages: Tak



## Tchesko

Hi all,

Does the word _tak_ mean anything in your languages?

I'm asking this because a friend of mine suggested she could recognize Czech speakers easily - since they use "tak" every 2 seconds or so, all you have to do is listen...
She is right - we use _tak_ pretty often. It has various meanings:

so - _Je to tak snadné_: it's so easy
as - _Tak rychlý jako Forrest Gump_: as fast as Forrest Gump
thus - _Tak se stal zpěvákem_: thus, he became a singer
lots of idiomatic expressions, such as: _tak už se vymáčkni!_ - spit it out!
_tak_ alone can express lots of things...
However, I think it is used in other Slavic languages as well...
Maybe in all of them?

Roman


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## clapec

I think "tak" means "yes" in Polish, doesn't it?


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## Juri

In Slovenia they use in familiar speech to ask"How are you?"= Kak si kaj?The answer is often: "Tak,tak!"= So,so!


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## Tomby

I think that "tak" (or “так” in Russian) means " *this way* "in English.


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## natasha2000

Tchesko said:
			
		

> Hi all,
> 
> Does the word _tak_ mean anything in your languages?
> 
> I'm asking this because a friend of mine suggested she could recognize Czech speakers easily - since they use "tak" every 2 seconds or so, all you have to do is listen...
> She is right - we use _tak_ pretty often. It has various meanings:
> 
> so - _Je to tak snadné_: it's so easy
> as - _Tak rychlý jako Forrest Gump_: as fast as Forrest Gump
> thus - _Tak se stal zpěvákem_: thus, he became a singer
> lots of idiomatic expressions, such as: _tak už se vymáčkni!_ - spit it out!
> _tak_ alone can express lots of things...
> However, I think it is used in other Slavic languages as well...
> Maybe in all of them?
> 
> Roman


 

In Serbian&Bosnian&Croatian there is a word TAKO....
Your first sentence could be translated: To je TAKO lako...
The second one: TAKO brz kao Forest Gamp...But this way of saying is a little bit strange, normally this sentence would be said without TAKO.
The third one: TAKO on postade pevach (Sorry, I don't have the appropriate letters on my keyboard ).....
Nevertheless, I wouldn't say that our TAKO can always be translated with your TAK, since in both languages respectivly, it is one of those "special words" that mean everything and nothing....

PS: A little observation. I think that in Croatian, there is a word TAK, but it is some kind of shortened TAKO.... This I leave to Croatian speakers to explain...


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## skye

Juri said:
			
		

> In Slovenia they use in familiar speech to ask"How are you?"= Kak si kaj?The answer is often: "Tak,tak!"= So,so!


 
But that's only in certain dialects. In some other dialects they say "Tko, tko!"


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## Aki82

Clapec you are right word 'tak' in polish means 'yes'  

When you say 'tak?' with the question mark (in someone way asking a question) it can mean 'really?'

Saying 'tak,tak' means 'ofcourse' example: Tak tak masz racje (of course you are right). 

At the moment can't remember other meanings of word 'tak' in polish. But basically it means 'YES'.

Greetings,
Aki82


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## Marijka

"Tak" in Polish means also "as" ( Jesteś prawie *tak* ładna jak ja  - You are almost *as* pretty as I am.)  and "this way" ( Zrób to *tak* - Do it *this way*)


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## tatjana

"Tak" also means "yes" in Ukrainian.


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## melon collie

*Tak* might mean different things in Russian.

1. this way 
2. _spoken_ for free
3. _spoken_ without purpose / intention
4. _spoken_ used when describing something or someone as averege not really good but so-so
5. _spoken_ can be used as approval like English *right!*
6. can be used as a conjunction meaning then, so.
7. can add emphasis 

These are main meanings. Well, it's difficult to describe it. But we use it quite often speaking Russian.


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## Hryts

Ющенко, Так!


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## übermönch

Юшенко нi
Януковiч так 
ok, sry, this is meant to be apolitical.


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## Cepkah

This word existes as ''taka''  in Bulgarian and it means so, this way and like this also we use for saying that's right, that's so...e.t.c.


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## Tolovaj_Mataj

To add more about Slovene:
_tak_ is quality pronoun. It's a shorter form of _takšen_.

On je tak kot oče. = He is like his father.

More from SSKJ: http://bos.zrc-sazu.si/cgi/a03.exe?name=sskj_testa&expression=ge%3Dtak&hs=1


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## Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!

Tchesko said:


> so - _Je to tak snadné_: it's so easy
> as - _Tak rychlý jako Forrest Gump_: as fast as Forrest Gump
> thus - _Tak se stal zpěvákem_: thus, he became a singer
> lots of idiomatic expressions, such as: _tak už se vymáčkni!_ - spit it out!
> _tak_ alone can express lots of things...


There's still more, actually, at least in colloquial speech (some of the below would be considered bad style in writing):

then - as in if...then (když...tak) (it's better to omit it or use "pak" or "potom" instead)
fluff used to emphasize relationships in longer sentences (I'm not quite sure how to describe it) - e.g. _ty děti, které rodiče bili, tak se z nich stanou zločinci: _the kids that get beaten by their parents will become criminals (can't really think of a good example right now). This is a disjointed sentence, something that people would typically do when making their speech up on the fly, and _tak_ is often used to sort of glue it together in such cases.
as in Polish, tak can actually express affirmation; something along the lines of _that's right_. There's also the verb _přitakat_, meaning to express agreement with something another person said just before you.


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## ferran

natasha2000 said:


> In Serbian&Bosnian&Croatian there is a word TAKO....
> Your first sentence could be translated: To je TAKO lako...
> The second one: TAKO brz kao Forest Gamp...But this way of saying is a little bit strange, normally this sentence would be said without TAKO.
> The third one: TAKO on postade pevach (Sorry, I don't have the appropriate letters on my keyboard ).....
> Nevertheless, I wouldn't say that our TAKO can always be translated with your TAK, since in both languages respectivly, it is one of those "special words" that mean everything and nothing....
> 
> PS: A little observation. I think that in Croatian, there is a word TAK, but it is some kind of shortened TAKO.... This I leave to Croatian speakers to explain...



natasha's right. In Croatian TAK is used the same as in Slovene. It's a shorter way of TAKO (in Slovene taksen). BUT used only is some regions: north-west Croatia (including Zagreb). 
It's so hot! = Tak je vruce!


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## Tolovaj_Mataj

ferran said:


> natasha's right. In Croatian TAK is used the same as in Slovene. It's a shorter way of TAKO (in Slovene taksen). BUT used only is some regions: north-west Croatia (including Zagreb).
> It's so hot! = Tak je vruce!


I'm not so sure.
Tak(šen) is not the same as takó in Slovene.

Tak(šen) is an adjectival pronoun of quality. There's a big family: tak/tákšen, táka/tákšna, táko/tákšno, táki/tákšni, táke/tákšne. The question words are kakšen?, kakšna? ...

Takó is an adverb. It's a possible response on a question kakó?

You will do this this way! = To boš naredil takó!
The Slovene version of the esclamation written above would be: Takó je vroče!
(in a dialect of Ljubljana (and other NW Slovenia) we tend to leave out all unaccented vowels, so this would look like: Tko je vroče! In NE Slovenia they would say: Tak je vroče!


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## Athaulf

ferran said:


> natasha's right. In Croatian TAK is used the same as in Slovene. It's a shorter way of TAKO (in Slovene taksen). BUT used only is some regions: north-west Croatia (including Zagreb).
> It's so hot! = Tak je vruce!



This, however, is a dialectal word -- admittedly, very common in NW Croatia -- that would be entirely inappropriate in a formal context. I don't know if "tak" is similarly an informal contraction in Slovenian (many peculiarities of dialects spoken in NW Croatia are identical to standard usage in Slovenian, which is understandable given the geographical proximity).


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## Mirynka

In Ukrainian tak means not only yes, but also "this way" (Роби це так - Do it this way), and 
"so" (Ти так гарно співаєш! - You can sing so well!) and

Best,
Mirynka


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## peysek

Even non-Slavic languages:
"Tack så mycket" read <tak so: mi-ket> so just like Czech "tak", means Thanks so much, in Swedish.


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## tkekte

Yeah but in the Swedish sentence the "tack" means "thanks" and the "so" is "så".


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