Slovak idioms

A collection of idiomatic expressions in Slovak with English equivalents and translations.

Idioms English versions
Ak chceš s vlkmi žiť, musíš s nimi vyť When in Rome, do as the Romans do
(“If you want to live with the wolves, you have to howl with them”)
Ako sa do hory volá, tak sa z hory ozýva What goes around comes around
(“Whatever you shout into the mountains, same thing echoes back.”)
Božie mlyny melú pomaly, ale isto God’s mills grind slow but sure
(“God's mills grind slow but they surely do”)
Ráno múdrejšie večera Decisions done in the morning tend to be more productive and easier than those done in the evening
(“Morning is wiser than the evening")
Byť v koži niekoho iného To put oneself in someone’s shoes
(“To be in someone else's skin”)
Čerstvý ako rybička As fresh as a daisy
(“Fresh as fish”)
Hodiť flintu do žita To throw in the towel
(“To throw a rifle into the rye”)
Hrať sa na slepú babu To play blind man’s buff
(“To play blind crone”)
Chodiť okolo horúcej kaše To beat around the bush
(“To walk around hot porridge”)
Je mi to platné ako mŕtvemu kabát As useful as a chocolate teapot
(“This is as useful to me as a coat to a dead man”)
Je to ako hrach na stenu hádzať It’s like talking to a brick wall
(“It’s like throwing peas to a wall”)
Je to pre mňa španielska dedina It’s all Greek to me
(“It’s a Spanish village to me”)
Kto do teba kameňom, ty do neho chlebom To turn the other cheeck
(“Who with a stone into you, you with a bread into him”)
Kúpiť mačku vo vreci To buy a pig in a pole
(“To buy a cat in a sack”)
Liezť na nervy To get on someones’ nerves
(“climb on nerves”)
Lož má krátke nohy A lie has no legs
(“The lie has short legs”)
Nasadiť chrobáka do hlavy I can do it with my eyes closed
(“Put a bug into someone's head”)
Mať chrobáka v hlave To put a bee in someone’s bonnet
(“To have a beetle in one's head”)
Mať chrobáka v hlave To have a bee in one’s bonnet
(“To have a beetle in one's head”)
Mať z pekla šťastie To have the devil’s luck
(“To have luck from the hell”)
Najlepšia obrana je útok The best defence is offence
(“Best defence is offence”)
Tam je pes zakopaný There’s the rub
(“The dog is buried there”)
Nemaľuj čerta na stenu Talk of the devil
(“Don't paint the devil on the wall”)
Padli si do oka They hit it off
(“They fallen into each other's eye”)
Pokojný ako Angličan As cool as a cucumber
(“Calm as an Englishman”)
Remeslo má zlaté dno If you have a trade/craft you’ll never go broke
(“A craft has a golden bottom”)
Ťahať niekoho za nos To pull someone’s leg
(“To pull someone's nose”)
Vrana k vrane sadá, rovný rovného si hľadá Birds of a feather flock together
(“A crow sits by a crow, an equal looks for an equal”)
Vyšiel na psí tridsiatok He went broke
(“He went out on a dog's thirtieth”)

Slovak idioms compiled by Martina Spidlova, with corrections and additions by Štefan Gurský

More Slovak idioms
http://www.bratvegas.sk/articles/view/35/slovak_idioms.html

Information about Slovak | Phrases | Numbers | Family words | Idioms | Tongue twisters | Tower of Babel | Books about Slovak on: Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk [affilate links]

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More idioms

It's all Greek to me | It's raining cats and dogs | As easy as falling off a log | A sandwich short of a picnic | It's small world | When pigs fly | Out of sight, out of mind | Crystal-clear | Penny Pinching | Practice makes perfect | The grass is always greener | As Snug as a Bug in a Rug

Idioms in individual languages

Czech | French | Greek | Icelandic | Lithuanian | Manx | Russian | Slovak | Spanish | Swedish | Welsh

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