# Vlakem se ještě cestuje pohodlnější



## Odriski

Hi, everyone! I came across another "weird" Czech sentence, please see as below:
Vlakem se ještě cestuje pohodlnější
So where is the subject? "vlakem se cestuje"? If so, where is "je"? (shouldn't it be "Vlakem se ještě cestuje je pohodlnější"? Or can "je" be omitted?)
If not "vlakem se cestuje", then which one is the subject? Is this an impersonal expression?

Many thanks for you and sorry to trouble you again and again.


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## atcheque

Dobrý den,

I think the subject is not explicitly expressed but is included in _cestuje (se)_: *it/one*.
_Vlakem _is an instrumental (*by train*).
The meaning for me is: *Travelling by train is still comfortable*. There is no explicit subject too.


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## Odriski

[...]
Dobrý den, pane Atcheque!
First I think it is as what you say, but there is still one thing I couldn't understand well, can this sentence drop "je"? I mean, I think it should be "Vlakem se ještě cestuje je pohodlnější", but actually in this sentence "je" is missing, as this word "je" is equal to English "is"...So, can you explain that?...
Thank you very much!


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## atcheque

_cestovat _is* to travell*
Here we have _cestovat se_.
I am not a native nor a specialist, I was just tough this _se _implies an ongoing action translated in English by *V+ing*.
The literal translation would be : _*It still travels one by train comfortably*_, if _to travel_ could be transitive.


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## Odriski

[...]
Thanks, this explanation makes sense. Yes I was also confused by "cestovat se", I looked up in the online dictionary, but no explantion for "cestovat se".


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## atcheque

atcheque said:


> The literal translation would be : _*It still travels one by train comfortably*_.


Or better : *One still travels oneself  by train comfortably*, if _to travel_ could be transitive.


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## Hrdlodus

Odriski said:


> Vlakem se ještě cestuje pohodlnější
> So where is the subject? "vlakem se cestuje"? If so, where is "je"? (shouldn't it be "Vlakem se ještě cestuje je pohodlnější"? Or can "je" be omitted?)
> If not "vlakem se cestuje", then which one is the subject? Is this an impersonal expression?
> 
> Many thanks for you and sorry to trouble you again and again.


This sentence is wrong.
It is impersonal expression.
Subject – ono (= it)
Verb – se cestuje

It can be: "Vlakem se ještě cestuje*, je* pohodlnější." (Must be _je_ and must be _comma_.)
 – Meaning (with my bad English) = "In this times people still travel by train, it is more comfortable." And the _je _is used: _vlak je pohodlnější_, not for: _ono (or cestování) je pohodlnější_.

It can be: "Vlakem se ještě cestuje pohodlně*ji*."
 – Meaning: "Traveling by train is still more comfortable (than other forms of traveling)."
 – pohodlnější = Is better this seat or that seat? This seat is more comfortable.
 – pohodlněji = How do you feel, when you are sitting on this seats? When I am sitting on this seat, I feel more comfortable.

So somewhere is a mistake in that sentence.


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## Odriski

Dear Hrdlodus:
I also confused that: shouldn't the verb be in infinitive form in this sentence? eg. Vlakem se ještě cestovat pohodlně*ji. *Can a verb in conjugation be used as a part of the subject or the accusative?...
Thank you very much and Best Regards


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## bibax

Odriski said:


> Thanks, this explanation makes sense. Yes I was also confused by "cestovat se", I looked up in the online dictionary, but no explantion for "cestovat se".





atcheque said:


> Or better : *One still travels oneself  by train comfortably*, if _to travel_ could be transitive.


There is no verb _*cestovat se*_ . _(Ono)_ *se cestuje* is merely an impersonal reflexive construction, the verb is always in 3rd person sing. The formal subject is _ono_ (= it), however it is seldom expressed explicitly.

Vlakem se cestuje pohodlněji. (travelling by train is more comfortable)
Vlakem se vždycky cestovalo pohodlněji.
Vlakem se bude vždycky cestovat pohodlněji.

It can be easily translated to French, even though the corresponding French construction is different (the subject is on < homme/homo):

Ici on parle français. = Zde se mluví francouzsky. (ono se zde mluví ...)
On habite ici, on travaille la. = Zde se bydlí, tam se pracuje.
Silence, on diffuse! = Ticho, vysílá se!


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## Odriski

Thanks for all of your patience, I know that now. I really need a Czech thinking way to learn this language, or it can be a difficulty to understand. If we translate literally into English by sentence, it is " _*It still travels one by train comfortably*_", so I will try to drop the English thinking way when learning Czech.


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## francisgranada

Odriski said:


> ... shouldn't the verb be in infinitive form in this sentence? eg. Vlakem se ještě cestovat pohodlně*ji. *Can a verb in conjugation be used as a part of the subject or the accusative?...


Let's express the impersonal "se" in English using the word "one" and you'll see that the Czech sentences are not that different from their possible English translations:

Vlakem se cest*uje* pohodlně*ji*. One travels (3rd pers sg.) more confortably (adverb) by train.
Vlakem je cest*ovat* pohodlně*jší*. It is more confortable (adjective) to travel (infinitive) by train.

Your example seems to be a mixture of the above two.                              

P.S. Sorry for repeating partially what aready has been told, I haven't noticed it before ...


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## bibax

*Vlakem se cestuje pohodlně (pohodlněji).
*(pohodlně = comfortably; pohodlněji is comparative = more comfortably)

Literally: _*It travels itself by train (more) comfortably.*_

English has no such construction, maybe the following is close enough:

*One travels by train (more) comfortably.
*
French: _*On voyage en train confortablement.*_ (lit. _man travels by train comfortably_)


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## francisgranada

In Spanish (Italian, Portuguese ...) this impersonal se works similarly:
En tren *se* viaja más confortablemente.


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## atcheque

Dobrý den kamarádi,

Prosím vás: mluvíme o češtině 
atcheque, moderátor


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## wtfpwnage

It should be "Vlakem se ještě cestuje, je pohodlnější" , it makes no sense to say  Vlakem se ještě cestuje pohodlnější

Literal translation is  "Trains are still being traveled, they are more comfortable"


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## atcheque

Thank you wtfpwnage, it has already been explained by natives.


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## Tchesko

Odriski said:


> I really need a Czech thinking way to learn this language, or it can be a difficulty to understand. If we translate literally into English by sentence, it is "_*It still travels one by train comfortably*_", so I will try to drop the English thinking way when learning Czech.



I don't know about the Czech/English thinking way but this is a grammar feature called "*impersonal reflexive*". It consists in making a "subjectless" construction by using a 3rd-person verb with the reflexive pronoun "se", with no stated agent:

_Tady se pije. _Here drinking goes on (lit. [It] is drinking itself here.)
_Tady se nekou__ří._One doesn't smoke here (lit. [It] doesn't smoke itself here.)
​
Such constructions are possible even with intransitive verbs:

_Jde se domů. _We are / people are going home (lit. [It] is going itself home.)​
Although this is a widely used construction in Czech, I would argue it is quite an advanced feature for someone trying to learn the language. Before learning it, I would expect you to master the "reflexive passive".

Reflexive passive is a way of making passive constructions such as:

_Jak se to píše? _How is that written? (lit. How does that write itself?)
_Kde se prodávají lístky? _Where are the tickets sold? (lit. Where do tickets sell themselves?)
_Obchod se zavírá v šest. _The shop closes / is closed at six (lit. The shop closes itself at six.)
_Polévka se vaří. _The soup is boiling / being boiled (lit. The soup is boiling itself.)​
In the last two examples, you may notice the possible translations into English using either an active or a passive verb.

(I took all the examples from "Czech, An Essential Grammar" by J. Naughton.)

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