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Learn Hardcore Czech: Celý svět zná tuto píseň. - The whole world knows this song.

Hardcore Czech
/Going to a live concert
/Celý svět zná tuto píseň.

Celý svět zná tuto píseň.

Word

Celý svět zná tuto píseň.

Meaning

The whole world knows this song.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Lesson

Going to a live concert

Breakdown of Celý svět zná tuto píseň.

Questions & Answers about Celý svět zná tuto píseň.

Why is it Celý svět and not just svět?

Celý svět means the whole world or the entire world.

svět = world
celý = whole, entire

So Celý svět zná tuto píseň is stronger than just Svět zná tuto píseň. It gives the sense that everyone everywhere knows it.

Also, celý has to agree with svět:

svět is masculine inanimate singular
so the adjective takes the form celý

Why is there no word for the in this sentence?

Czech does not use articles like a / an / the.

So:

svět can mean world or the world
tuto píseň can mean this song

Czech relies on:

context
word order
demonstratives like ten, ta, to (this/that depending on usage)

That is why Celý svět zná tuto píseň naturally translates as The whole world knows this song, even though there is no separate word for the.

Why is it tuto píseň? What case is that?

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Tuto píseň is in the accusative case, because it is the direct object of the verb zná (knows).

The verb znát takes a direct object in the accusative:

znát koho/co = to know whom/what

Here:

kdo? co? knows = celý svět → the subject
knows what? = tuto píseň → the direct object, so accusative

So:

tato píseň = this song (nominative)
tuto píseň = this song (accusative)

Why is it tuto and not tato?

Because tuto is the accusative feminine singular form of tato.

The noun píseň is:

feminine
singular

And in this sentence it is the object, so it must be in the accusative.

Forms of this for feminine singular:

tato = nominative
tuto = accusative

So:

Tato píseň je krásná. = This song is beautiful.
Znám tuto píseň. = I know this song.

You may also sometimes hear tu píseň instead of tuto píseň. Both are possible, but tuto can sound a bit more explicit or formal.

Why does píseň stay píseň? Shouldn't it change in the accusative too?

Good question. In this noun pattern, píseň has the same form in the nominative and accusative singular.

So:

nominative: píseň
accusative: píseň

What shows the case clearly here is mostly the demonstrative:

tato píseň = nominative
tuto píseň = accusative

This is normal for many Czech nouns: sometimes the ending changes between cases, and sometimes it does not.

What does zná mean exactly here?

Zná is the 3rd person singular form of znát, meaning knows or is familiar with.

So:

já znám = I know
ty znáš = you know
on/ona/ono zná = he/she/it knows

In this sentence, the subject is celý svět, which is grammatically singular, so the verb is singular too:

Celý svět zná...

Even though the whole world refers to many people, the noun svět itself is singular, so Czech uses zná, not a plural form.

Why is world treated as singular if it means lots of people?

Because Czech grammar follows the grammatical subject, not the idea of how many people are included.

The subject here is:

svět = world
grammatically singular

So the verb must also be singular:

Celý svět zná...

This is similar to English:

The whole world knows this song.

English also uses knows, not know, because world is singular.

What is the difference between znát and vědět? Why use znát here?

This is one of the most important distinctions in Czech.

Use znát for being familiar with:

a person
a place
a song
a book
a film
something you recognize or know from experience

Use vědět for knowing a fact or piece of information.

So:

Znám tuto píseň. = I know this song / I’m familiar with this song.
Vím, že ta píseň je stará. = I know that the song is old.

You would not normally use vědět in Celý svět zná tuto píseň, because the meaning is not the whole world knows a fact, but the whole world is familiar with this song.

Can the word order be changed?

Yes. Czech word order is more flexible than English, because case endings show grammatical roles.

The neutral order here is:

Celý svět zná tuto píseň.

But you could also say:

Tuto píseň zná celý svět.

That version puts more emphasis on this song:

This song, the whole world knows.

So the meaning stays basically the same, but the focus changes.

Is tuto píseň more formal than everyday Czech?

It can sound a little more careful or formal than some everyday alternatives.

Common possibilities include:

tuto píseň
tu píseň
in informal spoken Czech, sometimes people might prefer a colloquial structure like tuhle píseň

Very roughly:

tuto píseň = standard, clear, slightly more formal/emphatic
tu píseň = standard and common
tuhle píseň = more colloquial spoken Czech

So the sentence is perfectly normal Czech, but in casual speech some speakers might choose a different demonstrative form.

How do you pronounce svět and píseň?

A few pronunciation points are useful here:

Celý: ce- sounds like tse
svět: the ě changes the sound of the preceding consonant, so svět is roughly like svyet with a softened s/v cluster
zná: long á
tuto: stress is on the first syllable, as usual in Czech
píseň: long í, and eň has a softened n

Important pronunciation rules:

Czech stress is usually on the first syllable
á and í are long vowels
ň is a soft n sound

A rough English-style approximation might be:

TSE-lee svyet znaa TOO-to PEE-sen But that is only approximate.

What gender is svět, and does that matter here?

Yes, it matters because adjectives must agree with nouns.

svět is:

masculine inanimate
singular

That is why the adjective is:

celý and not some other form

For example, compare:

celý svět = the whole world
celá kniha = the whole book
celé město = the whole city

The ending of celý changes depending on the gender and case of the noun.

Could this sentence also mean Everyone knows this song?

Yes, that is a very natural English equivalent.

Literally, the sentence means:

The whole world knows this song

But idiomatically, it often implies:

Everyone knows this song
This song is known everywhere
This song is famous worldwide

So depending on context, English may translate it more naturally in different ways, even though the Czech wording stays the same.

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