# Kondicionály [Conditionals]



## LooooN

Dobrý den,

jsem nadšenec do angličtiny, a tímhle bych Vás chtěl poprosit o kontrolu správnosti mých vět. Rovněž budu rád za jakékoliv nápady, připomínky, či komentáře které se budou týkat tohoto problému.

1) If *I had been *younger, I *would have helped* you with that task. — *Kdybych býval* mladší, *býval bych by*l ti pomohl s tou úlohou.
= _Už tehdy jsem byl starý, a proto jsem ti nepomohl s danou úlohou (minulost)_

2) If *I were* younger, I *would help* you with that task. — *Kdybych byl *mladší, *pomohl bych* ti s tou úlohou.
= _Protože jsem starý(teď), nepomůžu ti s danou úlohou(teď/v budoucnosti). (zajímá nás výsledek v přítomnosti/budoucnosti)_

3) If I *weren't *lazy, I *would have helped* you with that task. — *Kdybych nebyl* líný, *býval bych ti pomohl* s tou úlohou.
= _Jsem líný(teď), a proto jsem ti nepomohl s danou úlohou(tehdy). (zajímá nás výsledek v přítomnosti/budoucnosti, jsem prvotřídní lenoch)_

4) *If* *I have* free time, I *will help* you with that task. — *Když budu mít* volno, *pomůžu* ti s tou úlohou(v budoucnu). (zajímá nás budoucnost)

5) If I *had been* younger, I *would be* happy. — *Kdybych býval* mladší(tehdy), *byl bych *šťastnější.(teď).
_= Kdybych tehdy byl býval mladší, teď bych byl šťastnější. (důsledek v přítomnosti)_


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## Enquiring Mind

Hi LooooN, I'll leave the translations into Czech to the native Czechs, because you are choosing to translate into high style literary Czech which hardly anyone uses any more, even in the written language.  There are several sites (even in Czech) on the internet dealing with the conditional.

Jen bych upozornil na to, že kombinace časů v páté větě_ If I *had been* younger, I *would be* happy_  nemá smysl.
If I had been younger, I would have been happy. 
If I were younger, I would be happy. 

If I had been cleverer I would have done a lot more travelling.  Kdybych býval byl chytřejší, mnohem víc bych byl cestoval.
If she had phoned, we wouldn't have gone there. Kdyby byla zavolala, nebyli bychom tam šli.

Kdybych nebyl býval kýval, nebyl by ses býval hýbal. If I hadn't nodded, you wouldn't have moved.
Kdybys nebyl býval kýval, nebyl by se mýval hýbal. If you hadn't nodded, the raccoon wouldn't have moved.


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## LooooN

Hi Enquiring Mind, thank you for your time and effort. I agree with you that sentences beginning on 'Kdybych býval byl... Kdybys býval byl... Kdyby bývala byla... atd.' are hardly used in modern Czech. 

Let's forget on these which are not used nowadays.

Teď zjišťuji, že u věty číslo 5 jsem použil nevhodně slova, a proto věta nedává smysl.

Co v případě, že věta bude vypadat takhle:
If I hadn't studied English, I would have such great work! 
- Kdybych býval nestudoval angličtinu, neměl bych tak skvělou práci!

If I had met her, I would live in Czech forever. 
- Kdybych ji býval poznal, žil bych v České republice navždy.


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## Enquiring Mind

Hi again, Loooon, can I point you in the direction of this very good Charles University bachelor's thesis "Anglické podmínkové věty a jejich české překladové ekvivalenty" by Jiřina Dunková, in which she notes (in §4.1, page 36): _The translation of English unreal hypothetical conditional clauses with the past time reference using the past perfect tense (pluperfect) should (...) include the past conditional mood. (...)  However, (...) the past conditional is receding in its usage and it is being substituted by the present conditional mood. In speech (...) this tendency is highly visible and it can be perceived in writing as well.
_
Applying this observation to your sentence _If I hadn't studied English, I wouldn't have such great work!, _it seems to me that both _kdybych býval nestudoval angličtinu, neměl bych tak skvělou práci!_ and_ kdybych nestudoval angličtinu, neměl bych tak skvělou práci!_ (without the býval) are acceptable these days.  The point is that the difference between the English "real conditional" (_If I didn't study English I wouldn't have such a great job_) and the "unreal conditional" (_If I hadn't studied English I wouldn't have such a great job_, or _if I hadn't studied English I wouldn't have had such a great job_) is not necessarily conveyed by the Czech tense, though it can be. The unreal or real conditionality in Czech can be conveyed by the rest of the context.

_"Seš normální takhle padat do vody? Kdyby tam nebyl Kiba, utopil by ses."_  ["Are you in your right mind, falling into the water like that? If Kiba hadn't been there, you would have drowned."](source: crazy-baka.blog.cz) Here it's clear that he didn't drown, it's an unreal conditional, and the (more formal) Czech could also have been (correct me if I'm wrong) _Kdyby tam nebyl Kiba, býval by ses utopil_. 

The tenses in your second example have me scratching my head.

If I had met her, I would live in Czech forever. 
If I met her, I would live in the Czech Republic forever. (Real conditional, ještě bych ji mohl poznat a žít v Česku)
If I had met her, I would have lived in the Czech Republic forever. (Normal English tenses for unreal conditional: nepoznal jsem ji, tudíž nežiju ani jsem nežil v Česku)

Co bych byl udělal, kdybych tě slyšel křičet? (source: cokdybysme.net) What would I have done if I (had) heard you scream? (Unreal conditional)
Co bych udělal, kdybych tě slyšel křičet? What would I do if I heard you scream? (Real conditional)

What follows now is not what you are asking about, but it might be worth pointing out to other learners of Czech that there are other ways of expressing conditionals which enable you to avoid the slightly complicated (for foreigners) _kdybych (etc.) c_onstruction.  And again the same observation applies, that it is not necessarily the Czech tense that determines whether the sense is an unreal or real conditional, but the rest of the context:

_Nebýt tebe, tak jsme ideální pár_. (Real conditional)
Were it not for you, we would be the/an ideal couple.
If it were not for you, we would be the/an ideal couple
But for you, we would be the/an ideal couple.

_Milá Ivanko, ještě jednou Ti moc děkujeme za doprovod k našemu nejkrásnějšímu dni. Oba s Honzou jsme se shodli, že nebýt Tebe, nebyl by pro nás porod tak krásný a nemohli jsme si ho tak "uzít". _(Unreal conditional) (source: dulaivana.cz)
(...) Honza and I both agreed that _had it not been for you_ (or_ if it had not been for you_ or _but for you_), the birth would not have been so wonderful for us ...

Can I ask you, a native speaker, whether both (1) and (2) below can be both unreal and real conditionals in Czech? They are, of course, colloquial (not spisovná) Czech, but I think both Czech sentences can be either unreal or real *according to the specific context*:

_(1) No vidíš, nebýt tebe, tak jsem o tom ani nevěděl._ (source: forum.zive.cz) 
There you are, _were it not for you_ (or _but for you_ or _if it were not for you) _I wouldn't know anything about it. (Real conditional)
Had it not been for you (or _but for you_ or _if it had not been for you_) I wouldn't have known anything about it. (Unreal conditional)

_(2) No vidíš, nebýt tebe, tak o tom ani nevím _(my own sentence_)._
_There you are, were it not for you, I wouldn't know anything about it._ (Real conditional)
_There you are, had it not been for you, I wouldn't have known anything about it. _(Unreal conditional)

There's also a useful article here (source: nase-rec.ujc.cas.cz) "Ústup kondicionálu minulého?" by Eva Macháčková, published in 1980, showing how the Czech past conditional is giving way to the present conditional, or even to the *indicative* in certain grammatical contexts:
_O dva dni dřív, kdybys byl přišel, tak to _*bylo*_ jasné. _If you had come two days earlier, it would have been clear. (Unreal conditional in English)
_Kdyby jednání o příměří nebyla bývala přerušena po dobu více než pěti měsíců, _*mohla*_ být již dříve nalezena řešení. _If the talks on ceasing hostilities had not been broken off for more than five months, solutions could have been found (even) sooner. (Unreal conditional in English)


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## LooooN

Hi Enquiring Mind, I really thank you for your such a great job. I'm going to look at those examples and links carefully. You have been very helpful. Many thanks!


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