# Pálit



## Henry Higgins

Hello!

Would be very grateful if someone could help me out.

I'm interested if there is a Czech (or even Slovak) slang word, an older slang word, probably from first half of 20th century in Czech language that means "to understand", "to comprehend" with the basic meaning  "to ignite", "to burn", "to smoke", "to make fire" or "to light" , or even "to start (a car or any motor)"? 

Thank you!

Henry


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## vianie

It's *pálit* in Czech and ... *páliť* in Slovak.


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## Henry Higgins

vianie said:


> It's *pálit* in Czech and ... *páliť* in Slovak.



Great! Thanks!

So, if I understood correctly (pokud jsem pálil  ), the verb *pálit*/*páliť*  with the basic meaning "to ignite" means both in Czech and Slovak slang "to understand"?  And  *"Do you copy?"* (do you understand?) in American slang one can translate as *"Páliš?"

*Could you please write me 2 or 3 short sentences in Czech or Slovak with the slang use of the verb  pálit/páliť?

Many many thanks!!!


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## ilocas2

*Pokud jsem pálil* or *Pálíš* don't work in this meaning.

3 short sentences in Czech:

Vidíš, jak ti to pálí.

Moc mi to nepálí.

Nějak mi to nepálí.

So there is impersonal subject - to, and personal pronoun in dative.


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## bibax

*Zapálilo ti to? Už ti to zapálilo?* = Did you understand?
original meaning: _Has your combustion engine started (already)?_

A slang expression from the olden times of automobilism, when the starting crank was in common use.

Zapálit is perfective.

However *Už ti to došlo?* is more common.


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## werrr

Henry Higgins said:


> I'm interested if there is a Czech (or even Slovak) slang word, an older slang word, probably from first half of 20th century in Czech language that means "to understand", "to comprehend"


I can't remember any downright slangy expression of this kind in Czech. There are some expressions with given primary meaning which are expressive or figurative, but in general there are acceptable in standard Czech.



> ...with the basic meaning  ... "to burn"


That's *pálit* as given above. It's always used in impersonal way *někomu to pálí* (= it burns to someone). *Pálí mu to* could be either a general statement (*he is smart / he's got brains*) or a statement of momentary condition (*he can think clearly right now*).

Notice also that the verb *pálit* has a lot of secondary meanings (e.g. to fire, to shoot, to kick, to distil...), so that the expression *pálí mu to* could have completely different meaning in some context (e.g. *he is a marksman* in all possible meanings, *he is an excellent distiller*...).



> "to ignite"


That's basicaly the same verb as *to burn*, only with some shifts in aspect. Also the impersonal usage is the same.

First, you can create by prefixation the perfective verb *zapálit*:
*Zapálilo mu to* = *he got the idea* (typically after longer period of lacking understanding)​
For the same meaning in the imperfective sense use the imperfective form *zapalovat*:

*už mu to zapaluje* = *he is about to get the idea*​
This form could be used in the same way as *pálit*:

*už mu to pálí/zapaluje* = *he can think clearly finally*
*už mu to nepálí/nazapaluje* = *he can't think clearly any longer* ~ *he is senile*​


> "to smoke"


Nothing I'm aware of except of the idom *kouřilo se mu z hlavy* (= it smoked out of his head) with the meaning *he was thinking hard (intensively)*.



> "to light"


For *rozsvítit* (= to light up) there is the idiom *rozsvítilo se mu (v hlavě)* (= it lightened up (in his head)) meaning "he started to understand".

Also the similar verbs *svítat* (perf. *svitnout*), *rozbřesknout se*, all with the meaning *to down on*, could be used in the same impersonal way:

*rozbřesklo se mu / svitlo mu* = *he got the idea*​


> "to start (a car or any motor)"


That's the verb *zapalovat* as above.


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## Henry Higgins

Thank you very much for your most satisfying answers!


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## Polakko91

v Polśćine take, Palić  jako  kurit (to smoke) for ex. a cigarette


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## carsten

Interesting. (sorry for offtop) in Russian palit', zapalit' aside from "ignite" means "to notice", or "stare at" (a very slangish word).

The semantic shift "ignite" -> "understand/notice" is kind of weird.


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## ilocas2

I just wanted to say that sentences which I wrote are normally used too.

T.


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