Word of the Day

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Tell on and povedať na

The Slovak verb povedať, followed by the preposition na plus accusative, interestingly has the same form and usage as the phrasal verb  tell on somebody. Here are a couple of examples that could be easily rendered in English: Zlodej na zlodeja nepovie (proverb) - A thief doesn't tell on another thief (somewhat close to English birds of a feather flock together). Marka to urobila a povedala na mňa. - Marka did it and told on me (or maybe better: blamed it on me.) Ja som nepovedal na nikoho. - I didn't tell on anyone.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Polish counterpart 'powiedzieć na (kogoś)' is very similar.
Złodziej na złodzieja nie powie. (This isn't any proverbial expression in Polish, an equivalent might be: Kruk krukowi oka nie wykole.)
Marka to zrobiła, a powiedziała na mnie.
Ja nie powiedziałem na nikogo.

světluška said...

Thank you!

Jonathan said...

Isso seria como "dedurar"?