If you’re reading this website, the chances are Slovak isn’t your first language but you have made some attempt to pick up the essentials. You’ll no doubt remember the warm wave of satisfaction you felt the first time you smoothly ordered a beer, asked for directions or successfully answered an old lady’s questions at a bus stop.

We want you to have that feeling over and over, so we've compiled a list of Slovak idioms to spice up to your day to day interactions. Read them and you’ll have 5 minutes of good entertainment. Use them wisely and your life may never be the same again.

 

Aka duchaplna myslienka! What a ghostful idea!

Rano mudrejsie vecera. It's wiser to dine in the morning.

Bozie mlyny melu pomaly, ale isto. God's mills are more insured than functional.

Na zdravie! On the health!

Nema to cenu. It doesn't have a price.

Basa tvrdi muziku. A prison makes music stronger.

Mam sa velmi dobre. I've got myself very good.

Pustila som ho k vode. I have released him to the water.

Isiel spity pod obraz. He went drunk under the picture.

Si z toho cela prec. You are all away of it.

Dohodil mu nevestu. He threw him the bride.

Beriem ta za slovo. I am taking you by the word.

Remeslo ma zlate dno. A craft has a golden bottom.

Daj mi pokoj! Give me an apartment!

Nemaluj certa na stenu! Don't paint the devil on the wall!

Pre mna - za mna ... For me - beyond me ...

Je to ako hrach na stenu hadzat. It is like throwing peas on the wall.

Kto do teba kamenom, ty do neho chlebom. Who with a stone into you, you with a bread into him.

Bola na neho prikratka. She was too short for him.

Postavit vodu na caj. To set water on a tea.

Drz hubu! Catch the mouth!

Ako sa do hory vola, tak sa z hory ozyva. What scream goes to the mountain, the same goes back.

Mam to v malicku. I have got it in my little finger.

Mat z pekla stastie. To have a fortune from the hell.

Tam je pes zakopany! The dog is dug over there!
  
Loz ma kratke nohy. The lie has short legs.

Mat chrobaka v hlave. To have a beetle in one's mind.

Liezt na nervy. To climb upon nerves.

Seklo ho v krizoch. It has cut him into the crosses.

Prehral si platnu. He has gambled off his cook-range.

Padli si do oka. They have fallen into each other's eye.

Hrat sa na slepu babu. To play on a blind squaw.

Hodit flintu do zita. To throw the rifle into the corn.

Je mi nevolno. It's not free to me.

Vysiel na psi tridsiatok. He went on a dog's thirties.

Vrana k vrane sada - rovny rovneho si hlada. A crow is sitting by a crow - an equal is looking for another equal.

Mam ta plne zuby. I have my teeth full of you.