Bát se, craindre

It is interesting to note that two unrelated languages, Czech and French, share a similar construction when it comes to fearing something:

Czech: Bojím se, aby rodiče nepřijeli pozdě.
French: Je crains que mes parents n'arrivent tard.
English: I am afraid that my parents might get in late or I am afraid lest my parents (should) get in late.

In both Czech and French there is an "unnegated" ne.

Palec, prst, палец, прст

Polish palec and Russian палец mean finger/toe. Today it came to my attention that Czech also has palec, but it means thumb. Czech for finger/toe is prst and Macedonian is прст. Interesting.

Understand? Do I really?

Let's face it: Czech is a weird language. Starting by its name: Czech. Why does it sound like check/cheque? Does that point to the Czechs' predilection for checks instead of cash? Don't know, beats me. What about the Italian name: ceco? It's a homophone with cieco, blind. Does that mean that an unfathomable number of checks are issued daily by a bunch of blind Czechs who don't know who the hell they are writing those checks out for?

And now we shall consider (yes, I can be posh sometimes) a pretty basic verb, rozumět, to understand (I just love those upsidedown hats, don't you?) Any normal person in his right state of mind (go ahead, call me a chauvinistic pig) would think that verb is followed by your regular accusative, but no! Czech doesn't like to be seen in company of its Slavic brethren. It goes for the dative instead. Here are a few examples - from a guy who still doesn't know where to place his Czech critical clitics (I'm not taking any suggestions, thank you).

Russian: Я хорошо понимаю русские книги. - Accusative.
Polish: Dobrze rozumiem ruskie książki. - Accusative.
Macedonian: Добро разбирам руски книги. - Accusative.
Czech: Dobře rozumím ruským knihám. - Dative, ladies and gentlemen!

Go figure!