# I won't be home until late



## JGIC

How do I say in Czech:

"I won't be home until late"

My Slovak friend (who is, naturally, fluent in Czech) says this is the most natural way to express this:

_Nebudu doma, až pozdě_

With the idea that _až _in this context doesn't mean "when," but rather, with the meaning of "so much / even," as in the phrase, "_až tolik"_

But I feel it's more "natural" at least from an English background to express this sentence using _až do or dokud_.  These are the other options I am considering.  Can someone tell me if these are acceptable/"correct," and if any of these sound natural or not?:

[?]  _Nebudu doma, až do pozdě_
[?]  _Nebudu doma, dokud pozdě_
[?] _ Nebudu doma, dokud není brzo _
With regards to (3), I include it because I often see dokud used in negative constructions.  Thus, I won't be home until late seems to be commonly rendered as I won't be home until it isn't early [anymore].

More general bonus questions (only answer these if you have time):

What are some tips on using _až do_?  I typically hear it only with fixed dates/times:  _Mam práce až do ponděli_
Where do I use _až do _versus dokud?  Where do I use _až _vs _až do_ for that matter.


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## Mori.cze

Your suggestions do not work at all. All these expressions need a specific time, with something as relative as "pozdě" they do not seem to work. With a specific time, you could use 1: _Nebudu doma až do devíti hodin._ With "dokud" you can say _Nebudu doma, dokud nebude devět hodin. _(a bit less idiomatic, but OK)

-- NOTE: you should use the negative once, your 2 does not use it at all and your 3 uses it twice --

_Až do pozdě _simply does not work, but you can say _Nebudu doma, dokud nebude pozdě._ (your 2+3 combined); it is a correct expression, but means something different: the meaning of _pozdě _gets shifted from "late in the evening" to "too late (to do something, such as in_ I would like to have dinner with you today before you leave, but I will come too late to manage_)". It also have quite an ominous sound to it, as if without this dinner the relationship might end.

As for your friend's suggestion, there is no fundamental problem with it, but I would probably naturally say something like "Domů přijdu až pozdě." or, if I wanted to emphasize that I will be away, "Nebudu doma, přijdu (až) pozdě."

edit: From the point of view of grammar is _Nebudu doma, až pozdě _hard to decompose. I think the best way into is to imagine a silent sentence part as follows: _Nebudu doma, (budu doma) až pozdě / _I will not be at home, (I will be at home) only late. It's definitely no formal speech, but works fine. I am unsure how to translate this _až _exactly, but I would be inclined to go with when rather than with so much.
_
_
I have to think a bit about the more general questions


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## Mori.cze

So, it seems to me that whenever the time frame can be rendered without a verb (nine o'clock, Monday, next year, childbirth, nightfall), _*až do*_ is preferable. _*Dokud *_gets used if you need a verb to specify until when (until I am a grandmother, until you see Venice, until the baby falls asleep):
Budu v práci *až do večera* / *až do tmy* / *dokud se nesetmí* / *dokud všechno nedodělám*.
*Až do jara* / *dokud nepřijde jaro,* bude řeka zamrzlá.

There is no difference in meaning as far as I can tell.

_*Až*_ vs. _*až do/dokud*_: _až _takes a verb, too, so _až bude tma, půjdu domů _is basically the same thing as _dokud nebude tma, nepůjdu domů _(there is more emphasis on the moment you leave and on the time you stay respectively, as you can probably guess)


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## JGIC

Thank you!  This was a really complete answer!  Ive been struggling with _dokud _and _až _for a while now, and this really clears things up.


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