# Speculative statements



## stelingo

A poster on the HTLAL forum was asking whether the modal  verb ‘must’ is used to make speculative statements in other languages as it is in English. I was wondering what would be the most natural way of expressing these examples in Czech taken from that post?

He's late. He must be stuck in traffic.
They must be freezing.
I must have left the door open.


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## marsi.ku

Hi stellingo,
we have more possibilities how to express it in Czech, but we use also the verb "must" to make speculative statements. So I propose here translation which is very common as I see it:

He's late. He must be stuck in traffic. => *Má zpoždění. Musel uvíznout v zácpě.*
They must be freezing. => *Musí mrznout./Musí jim být zima.*
I must have left the door open. => *Musel jsem nechat otevřené dveře.*


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## Tchesko

I confirm we use the verb "muset" (must) in this way, although probably less frequently than in English. In some cases (especially out of context) the use of "muset" may be ambiguous as it also expresses necessity/obligation.
Another common way of expressing speculative statements consists in using adverbs such as "asi", "určitě", "zřejmě"... (maybe / possibly / perhaps / likely...):

He's late. He must be stuck in traffic. => *Má zpoždění. Asi uvízl v zácpě.*
They must be freezing. => *Určitě je jim zima.*
I must have left the door open. => *Zřejmě jsem nechal otevřené dveře.*

It is also sometimes possible to use future tense to express speculative statements:

I rang repeatedly but no-one opened. Then a neighbour came and said: "He must be at the hospital, he often goes there." => *Několikrát jsem zvonil, ale nikdo neotevřel. Potom přišel soused a řekl: "To on bude v nemocnici, on tam často chodí."*


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## stelingo

That's great. Thanks a lot.


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