Hello and welcome to SoundCzech Radio Prague’s Czech language course in which you can learn new phrases with the help of song lyrics. Today’s song is called Statistika je nuda by Jaroslav Uhlíř and Zdeňek Svěrák who composed it for a Czech children’s movie in 1980. The word to listen out for is nuda.

Photo: MJimages / freeimages

The title of the song translates as Statistics is boring and the operative word today is- boring. Nuda is a word you’ll often hear children use in a wide variety of contexts.– means that a suggested activity is boring and not worth even considering,translates as being bored. A dead bore is–or as children say– something that is poisoning them - which will very likely result in them dying of boredom –

Another way of expressing boredom is to say mam dlouhou chvíli, I am having a long while or čas se táhne– time is dragging. More common ways of saying you have time on your hands are nemám co na práci– I have nothing to do, nemam do čeho píchnout or nemam se čím zabavit–I have nothing to entertain myself with.

Grown-ups, on the other hand, are likely to complain about the exact opposite. Nuda is something they rarely experience because čas letí–time flies and they are in a rush chvátají. Nestiham means I am unable to cope and you are also likely to hear the phrases nevím kde mi hlava stojí– I don’t know where my head is and mám hlavu v pejru– which means my head is in hot ashes –and indicates you have a great many tasks and a great many problems. Nevím co dřív means I don’t know where to start and the simple nemám čas means I don’t have time –in other words don’t bother me.

If you should fall prey to boredom you can always resort to poflakovat se– means lazing around and doing nothing or chytat lelky, a funny Czech phrase that translates as catching nightjars –for nothing better to do. Or else for those who are bored to death –nudí se k smrti there is a fast remedy – the internet site kudyznudy –the way out of boredom – has plenty of suggestions.