Yellow Pages of the Czech Language: Grammar and Usage for Learners of Czech 9781471785092

Table of contents :
Introduction
Table of Contents
Czech Grammar as Czechs Learn It
How and when Czech words change their forms
Nouns
How to say "a pair of shorts, two pairs of … , ten pairsof …"
Adjectives
Pronouns
Other prefixes
Suffixes
Numerals
Decimals and Fractions
Number names
Verbs
What tenses there are and how to form them
What do the tenses express
Aspect of verbs
Actions and verbs (Meaning of aspect)
How to tell the aspect of a verb
How does aspect translate into English?
Pairs and Hubs of Verbs
Verbal Prefixes
How to order words in the past tense?
How to be polite in the past tense?
Past tense and verbs with se and siIf reflexive verbs like dívat se or koupit si are
Past tense in Wh- questions
Habitual past tense – I used to … (–va– form)
Verbs of motion form irregular future tense
Marginal verbs of motion
Verbs of perception
Sequence of Tenses
How to form equivalent of –ing as in a reading man
Aspect of nouns and adjectives formed from verbs
Negative commands are almost exclusively formed from imperfectiveverbs
Ať as indirect command or telling somebody to dosomething
Complete Table of Contents
Index

Citation preview

Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Czech Grammar and Usage for Learners

Dominik Lukeš Jitka Kauerová

2nd Edition 2012

 everything you need to know about the Czech language  wide assortment of tips and explanations not found elsewhere  includes information about history, dialects of Czech and other trivia

Yellow Pages of the Czech Language

Copyright 2012 Dominik Lukeš and Jitka Kauerová Licensed under Creative Commons By Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike ISBN 978-1-4717-8509-2

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Nouns

Introduction The Yellow Pages of Czech Grammar summarizes in a comprehensive way all grammar points important in the study of Czech as a second language. They are organized into a system customary in the description of Czech grammar. That is the one a student is most likely to find in other Czech textbooks. The first section outlines this system briefly along with the usual terminology. The following sections enlarge on individual points, and contain the relevant charts. The final two sections deal with trivia related to Czech such as idioms and the history of the language. The Yellow Pages as a whole are an original creation based on materials developed for the US Peace Corps language program. They combine, however, grammatical knowledge of many generations gleaned from reference materials too numerous to list. Many people contributed to the original draft.

Explanation of symbols used C

consonant



changes into

V -X -X

vowel ending infix ending is deleted

+ X= 

is added prefix equals/doesn't change same as previous

Table of Contents Introduction Czech Grammar as Czechs Learn It Nouns Adjectives Pronouns Numerals Verbs Adverbs Prepositions Conjunctions Word Order Pronunciation Spelling Idioms, Phraseology and Vocabulary Czech Trivia Complete Table of Contents Index

3 4 11 26 31 39 42 82 85 89 93 99 107 110 127 137 142

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language

Czech Grammar as Czechs Learn It This section lists the key terms used to talk about Czech grammar by Czechs. All Czech children will have been taught these terms (although some will remember them less well than others). Knowing these terms will be useful to you when you communicate with your teachers or read Czech textbooks. The Czech terms don’t always match English grammatical terminology perfectly but where equivalents exist, it should be fairly easy to understand how they relate to one another. This section is based on the work of teachers working for US Peace Corps Pre-Service Training in Summer 1996.

Word classes (parts of speech) - slovní druhy There are 10 word classes recognized in the grammar of the Czech language: Nouns Adjectives Pronouns Numerals Verbs Adverbs Prepositions Conjunctions Particles Interjections

podstatná jména přídavná jména zájmena číslovky slovesa příslovce předložky spojky částice citoslovce

The first 5 classes change their form in different contexts. The changes in 1 – 4 are called declension. The changes in verbs (5) are called conjugation. Classes 6 – 10 do not change their form (with one minor exception).

Nouns When we talk about nouns, we indicate their:

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CASE NUMBER GENDER MODEL

1st - 7th singular or plural masculine, feminine or neuter pán, muž, čaj, žena, kuře, ...

(pád) (číslo) (rod) (vzor)

Nouns nominative genitive dative accusative vocative locative instrumental

These are the names of cases:

1. pád 2. pád 3. pád 4. pád 5. pád 6. pád 7. pád

1st case 2nd case 3rd case 4th case 5th case 6th case 7th case

Kdo? Co? Koho? Čeho? Komu? Čemu? Koho? Co? Kdo!Co! Kom? Čem? Kým? Čím?

Note: In Czech school grammar, cases are not given names but simply numbers. Academic grammars use the internationally recognized Latinate names.

Adjectives When talking about adjectives, we can identify these features:

CASE NUMBER GENDER KIND

as nouns as nouns as nouns hard, soft and possessive

(pád) (číslo) (rod) (druh)

Pronouns For pronouns, we can identify these features:

Here are some examples of pronouns of different kinds:

CASE NUMBER KIND

as above as above personal, possessive, demonstrative, reflexive, relative, interrogative, indefinite and negative

PERSONAL POSSESSIVE DEMONSTRATIVE REFLEXIVE RELATIVE INTERROGATIVE INDEFINITE NEGATIVE

já, ty, on, ona, (ono), my, vy, oni můj, tvůj, jeho, její, ... ten, ta, to, tento, tato, tamta, ... se, si, sám, ... který, jaký, čí, kdo, co (they start a clause) který, jaký, čí, kdo, co (they start a question) někdo, nějaký, něco, málokdo, ... nikdo, nic, nijaký, žádný, ničí, ...

Numerals When we talk about numerals, we can identify: Here are some examples of numerals of different kinds:

CASE KIND

CARDINAL ORDINAL MULTIPLICATION GENERIC

as above cardinal, ordinal, multiplication and generic jedna, dva, tři, čtyři, ... první, druhy, třetí, ... jednou, dvakrát, třikrát, ... jedny, dvoje, troje, ...

(one, two, …) (first, second, …) (once, twice, …) (a pair of, two pairs of, ...)

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Verbs For verbs we can identify these features:

PERSON NUMBER TENSE VOICE MOOD ASPECT CATEGORY

1st, 2nd or 3rd as above past, present or future active or passive indicative, imperative, conditional perfective or imperfective 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th (5th)

(osoba) (číslo) (čas) (rod) (způsob) (vid) (druh)

Here are some examples to give you an idea of what to imagine under verb categories: dělám: I'm doing nespi (!): don't sleep byl postaven: was built

1st person, singular, present, active, imperfective, 2nd category, and indicative mood in the following sentence: Dělám domácí úkol. 2nd person, singular, present, active, imperative, imperfective, 4th category 3rd person, singular, past, passive, perfective, 3rd category, and indicative mood in the following sentence: Tento hrad byl postaven v 11. století. (This castle was built in the 11th century.)

Adverbs Adverbs express various circumstances of events (place = místo, time = čas, reason = důvod, manner = způsob) or grade of quality. They join verbs, adjectives or other adverbs. Here are some examples of types of adverbs: tady (here - place) brzy (early/soon - time) proto (therefore - reason) rychle (quickly - manner) velmi (very - grade of quality)

Prepositions There are many prepositions in the Czech language. After certain prepositions we use certain cases of nouns. Sometimes the case you use changes the meaning of the preposition. These prepositions take only one case: od, do, z(ze), u, blízko, vedle, kromě, bez naproti, k(ke), proti pro, přes, skrz, mimo po, o, v (ve) s (se)

Koho?Čeho? Komu?Čemu? Koho?Co? Kom?Čem? Kým?Čím?

These prepositions take two different cases to express different meanings: na nad, mezi, pod, před, za

Kde? Kom?Čem? Kým?Čím?

Kam? Koho?Co? Koho?Co?

Czech prepositions, unlike English, are always followed by other words - they never occur at the end of a sentence. Dům, o kterém jsem mluvil, ...

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The house I talked about ...

Nouns Na koho čekáš? Je těžké s ním pracovat.

Who are you waiting for? He is difficult to work with.

Moreover, unlike English, there are no “prepositional adverbs” in Czech. Od té doby jsem tam nebyl. Nikdo v domě není.

I haven't been there since. There is nobody in.

Conjunctions They connect clauses, or words in sentences. Here are some common conjunctions: a, i, nebo, ale, když, protože, že, kdyby Note that Czech prepositions (with the notable exception of a) are always preceded by a comma. In Czech, you always have to use the conjunction že for that in the following sentences: Myslím si, že to vím. Vím, že mám pravdu.

I think (that) I know it. I know (that) I am right.

Particles They usually start a sentence and they indicate the kind of the sentence question, command, exclamation. They often express wishes. Ať žije královna! Kéž by pršelo!

Long live the Queen! I wish it rained!

Interjections They express moods, emotions and will. They point to someone or something, or mark voices or noise. ach (oh), au (ouch), br (sound make to indicate a feeling of cold), fuj (yuck), bác (bam), bim – bam (sound indicating bell tolling), haf (woof), ...

Word order - Slovosled (Syntax) The Czech sentence is described as having two basic parts: subject podmět Petr Petr

predicate (verb) přísudek čte. reads.

This core can be extended by an object (předmět): subject podmět Petr Petr

predicate (verb) přísudek Čte Reads

object předmět knihu. a book.

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Each of these core parts of the sentence (větné členy) can be further elaborated by adding adjectives and/or possessive pronouns to the nouns, and adverbs and/or prepositional phrases to the verbs. attribute přívlastek

subject podmět

predicate přísudek

Náš Our

Petr Petr

čte reads

!

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adverbial příslovečné určení rychle quickly

attribute přívlastek

object předmět

hezkou a nice

knihu book

adverbial příslovečné určení v parku. in the park.

The actual order of the parts of the sentence is comparatively free. The following order would also be possible: Náš Petr čte v parku rychle hezkou knihu. (stressing the hezkou knihu). The order of words in a sentence is used to emphasize certain words. The words that are placed towards the end of the sentence are emphasized.

Nouns How and when Czech words change their forms Category*

Case

Nouns Who, What

Adjectives What like

Endings change based on function in sentence and prepositions.

Endings change following the nouns it modifies and/or the adjective’s function in the sentence.

Pronouns who, what, those e.g. he, his, it, …

Numerals how many, what order, times

Forms change Endings change depending on function, preposition or position in the sentence.

Verbs actions, states

Doesn’t change with case but determines what case nouns, pronouns, adjectives and numerals will take.

Singular/ Plural Different ending for Different ending for Different form for

Different form for different numbers.

1, 2 and all ordinal Changes ending in the numerals change past tense only. ending based on the noun they count.

different numbers.

different numbers.

different numbers.

Gender

Can belong to one of three genders (masculine*, feminine, neuter)

Changes ending Some change ending based on the gender based on the gender of of the noun it the noun it relates to. follows.

Palatalization

Certain ending in Certain ending in Certain ending in certain cases soften certain cases soften certain cases soften the the final consonant. the final consonant. final consonant. 1st (I), 2nd (you), 3rd (he, she, it)

Tense

Past, present, future.

Voice

Active and passive. Some nouns formed Some adjectives from verbs reflect formed from verbs aspect. reflect aspect.

Conditional Superlatives/ Comparatives

Never change their form but require nouns, pronouns, adjectives and numeral following them to change case.

Changes ending in the past, present and future tenses.

Person

Aspect

Adverbs Prepositions how, when, when, where, where… e.g. in, at, before

Perfective and imperfective. If I could, I would.

bigger, biggest

more slowly, most slowly

* Outside this system lie Conjunctions (and, if, or), Interjections (ouch!) and Particles (thus) which never change their form or influence other words to

change form. Note: Some pronouns function as conjunctions (who, which, whose – so called relative pronouns) and of course change their form with all the categories relevant to pronouns. ** Masculine nouns and adjectives can be either animate or inanimate thus in effect multiplying the number of genders to four.

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language How parts of speech interact when combined in a sentence Across follows Noun Adjective Pronoun Numeral Verb Down Typically joined Archaic or poetic Archaic or poetic Archaic or poetic Noun either Noun by genitive

use

Adjective

Adjective modifies noun

One elaborates the other

Pronoun

Some pronouns Work in determine the conjunction noun

Numeral

Counting the noun

Verb

Noun either Adjective subject Pronoun subject Numeral subject or object or object or object of verb

Work in conjunction

use

Counting pronoun

use

subject or object

Work in conjunction

Adjective subject Adverb modifies or object adjective

Work in conjunction

Pronoun subject or object of verb

Adds on to another

Numeral object or subject

Work in conjunction

One forces the other into infinitive

Adverb modifies verb

Adverb modifies adjective

Adverb

Adverb

Preposition

Adverb modifies One elaborates verb the other

Preposition Determines case Determines case Determines case Determines case of noun

of adjective

of pronoun

of numeral

Other parts of speech (Conjunctions, Interjections, Particles) work independently as part of the sentence as a whole. Blank cells indicate a word order not found in Czech (e.g. Prepositions never follow any other part of speech. Or adverbs don’t follow prepositions in a way that modifies the adverb. But adverbs may precede an adjective in a phrase that is preceded by a preposition as in, “in a very long book”.

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Nouns

Nouns Gender What is gender? Gender is a feature of nouns which governs the form of numbers, pronouns, and adjectives. It helps match them together. If a noun is of a certain gender, then the pronoun or adjective specifying it must have a corresponding ending (thus ten bílý dům vs ta bílá kniha - that-masculine white-masculine house vs. that-feminine white-feminine book). English only has natural gender (used for males and females) but other languages assign gender to everything. Gender is present in French, Spanish and German. For the most part, you have to learn which words have what gender. Czech has three genders (like German and unlike French with two). They are masculine, feminine, and neuter. You can think about gender using the following metaphor. For Czechs every object is either a man, a woman, or a child. Different genders behave differently and other words have to approach them with different forms. For instance “juice, coke, wine” (džus, kola, víno) are all of a different gender (whereas in English they are all neuter). Thus, dobrý džus, dobrá kola, dobré víno mean respectively “good-man juice, good-woman coke, good-child wine.” This comparison is true to a certain degree. It is one of the reasons why Czechs think it funny when students mix the gender. Ha, ha, ha, dobrá džus (good-woman juice), imagine that.

Summary of agreement rules! The chart below summarizes the rules of agreement between nouns and adjectives in singular and plural of the Kdo? Co? case. Singular Masculine mužský rod

Plural muž

TEN

dobrý

!

TA

dobrá

Neuter střední rod

TO

dobré

THIS

good

dobří

rohlík čaj

Feminine ženský rod

TI

káva

rohlíky TY

dobré

rýže pivo

čaje kávy rýže

TA

dobrá

pití ......

muži

piva pití

THESE

good

......

Masculine (TEN) nouns are further divided into animate and inanimate. This is reflected in plural agreement. In present day spoken Czech, the distinction is not always reflected but it is strictly required in the written form. In fact, this has led some grammarians to claim that Czech has four genders.

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language How to tell the gender of a noun In Czech, you can tell the gender from the ending about 80% of the time. The general rule is: -C = masculine, -a = feminine, and -o = neuter (the exceptions are feminines ending in a soft consonant or e, and neuters ending in e or í; there are also a few masculines that end in a or rarely e). Here are a few gender indicators to look out for.

There are some which are almost exception proof: b, g, k, h, ch, d, r, p, n, m, l = ten rohlík (roll); oběd (lunch ); a = ta Praha, voda, kola, houska o = to město (city); í = to nádraží (train station) There are only a handful of ten nouns with a for an ending: chleba (bread), předseda (chairman), and one ta noun with í in paní (Mrs.).

The rest are shared by two genders about 50/50: e s, t, v, c, j, č, ž, š, ř

= ta/to = ten/ta

restaurace, rýže čaj, muž

kuře, moře kolej, noc, daň

You see that Czech ten nouns are divided into hard and soft (according to the consonant they end in). The soft are willing to share their endings with female nouns while hard are unmistakable.

Number This one aspect of nouns has to do with singular and plural. The endings of singular and plural can be found in the chart in the section on Models.

Case What is case? The word case refers to a word form used to describe relationships between things in the world. For instance, who does what to whom. In Czech, it is expressed through different endings. Nouns, pronouns, numerals and adjectives all use case to express things like being an object (receiver) or a subject (initiator), or belonging to something. With prepositions, case tells you about directionality and locality. Sometimes a case is required by other words, e.g. if something belongs to something.  In the English sentence, Petr has a son the relationship between Petr and his son is set by the fact that the word Petr precedes the verb and the word son follows it. In Czech, this doesn't mean much, since the word order is more flexible, and therefore the two words have different forms: Petr_ má syna. Thanks to the endings, you can also say Syna má Petr and the meaning is the same.  From a purely mathematical standpoint, case is a set of all the forms which all the individual words of Czech assume when playing the influenced role.1  From a more human standpoint, case is the form of a word which tells you what its role in the sentence is. To be even more mathematical, case is a function between a set of words and a set of endings. 1

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Nouns 

All verbs and prepositions require the words that follow them to change form (i.e. add an ending).  The names of the cases are not important, however. What really matters, is how the case is used in the language. Also, the best speakers of Czech will give you a mere blank look when asked about Accusative. For a summary of all the case endings of Czech nouns see below.

What are the Czech cases? Czech has six cases. In English, they are expressed either through word order or prepositions. For example: A friend wrote. He is a friend. subject Kamarád napsal. Je kamarád. A friend wrote a letter. A friend of our family wrote a letter. A friend of our family wrote a letter to Jana. A friend of our family wrote a letter to Jana in a car. A friend of our family wrote a letter to Jana in a car with a fountain pen. A friend is here. He is a friend. I see a friend.

object of sth/sb to something /somebody in/about/... sth/sb with/by/thr ough sth/sb or subject object

Kamarád napsal dopis. Kamarád naší rodiny napsal dopis. Kamarád naší rodiny napsal dopis Janě. Kamarád naší rodiny napsal dopis Janě v autě. Kamarád naší rodiny napsal dopis Janě v autě plnícím perem. Kamarád je tady. Je kamarád. Vidím kamaráda.

This is a story of a friend.

of sth/sb

To je příběh kamaráda.

I gave a book to a friend.

to sth/sb

Dal jsem knihu kamarádovi.

in/about/... sth/sb with/by/thr ough sth/sb or subject

To je příběh o kamarádovi.

This is a story about a friend. I will come with a friend

A book is here. It is a book. I have a book. A page of the book. He admitted to the book.

He wrote it in the book. He hit him with the book.

Přijdu s kamarádem.

Kniha je tady. Je to kniha.

object

Mám knihu.

of sth/sb

Strana knihy.

to something /somebody in/about/... sth/sb with/by/thr ough sth/sb

Přiznal se k té knize.

Napsal to v té knize. Uhodil ho tou knihou.

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language The underlined words or endings have equivalent functions in both languages. All the cases, except the subject, can be used with prepositions. The in/about ... sth/sb is only used with a preposition. You can ask for all the italicized words using question words WHO? and WHAT? What is it? What do you have? With whom will you come? In Czech, it is the same only there is a different form of Who? What? for each case. Therefore the cases are named by their Czech Who? What? questions, which is how Czech children learn them in school. The cases are also numbered. In English, they are known by their Latin names. You can see that summarized in the chart below. The cases are listed in the same order as in the examples above. Note: In textbooks and grammar books you find 7 cases but one is only used for addressing people, and does not express any relationship between things in the world. Therefore it is best learned separately, and is mostly confusing when listed with the other forms.

Summary of Czech cases Kdo? Co?

subject

1st – první pád

Nominative

Koho? Co?

object

4th – čtvrtý pád

Accusative

Koho? Čeho?

of sth/sb

2nd – druhý pád

Genitive

Komu? Čemu?

to something /somebody

3rd – třetí pád

Dative

(v/o) Kom? Čem?

in/about/... sth/sb

6 th – šestý pád

Locative

Kým? Čím?

with/by/through sth/sb

7th – sedmý pád

Instrumental

The traditional ordering of cases is 1. Nominative, 2. Genitive, 3. Dative, 4. Accusative, 5. Vocative (see below), 6. Locative, 7. Instrumental. This, however, reflects neither logical progression nor frequency. The order used in this book is a compromise between logical progression and frequency.

Kdo? Co? - Nominative - 1. pád - 1st case Function  

Subject is the main function of this case. It is never found after a preposition.

Form This is the basic form of all words. It is found in the dictionary. Gender can be best determined based on Kdo? Co? form in instances where it is possible. See gender. Ten (masculine) Animate Sg

kamarád

Pl

-i

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muž

Ta ( feminine)

To (neuter)

Inanimate rohlík

čaj

poradce

policista

voda

rýže

daň

noc

pivo

kuře

nádraží

moře

-y

-e

-i

-é

-y



-ě

-i

-a

- ata





Nouns Exceptions in plural Nominative plural TEN animate:

Kamarád nouns ending in -an may end in -i as well as -é. Angličan :

Angličani ,

Angličané

Američan :

Američani ,

Američané

Kamarád nouns ending in -tel end in -é. učitel :

učitelé ,

ředitel :

ředitelé

Kamarád one-syllable nouns end in -ové mostly in national names. Fin : Finové,

Rus : Rusové,

Švéd : Švédové,

Ital : Italové

Some Kamarád nouns change the ending accordingto the last consonant: právník Čech doktor pstruh

kc ch  š r ř hz

právníci Češi doktoři pstruzi

Koho? Co? - Accusative - 4. pád - 4th case Function  

Koho? Co? is the most frequent case of the Czech language. The Latin name suggests accusing, therefore, relationship of influence between two objects, people, or objects and people. Its main function is the object of the sentence. It is used with some prepositions (like na) to indicate directionality.

 

Form Ten (masculine) Animate

Ta ( feminine)

To (neuter)

Inanimate

kamarád

muž

rohlík

čaj

poradce

policista

voda

rýže

daň

noc

pivo

kuře

nádraží

moře

Sg

-a

-e







-u

-u

-i













Pl

-y

-e

-y

-e



-y

-y



-ě

-i

-a

-ata





(Chleba is an exception and doesn’t follow the model of policista and doesn’t change with this case.)

Most common verbs This case is used as the object with most verbs. Here are the most common ones: dělat (do), znát (know), umět (know how to do), vidět (see), číst (read), psát (write), nést (carry), koupit (buy) Reflexive verbs with se such as bát se (to be afraid, to fear) cannot be followed by this case because se already is already in the accusative. The exception is učit se (to study/learn) which can have an object in the accusative in modern Czech although historically it required a dative. Reflexive verbs with si such as brát si (take), umýt si (wash [one’s hands]), koupit si (buy) can require an accusative.

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Most common prepositions This case is used when nouns follow prepositions. The meaning is then typically that of movement or direction. It is frequently used in contrast with the Locative (Kom? Čem?) which signifies static location. na – na diskotéku (to the disco) vs. na diskotéce (at the disco) před (in front of), za (behind), nad (above), pod (beneath) – always meaning in the direction o – typically used with Locative but takes Accusative in the meaning of “bet something”, i.e. vsadit se o stovku (bet a thousand) v – typically used with Locative but takes Accusative in the meaning of “believe in”, i.e. věřit v boha (believe in God), Days of the week also take Accusative after v.

Koho? Čeho? - Genitive - 2. pád - 2nd case Function  

The core meaning of this case is belonging. It is equivalent to the English of. It is used with many prepositions: z, ze (from), bez (without), do ( to), od (from), blízko (close to), vedle ( next to), během ( during), kromě ( except, besides), … The partitive genitive is used after units of weights and measures and after other words denoting quantity. deset deka sýra, litr mléka, kilo pomerančů, půl hodiny, málo cukru, hodně kávy, trochu mléka,… Kolik šunky chcete? In plural, this case is used with numbers above 4.





Form Ten (masculine) Animate

Ta ( feminine)

To (neuter)

Inanimate

kamarád

muž

rohlík

čaj

poradce

policista

voda

rýže

daň

noc

pivo

kuře

nádraží

moře

Sg

-a

-e

-u/a

-e



-y

-y



-ě

-i

-a

-ete





Pl

-ů



-í

-í

-í



- at



-í

Singular The model of rohlík has two alternative endings. You have to memorize which words use which ending. Rohlík nouns end in -a mostly in months. leden – ledna, únor – února, březen – března, duben – dubna, květen – května, červen – června (The only regular month is listopad – listopadu) and in place names ending in -ýn/-ín or –ov: Londýn – Londýna, Berlín – Berlína, Krumlov – Krumlova Rohlík and čaj nouns end in -ek, -ec, -en drop “e” before the ending hrnek – hrnku, prosinec – prosince, březen - března Plural

Rýže nouns ending in -ice, -ile lose the final -e () as in ulice – ulic, košile – košil, Strakonice – Strakonic, stanice - stanic

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Nouns Voda and pivo nouns drop their vowel endings (  ) and therefore end in consonant clusters difficult to pronounce. To aid pronunciation -e- is inserted. kamarádka – kamarádek, tužka – tužek, barva – barev, divadlo – divadel Some nouns shorten their stem vowel. jméno – jmen, chvíle – chvil, peníze - peněz

Most common verbs This case is used as the object of several important verbs. zeptat/ptát se někoho na něco (ask somebody about something) bát se něčeho (to be afraid of something)

Most common prepositions This case is used with many directional prepositions. do (to, into) z (from inside) od (from edge of) u (by, at, near), blízko (near)

Komu? Čemu? - Dative - 3. pád - 3rd case Function   

Indirect object (John gave the book to Mary) With prepositions k (to, toward) and naproti (opposite). The endings in singular are identical with those of (o) Kom? Čem? (Locative) Case.

Form Ten (masculine) Animate

Ta ( feminine)

To (neuter)

Inanimate

kamarád

muž

rohlík

čaj

poradce

policista

voda

Sg

-ovi, u

-ovi, i

-u

-i

-i

-ovi

-ě

Pl

-ům

-ám

rýže

daň

-i -ím

noc

pivo

kuře

-u

-eti

-ům

-atům

nádraží

moře



-i -ím

Two or more consecutive TEN nouns in the dative use a different ending each. This is very common with names. The last noun ends in -ovi and all preceding nouns end in -u. For example: k Pavlovi, panu doktorovi, panu doktoru Havlovi, panu doktoru Pavlu Havlovi TA nouns change endings:  banka k bance kc  sprcha proti sprše ch  š  opera k opeře r ř  Praha k Praze hz Olga k Olze gz

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Most common verbs This case is used as the second or indirect object of verbs. The first object is typically accusative. dát něco někomu (give something [acc.] to somebody]) volat, telefonovat někomu (call, phone somebody) věřit někomu (believe somebody) ublížit někomu (hurt somebody)

Most common prepositions This case is used especially with one important preposition. k (toward) – Půjdu k Petrovi. I will go to Peter.

(o) Kom? Čem? - Locative - 6. pád - 6th case Function This case is only used with prepositions which indicate locality and static nature.

Form Ten (masculine) Animate

Sg Pl

Ta ( feminine)

To (neuter)

Inanimate

kamarád

muž

rohlík

čaj

poradce

policista

voda

-ovi -u -ech

-ovi -i

-u -ě

-i

-i

-ovi

-ě

-ech

-ách

- ích

rýže

daň

-i -ích

noc

pivo

kuře

-u -ě

-eti

-ech

-atech

nádraží

moře



-i

Notice that the endings in singular are identical to those of the Komu? Čemu?(Dative) case.

TEN nouns in the singular of Kamarád may have two endings in singular: -ovi, -u. -ovi is usually used with names, but only for the last word in a sequence and -u for all the preceding words. o Pavlovi, panu doktorovi,panu doktoru Havlovi, panu doktoru Pavlu Havlovi

Singular exceptions In the singular the ending -e is realized in the following ways: after -l-, -s-,-z- in the singular of Rohlík , Voda , Pivo. dopis – v dopise, obraz – na obraze, škola – ve škole, divadlo – v divadle after –k-, -ch-, -r-, -h-, -g- in the singular of Voda  banka v bance kc  sprcha ve sprše ch  š  opera v opeře rř  Praha v Praze hz Olga o Olze gz

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-ích

Nouns (Note also papír – na papíře) In the singular the ending -ě is realized in the following ways: after -b-, -p-, -v-, -f-, -m- in the singular of Rohlík, Voda, Pivo ryba - v rybě, káva – v kávě, Harfa – na Harfě, zima – v zimě after -d-, -t-, -n- in the singular of Rohlík, Voda, Pivo oběd – na obědě, auto – v autě, kino – v kině In the singular the ending -u of Rohlík, Pivo is preferred especially after -k-, -h-, -g-, -ch-. Polsko – v Polsku, roh – na rohu, Peking – v Pekingu, ucho – v uchu In the singular Pivo and Rohlík have an alternative ending for same words which have to be memorized.

TEN nouns in the plural of Kamarád, Rohlík, Pivo ending in -k-, -h-, -g-, -ch- end in -ích.   vlak ve vlacích k  c dialog v dialozích gz 

Čech

o Češích

ch  š



roh

v rozích

hz

Kým? Čím? - Instrumental - 7. pád - 7th case Function 

Used as an equivalent of with, by, through, via i.e. to describe instruments and means. Often used with prepositions such as s (with).



Form Ten (masculine) Animate kamarád

muž

Sg Pl

Ta ( feminine)

rohlík

čaj

poradce

- em -y

To (neuter)

Inanimate

-i

-y

-i

-i

policista

voda

-ou

-ou

-y

-ami

rýže

daň

noc

-í / -ě / -i - emi

pivo

kuře

-em -etem - y -aty

nádraží

moře

- ím

- em

-ími

-i

Most common verbs This case is mostly used with prepositions. There are only a few verbs that take it as their second object. zabít někoho něčím (kill somebody [acc.] with something) překvapit někoho něčím (surprise somebody [acc.] with something) rozbít něco něčím (break something [acc.] with something)

Most common prepositions This case is used with several important prepositions and has the meaning of location. s (with) – omeleta se sýrem (omelette with cheese) před (in front of), za (behind), pod (underneath), nad (above, over)

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Rules for changing people's names when addressing them – another case? The first thing to remember: in Czech, when you address someone you have to change the ending of their name. It really does make a lot of difference in establishing communication, even if you are speaking with the person in English. Expect that Czechs will change your name, too, when speaking to you in Czech. The second thing to remember: in polite conversation with someone older than you, or someone you don't know well always use their academic title rather than their name. Thus saying something like Mr. Doctor.

Men Ending



Address

Examples

-b, -d, -f, -l, -n, -p, -r, -t, -v

+

-e

Roman  Romane, Michal  Michale, Martin  Martine, Josef  Josefe,

-CeC (only the above)



-CCe

Karel  Karle, Pavel  Pavle

-Cr



-Cř

Petr  Petře

-č, -š, -ř, -ž, -j, c, -s

+

-i

Tomáš  Tomáši, Lukáš  Lukáši,

-k, -h, -ch, -g

+

-u

Patrik  Patriku, Dominik  Dominiku, Jindřich  Jindřichu, Greg  Gregu

-a



-o

Jirka  Jirko, Honza  Honzo, Franta  Franto

Ending



Address

Examples

-a

-o

Jana  Jano, Katka  Katko, Veronika  Veroniko

-e

 =

-e

Lucie  Lucie, Marie  Marie

any nocsonant

=

no change

Karin  Karin, Dagmar  Dagmar

Women

How to address people with their full names Same rules as for first names apply for surnames. You always prefix the surname with Mr. (pan) Novák Novotný Malá

Mrs (paní). pane Nováku pane Novotný paní Malá

Female surnames always end in á.

How to address people with academic titles This is very important. You only use the polite Mr. or Mrs. with the title without the name. Men: pan magistr dr. Novák ing. Pinc

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pane magistře pane doktore pane inženýre

Women: Mgr. Reslová PhDr. Nováková ing. Pincová

paní magistro paní doktorko paní inženýrko

Nouns doc. Šebák pane docente doc. Šebáková paní docentko prof. Machovec pane profesore prof. Machovec paní profesorko Note that the female titles append ka to them, which obviously changes to ko when addressing.

Model Endings on nouns are called declination. Model is a pattern of declination. There are fifteen models of Czech nouns, including the more prominent sub-models. They are all listed in the chart below. Traditionally, rohlík and les are the same model. They only differ slightly in some cases. Model and case are often used to mean the same thing. In fact, model describes which ending a word will take in a certain case.

How to figure out what other forms a word has? What you have to look for in the word is the ending. An ending is a sound or a syllable which is either added to the words (like učitel - učitele) or replaces the last vowel in the word (like chytrý - chytrého). The most common place where words have different forms in English, is plural, third person singular verbs, and past tense. It is easy for some. For instance, plural (boys boy), third person singular verbs (he means - I mean) and past tense (believed believe), but for literally hundreds of words you have to learn their other forms by rote (sheep - sheep, oxen - ox; does - do, can - can; go - went, think - thought). After a very long time, the finesse comes. For example, you learn how to correctly pronounce endings that are written the same but pronounced differently (e.g. thinks-things), or you start observing sub-patterns in irregularities (think-thought, bring-brought, wringwrought). Very much the same holds for Czech.

Irregular plural Irregular plural forms dítě ruka oko ucho člověk

děti ruce oči uši lidi

child - children hands eyes ears man/person people

Plural only šortky kalhoty hodinky noviny potraviny peníze České Budějovice, Malešice, Hodkovice .... Čerčany, Vodňany, Vinohrady ....

shorts pants watch newspaper grocery store money town name town name

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language How to say "a pair of shorts, two pairs of … , ten pairs of …" All of the above plural words can be counted using a special form of numbers: jedny dvoje troje čtvery patery šestery sedmery …

šortky, kalhoty, hodinky, noviny, .... šortky, kalhoty, hodinky, noviny, .... šortky, kalhoty, hodinky, noviny, .... šortky, kalhoty, hodinky, noviny, .... šortky, kalhoty, hodinky, noviny, .... šortky, kalhoty, hodinky, noviny, .... šortky, kalhoty, hodinky, noviny, ....

one pair of ... two pairs of ... three pairs of ... four pairs of ... five pairs of ... six pairs of ... seven pairs of ...

desatery

šortky, kalhoty, hodinky, noviny, ....

ten pairs of ...

Softening – Palatalization Some endings in Czech nouns soften the preceding consonant. The endings are: Kdo? Co? TEN animate nouns plural (kamarád), and Komu? Čemu?/Kom? Čem? TA nouns in singular (voda)

TEN animate nouns - kamarád, doktor, odborník ... kc ch  š rř hz

odborník  odborníci Čech  Češi doktor  doktoři pstruh  pstruzi

(expert) (Czech) (doctor) (trout)

TA nouns - Praha, voda, taška kc ch  š rř hz

!

banka  bance sprcha  sprše opera  opeře Praha Praze

(bank) (shower) (opera) (Prague)

Endings that cause palatalization are typically marked with an asterisk (*) in the charts in this book.

Palatalization of Adjectives See section on adjectives.

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All models of czech nouns - Case Endings Singular

Ten

Ta

To

Kdo? Co?

kamarád

Koho? Co?

-a

Koho? Čeho?

-a

-e

-u /-a



Komu? Čemu?

-ovi /-u

-i/ -ovi

-u

-i

-ovi

-ě /-e

-i

(o) Kom? Čem?

-u /-ovi

-i /-ovi

-u /-e / -ě

-i

-ovi

-ě*/-e

muž

čaj

rohlík

poradce policista

voda



-e

Kým? Čím?

-em

Plural

rýže

-u

-i

-y



-i*

Koho? Co?

-y

-i

-e -e

noc

pivo

kuře

-ě

-i

-i

-y

-e

-é

-y -y



-a

-ete

-u

-eti



-i

-i

-u/-ě* -eti



-i

-í

-em -etem

-ím

-em

Ta

-y

nádraží moře



-ou

Ten

Kdo? Co?

daň

To



-ě

-i

-a

-ata





-ě

-i

-a

-ata



-at

Koho? Čeho?

-ů



-í



Komu? Čemu?

-ům

-ám

-ím

-ům -atům

-ím

-ích

-ech -atech

-ích

(o) Kom? Čem? Kým? Čím?

-ech

-ích

-ách*

-ích

-ech

-ách

-y

-i

-y

-i

-y

-ami -emi -ěmi -emi

-y

-aty



-ími

Asterisk (*) signifies endings that change the form of the last consonant in the word. See section Palatalizacion – Softening above.

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-í

-i

Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Lesser and Foreign Models of Czech Nouns Singular Kdo? Co?

Masculine Jiří* les

Koho? Co?

Jiřího

les

Komu? Čemu?

Jiřímu

lesu

Koho? Čeho?

Jiřího

lesa

Kom? Čem?

Jiřím

lese

Kým? Čím?

Jiřím

lesem

Plural Kdo? Co? Koho? Co? Komu? Čemu?

Masculine lesy lesy lesům

virus† Spartakus virus Spartaka viru Spartakovi viru Spartaka viru Spartakovi virem Spartakovi

viry viry virům

Feminine Karen** idea Ally

Neuter muzeum album‡

téma

Karen Ally Karen Ally Karen Ally Karen Ally Karen Ally

ideu

muzeum

téma

ideji

muzeu

tématu

ideje

muzea

témata/u

ideji

muzeu

tématu

idejí/ou

muzeem

tématem

Feminine ideje ideje idejím

Koho? Čeho?

-

lesů

virů

-

idejí

Kom? Čem?

-

lesích

virech

-

idejích

Kým? Čím?

-

lesy

viry

-

idejemi/ami

Neuter muzea muzea muzeím albům muzeí alb muzeích albech muzei alby

Some of these models are fairly common (such as museum/album) while others only apply to a few nouns. Les is the only lesser model used almost exclusively for nouns of Czech origin. * This model is only used for male names ending in –í of which Jiří is the only Czech example. However, it is also used for all foreign male names ending in –y such as Henry, Woody. ** This model is only used for female names of foreign origin ending in a consonant or –y. All forms are the same. † Nouns belonging to this model contain many exceptions. Some can take the endings on regular masculine inanimates ending in a hard consonant (e.g. status, status, statusu, statusu, statusu, statusem) and sometimes the declension is mixed. This varies much from speaker to speaker. Autobus doesn’t belong to the model. If the noun ending in –us is a name such as Spartakus, Ikarus, etc., then regular kamarád endings replace the –us. ‡ Album only differs from museum in the plural. The difference is whether the –um is preceded by a vowel or a consonant.

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témata témata tématům témat tématech tématy

Adjectives There are two types of adjectives in Czech. One type ends in a hard consonant + ý, á, é; and the other in a soft consonant + í in the Kdo? Co? case.

Hard Adjectives Adjectives where the last consonant is: -h-, -ch-, -k-, -r-, -d-, -t-, -n- (see Pronunciation for more details). Singular

ten (živý)

ten (neživý)

ta

to

Kdo? Co?

dobrý

kamarád

dobrý

banán

dobrá

voda

dobré

pivo

Koho? Co?

dobrého

kamaráda

dobrý

banán

dobrou

vodu

dobré

pivo

Koho? Čeho?

dobrého

kamaráda

dobrého

banánu

dobré

vody

dobrého

piva

Komu? Čemu?

dobrému

kamarádovi

dobrému

banánu

dobré

vodě

dobrému

pivu

(o) Kom? Čem?

dobrém

kamarádovi

dobrém

banánu

dobré

vodě

dobrém

pivu

Kým? Čím?

dobrým

kamarádem

dobrým

banánem

dobrou

vodou

dobrým

pivem

Plural

ti (živí)

ty (neživý)

ty

ta

Kdo? Co?

dobří*

kamarádi

dobré

banány

dobré

vody

dobrá

piva

Koho? Co?

dobré

kamarády

dobré

banány

dobré

vody

dobrá

piva

Koho? Čeho?

dobrých

kamarádů

dobrých

banánů

dobrých

vod

dobrých

piv

Komu? Čemu?

dobrým

kamarádům

dobrým

banánům

dobrým

vodám

dobrým

pivům

(o) Kom? Čem?

dobrých

kamarádech

dobrých

banánech

dobrých

vodách

dobrých

pivech

Kým? Čím?

dobrými

kamarády

dobrými

banány

dobrými

vodami

dobrými

pivy

* this ending softens the preceding consonant (see Palatalization)

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Soft Adjectives Adjectives where the last consonant is: -ž-, -č-, -š-, -ř-, -c-, -j-,-ď-, -ť-, -ň- (see Pronunciation for more details). Note: Remember that d, t, n when followed by i, í, or ě are pronounced ď, ť, ň. Singular

ten (živý)

ten (neživý)

ta

to

Kdo? Co?

první

kamarád

první

banán

první

voda

první

pivo

Koho? Co?

prvního

kamaráda

první

banán

první

vodu

první

pivo

Koho? Čeho?

prvního

kamaráda

prvního

banánu

první

vody

prvního

piva

Komu? Čemu?

prvnímu

kamarádovi

prvnímu

banánu

první

vodě

prvnímu

pivu

(o) Kom? Čem?

prvním

kamarádovi

prvním

banánu

první

vodě

prvním

pivu

Kým? Čím?

prvním

kamarádem

prvním

banánem

první

vodou

prvním

pivem

Plural

ten (živý)

ten (neživý)

ta

to

Kdo? Co?

první

kamarádi

první

banány

první

vody

první

piva

Koho? Co?

první

kamarády

první

banány

první

vody

první

piva

Koho? Čeho?

prvních

kamarádů

prvních

banánů

prvních

vod

prvních

piv

Komu? Čemu?

prvním

kamarádům

prvním

banánům

prvním

vodám

prvním

pivům

(o) Kom? Čem?

prvních

kamarádech

prvních

banánech

prvních

vodách

prvních

pivech

Kým? Čím?

prvníma

kamarádama

prvníma

banánama

prvníma

prvníma

pivama

vodama

Softening – Palatalization Czech adjectives in Kdo? Co? TEN animate plural soften the last consonant. The rules for softening the consonant are similar to nouns in the same case. kc ch  š rř hz dď nň tť

sladký  sladcí hluchý  hluší starý  staří drahý  drazí mladý  mladí unavený  unavení zlatý  zlatí

(sweet) (deaf) (old) (expensive) (young) (tired) (golden)

Comparisons or More - Most Summary good dobrý malý levný dobrý lepší

26

better lepší menší levnější

the best nejlepší nejmenší nejlevnější jako ... než ...

good little cheap good like ... better than

nejlepší !

... the best of ...

z koho, čeho ...

ADJECTIVE + noun 

Tomáš je lepší student než já.

(Tomáš is a better

student than I)

ADVERB + verb



Učí se lépe než já.

(He learns better than I do.)

Forming the endings -ejší -ější

levný nový zajímavý moderní

levnější novější zajímavější modernější

nejlevnější nejnovější nejzajímavější nejmodernější

cheap new interesting modern

-ší

mladý starý drahý

mladší starší dražší

nejmladší nejstarší nejdražší (h>ž)

young old expensive

-čí k>č

hezký měkký

hezčí měkčí

nejhezčí nejměkčí

pretty soft

How to Form Adjectives   

Adjectives are words that describe properties of other objects. The question word for adjectives is jaký? vs. co? for nouns. Adjectives can be either genuine (nový dům = new house) or derived (zeleninová pizza = vegetable pizza)

Adjectives not formed from other parts of speech Most adjectives describe properties of other objects by themselves, and are not derived from other words: malý (small), velký (large), celý (whole), žlutý (yellow), bílý (white), nový (new), tvrdý (hard), veselý (cheerful), zdravý (healthy)…

Adjectives derived from nouns Of what substance/ -ový origin: -í

oliva - olivový (olej), zelenina - zeleninový (salát), salám salámová (pizza) včela - včelí (med), ryba - rybí (salát), kuře - kuřecí (řízek)

Mostly from names -ský of occupations, and local names. -cký

muž - mužský, hora - horský, Ostrava - ostravský, Jihlava jihlavský vesnice - vesnický, hora - hornický

Sundry meanings:

-ní -ný

les - lesní, jaro - jarní, kámen - kamenný

!

ní/ný + k/c � č

Který? Jaký?

- roční (pizza), ovčí (sýr)

Adjectives derived from verbs -cí

prací (prášek) balicí (papír) holicí (pěna)

washing (powder-soap) wrapping (paper) shaving (foam)

!

All the above forms are present participles. They are explained in the verbs section.

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Compound Adjectives modrooký (blue-eyed), krátkozraký (near-sighted), černobílý (black and white) světlemodrý (light blue)

Possessive adjectives In English, possession is expressed by –’s. For instance, John’s father, Jana’s book. In Czech, endings -ův or -in are used as in Johnův otec - Janina kniha. They take different forms in different cases. See below. The only reason they are called adjectives is because they are placed in the same position as adjectives and agree in case with the following noun. Otherwise, their endings are similar to those of nouns. They are only really used with nouns that describe animate objects and proper names. Never with nouns like stůl, auto, mléko (the Koho? Čeho? form is used instead).

Kdo? Co?

Koho? Co?

Koho? Čeho?

Komu? Čemu?

(o) Kom? Čem?

Kým? Čím?

!

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Petr Petrův Petrova Petrovo Petrovi Petrovy Petrova Petrovu Petrovo Petrovy Petrova Petrovy Petrova Petrových Petrovu Petrově Petrovu Petrovým Petrovu Petrově Petrovu Petrových Petrovým Petrovou Petrovým Petrovými

Jana Janin Janina Janino Janini Janiny Janina Janinu Janino Janiny Janina Janiny Janina Janiných Janinu Janině Janinu Janiným Janinu Janině Janině Janiných Janiným Janinou Janiným Janinými

kamarád kamarádka auto kamarádi kamarádky kamaráda kamarádku auto kamarády kamaráda kamarádky auta kamarádů kamarádovi kamarádce autu kamarádům kamarádovi kamarádce autu kamarádech kamarádem kamarádkou autem kamarády

TEN TA TO TI TY TEN TA TO TY TEN TA TO TY TEN TA TO TY TEN TA TO TY TEN TA TO TY

In English, the possessive relationship is sometimes expressed by of. In that case, in Czech the Koho? Čeho? case is used. For instance, kamarád Petra.

Pronouns Personal Pronouns Personal pronouns have different forms after prepositions, and at the beginning of sentences. If they are used independently, an unstressed form is used. Prepositions, however, require a stressed form. Já, ty, on have a special form used for when the noun is in the beginning of the sentence or when it is stressed.

Without a preposition Kdo? Co?

já

ty

on

ona

ono

my

vy

oni

Koho? Co?

mě

tě

ji

vás

je

mě

tě

nás

vás

jich

Komu? Čemu? (o) Kom? Čem? Kým? Čím?

mi mně mnou

ti tobě tebou

ho, jej ho, jej mu něm jím

nás

Koho? Čeho?

ho, jej ho, jej mu něm jím

nám nás námi

vám vás vámi

jim nich jimi

jí jí ní jí

After a preposition já na mě

ty na tebe

on ona na něho na ni na něj

Koho? Čeho?

beze mě

bez tebe

bez něho bez ní bez něj

Komu? Čemu? (o) Kom? Čem? Kým? Čím?

ke mně

k tobě

k němu

o mně

o tobě

se mnou

s tebou

Koho? Co?

my na nás

vy na vás

oni na ně

bez nás

bez vás

bez nich

k ní

ono na něho na něj bez něho bez něj k němu

k nám

k vám

k nim

o něm

o ní

o něm

o nás

o vás

o nich

s ním

s ní

s ním

s námi

s vámi

s nimi

In the beginning of a sentence (Strong forms) já Koho? Čeho? Komu? Čemu? Koho? Co?

mně

ty tebe tobě

on jeho jemu

tebe

jeho

Jeho se zeptám. = I will ask HIM. Tobě to dám. = I will give it to YOU. Jeho vidím. = I can see HIM.

The remaining pronouns are identical to the forms of pronouns without preposition.

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Possessive Pronouns Possessive pronouns express the relationship of possession, such as my, your, …, their friend, friends. In Czech, each possessive pronoun has several forms marking both the case and gender of the following noun. Note, also, that Czech possessive pronouns do not have a stressed form like the English mine, yours, …. Kdo? Co?

Koho? Co?

Koho? Čeho?

Komu? Čemu?

(o) Kom? Čem?

Kým? Čím?

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já

ty

můj

on

my

vy

tvůj

náš

váš

moje

tvoje

naše

vaše

moji

tvoji

naši

vaši

TI

moje

tvoje

naše

vaše

TY, TA plural

mého

tvého

našeho

vašeho

TEN animate

můj

tvůj

náš

váš

TEN inanimate

moji

tvoji

naši

vaši

moje

tvoje

naše

vaše

mého

tvého

našeho

vašeho

mojí

tvojí

naší

vaší

mého

tvého

našeho

vašeho

mých

tvých

jejích

našich

vašich

TI,TY,TA plural

mému

tvému

jejímu

našemu

vašemu

TEN

mojí

tvojí

naší

vaší

mému

tvému

našemu

vašemu

mým

tvým

jejím

našim

vašim

TI,TY,TA plural

mém

tvém

jejím

našem

vašem

TEN

mojí

tvojí

naší

vaší

mém

tvém

našem

vašem

mých

tvých

jejich

našich

vašich

TI,TY,TA plural

mým

tvým

jejím

naším

vaším

TEN

mou

tvou

naší

vaší

mým

tvým

naším

vaším

mými

tvými

našimi

vašimi

jeho

ona

její

ono

jeho

jejího jeho

její

jeho

jejího jeho

jeho

jeho

jeho

její jejího

její jejímu

její jejím

její jejím jejími

jeho

jeho

jeho

jeho

oni

GENDER TEN TA

jejich

jejich

TO

TA TO TI,TY,TA,plural TEN

jejich

jejich

jejich

jejich

TA TO

TA TO

TA TO

TA TO TI,TY,TA plural

SVŮJ a tricky possessive pronoun This pronoun is a rough equivalent of the English my own, ..., their own. It is only used when the possessor is also the subject of the sentence. This allows us to differentiate two meanings of He went to visit his brother. : Šel navštívit jeho bratra. (somebody else's) or Šel navštívit svého bratra. (his own) Kdo? Co? Koho? Co?

Koho? Čeho?

Komu? Čemu?

does not exist svého svůj svou, svoji svoje svoje svého své, svojí svého svých svému své, svojí svému svým

(o) Kom? Čem?

svém své, svojí svém svých

Kým? Čím?

svým svou, svojí svým svými

!

kamaráda rohlík vodu pivo kamarády, rohlíky, vody, piva kamaráda, rohlíku vody piva kamarádů, rohlíků, vod, piv kamarádovi, rohlíku vodě pivu kamrádům, rohlíkům, vodám, pivům kamarádovi vodě pivu kamarádech, rohlíkách, vodách, pivech kamarádem vodou pivem kamarády, rohlíky, vodami, pivy

Czechs themselves often make mistakes in using svůj correctly. It is important, however, to be aware of its existence.

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Demonstrative Pronouns Kdo? Co? Sg Pl

Koho? Co? Sg Pl

Koho? Čeho? Sg Pl

Komu? Čemu? Sg Pl

(o) Kom? Kým? (o) Čem? Čím? Sg Pl Sg Pl

ten

ti

toho

ty

toho

těch

tomu

těm

tom

těch

tím

těmi

ten

ty

ten

ty

toho

ty

tomu

těm

tom

těch

tím

těmi

Feminine

ta

ty

tu

ty

té

těch

té

těm

té

těch

tou

těmi

Neuter

to

ta

to

ta

toho

těch

tomu

těm

tom

těch

tím

těmi

Masculine

(animate) Masculine

(inanimate)

Tento, tenhle or tamten are used when we are pointing at one object or person among several others. Ten, ta, to are used if there is no doubt which one we mean. They often correspond to the English the. TADY TEN

TAM

written

spoken

written

spoken

tento

tenhle

ten

tamten

tadyten tenhleten

tamhleten

tadyhleten tadytenhleten TA

tato

tahle

ta

tamta

tadyta tahleta

tamhleta

tadytahleta TO

toto

tohle

to

tamto

tadyto tohleto

tamhleto

tadytohleto this !

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THIS HERE

that

In tento, tenhle etc.. only the ten, ta, to part changes.

THAT OVER THERE

Forms of VŠECHNO (every, all) The singular form is very rarely used except in the neuter, where it means everything. Singular Kdo? Co? Koho? Co? Komu? Čemu? Koho? Čeho? Kom? Čem? Kým? Čím?

Masculine ten všechen toho/ten všechen tomu všemu toho všeho tom všem tím vším

Feminine ta všechna tu všechnu té vší té vší té vší tou vší

Neuter to to tomu toho tom tím

Plural Kdo? Co?

Masculine ti/ty všichni/ všechny ty všechny těm všem těch všech těch všech těmi všemi

Feminine ty všechny

Neuter ta všechna

ty těm těch těch těmi

ta těm těch těch těmi

Koho? Co? Komu? Čemu? Koho? Čeho? Kom? Čem? Kým? Čím?

všechny všem všech všech všemi

všechno všechna všemu všeho všem vším

všechna všem všech všech všemi

Interrogative (relative), Indefinite and Negative Pronouns and Adverbs ? co

Interrogative what

něněco

Indefinite something

ninic

Negative nothing

kdo

who

někdo

somebody

nikdo

nobody

kde

where

někde

somewhere

nikde

nowhere

kdy

when

někdy

sometime

nikdy

never

jaký

what kind

nějaký

some kind of

žádný

none

jak

how

nějak

somehow

nijak

in no way

který

which

některý

some

!

  

co, kdo change in the same manner as the case question words. jaký, který behave as normal adjectives. kdy, kde, jak are adverbs and not pronouns, they were included because they behave in a similar manner

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Examples of usage: Vidím něco.

I see something.

Někdo jde. Někde mám peníze. Někdy si zpívám. Je tu nějaký muž. Nějak to uděláme. Někteří lidé jsou bohatí.

Nevím nic.

I don’t know anything. Somebody is coming. Nikdo to neví. Nobody knows it. I have money Nikde nemám I don’t have a home somewhere. domov. anywhere. Sometimes I sing. Nikdy nemám čas. I never have time. There is some (a) man Není tu žádný There is no man here. here. muž. We will do it somehow. Nijak se to nelepší. It is not getting better in any way. Some people are rich.

Other prefixes There are also other prefixes that can be used with these words. For example: lec-/leda(s) (just any, many) – ledakdo (just anybody), leckde (just anywhere) kde- (pretty much any) – kdekdo, kdeco (cannot be used with kde) (colloquial) málo- (few) of málokdo (few people), málokdy (not often).

Suffixes All of these words can also be used with suffixes which modify their meaning in various ways. Jaký and který take a regular ending before this suffix (e.g. s jakýmsi – with some…). –koli (–ever) as in kdokoli (whoever), kdekoli (wherever), jakýkoli (whichever) etc. –si (some–) used as the archaic equivalent of ně– as in kdosi (someone), cosi (something), kdesi (somewhere), etc. Kdysi is now used mostly in the meaning of long time ago. –pak (quizzical enquiry) as in kdopak (who might it be), copak, kdypak (very colloquial)

Reflexive pronouns The reflexive pronouns refer back to the subject of the sentence. Their general meaning is myself, yourself, itself, ...., themselves. The difference between se/si and sebe/sobě is that between unstressed and stressed form. Kdo? Co?

Koho? Co?

Koho? Čeho?

Komu? Čemu?

Kom? Čem?

Kým? Čím?

unstressed

-

se

-

si

-

-

stressed

-

sebe

sebe

sobě

o sobě

sebou

!

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  

Unlike English, however, Czech only uses one form se or si for all subjects se has the meaning of Koho? Co? si has the meaning of Komu? Čemu?

Uses of SE NO MEANING: verbs where se is only a part of the verb Koho? Čeho? ptát se to ask Komu? Čemu? smát se to laugh Koho? Čeho? bát se to be afraid PASSIVE: se adds the meaning of general subject Kouří se tady? Does one smoke here? Jde se? Shall we go? To se neříká. It's not said. One/you doesn't say that.  RECIPROCITY: signifies relationship between two or more objects Známe se. We know each other. Sejdeme se. We will meet together. Milujeme se. We love each other. Potkáme se. We will meet (run into) one another. !

If a verb has SE, the following noun cannot be in Koho? Co? case.

Uses of SI TO ONESELF Dám si. Koupím si. RECIPROCITY Píšeme si. Dáváme si dary. CASUAL ATTITUDE Vejde si do hospody. Píská si vesele. !

I will have. I will buy. We write to each other. We give each other presents. So, he walks into a bar, just like that. He is whistling away happily.

If a verb has SI, the following noun cannot be in Komu? Čemu? case.

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language

Numerals Counting from 1 to 5 billion 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

jedna dva tři čtyři pět šest sedm osm devět deset

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

deset dvacet třicet čtyřicet padesát šedesát sedmdesát osmdesát devadesát

100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900

jedenáct dvanáct třináct čtrnáct patnáct šestnáct sedmnáct osmnáct devatenáct dvacet

21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

dvacet jedna dvacet dva dvacet tři dvacet čtyři dvacet pět dvacet šest dvacet sedm dvacet osm dvacet devět třicet

sto dvě stě tři sta čtyři sta pět set šest set sedm set osm set devět set

1 000 tisíc 2 000 dva tisíce 5 000 pět tisíc 100 000 sto tisíc 1 000 000 milión 2 000 000 dva milióny 5 000 000 pět miliónů 1 000 000 000 miliarda 2 000 000 dvě miliardy 000 100 sto 1 000 tisíc 5 000 000 pět miliard 000 ! čtyři (4) is pronounced as štyry - this pronunciation is extended to 14, 40, 400, etc.

0 and negative numbers 0 -1

nula mínus jedna

Decimals and Fractions Decimals are written with a comma as in 1,5 which is pronounced celá (whole) as in jedna celá pět. Decimals between 0 and 1 are always pronounced with zero as in 0,2 nula celá dva. Fraction names are formed by adding the ending –ina to the number. pět pětina deset desetina Fractions formed from 2 - 4 have irregular forms dva polovina (half) tři třetina (third) čtyři čtvrtina (quarter)

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Types of numerals Numerals are much trickier in Czech than English. Here is a summary of the different kinds of numerals: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 etc. 14 etc. 20 21 100 1000 !

cardinal jedna dva tři čtyři pět šest sedm osm devět deset

ordinal první druhý třetí čtvrtý pátý šestý sedmý osmý devátý desátý

name jednička dvojka trojka čtyřka pětka šestka sedmička osmička devítka desítka

multiplication jednou dvakrát třikrát čtyřikrát pětkrát šestkrát sedmkrát osmkrát devětkrát desetkrát

generic jedny dvoje troje čtvery patery šestery sedmery osmery devatery desatery

čtrnáct

čtrnáctý

čtrnáctka

čtrnáctkrát

čtrnáctery

dvacet dvacetjedna sto tisíc

dvacátý dvacátýprvní stý tisící

dvacítka jednadvacítka stovka tisícovka

dvacetkrát dvacetjednou stokrát tisíckrát

dvacatery stery tisícery

Numbers like 21, 22, …, 99 are often spelled out in the German or old English manner as jednadvacet, dva a dvacet, …, devět a devadesát.

Case and numbers Yes. Regrettably, all the Czech numbers have cases. Therefore, you use a different form when you say I'll have two dumplings (dám si dva knedlíky) and I'll have it with two dumplings (dám si to se dvěma knedlíky.) Also the endings are different for one, and two, three, four and five and more.

Cardinal numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 Cardinal numbers change with case according to the chart jeden, jedna, -o Kdo? Co? Koho? Co? Koho? Čeho? Komu? Čemu? (o) Kom? Čem? Kým? Čím?

!

ten jeden jeden jednoho jednomu jednom jedním

jednoho

ta jedna jednu jedné jedné jedné jednou

to jedno jedno jednoho jednomu jednom jedním

1 endings are very similar to those of ten, ta, to

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language dva, tři, čtyři Kdo? Co? Koho? Co? Koho? Čeho? Komu? Čemu? (o) Kom? Čem? Kým? Čím? !

2 dva - dvě - dvě dva - dvě - dvě dvou dvěma dvou dvěma

3 tři tři tří třem třech třema

4 čtyři čtyři čtyř čtyřem čtyřech čtyřma

třema, čtyřma are třemi, čtyřmi in literary Czech; dvěma, however, is the correct form in both literary and colloquial Czech. It is often confusing for Czechs, too.

Cardinal numbers 5 and more Numbers from 5 through 99 end in -i in all cases except for Koho? Co? in which case the number doesn't change. In compound numbers all the components have the ending. E.g. s dvaceti pěti, bez dvaceti dvou 100 (sto) has the same endings as pivo but doesn't change in daily spoken Czech 1 000 (tisíc) has the same endings as čaj 1 000 000 (milión) has the same endings as rohlík 1 000 000 000 (miliarda) has the same endings as žena

Other numbers Ordinal numbers behave as adjectives: (první, druhý, třetí, …) The names of numbers behave as feminine nouns: (jednička, dvojka, trojka, …) Multiplication numbers do not change their forms with case: (jednou, dvakrát, třikrát, …) Generic numbers don't often have to change their forms: (jedny, dvoje, troje, …) but if necessary they will adopt the forms of the plural of feminine nouns ending in -a.

Number names Numbers have special forms for their names. These might be used for instance when referring to numbered trains, players or grades. In English, just the number or the word Number is used. The number name is formed using the ending -ka. This ending often modifies the form of the preceding number. See table above for exceptions. 9, 10, 20, 30, 40 -ítka (replaces -et as in devět - devítka) 33 second number is pronounced first followed by a as in třiatřicítka 450 -ka is only added to second number as in čtyřistapadesátka 200 – 900 the first number uses the Koho? Čeho? form as in 500 = pětistovka

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Verbs Verb to be BÝT To be jsem jsi je

I am You are He/she/it is

jsme jste jsou

We are You all are They are

I am not You are not He/she/it is not

nejsme nejste nejsou

We are not You all are not They are not

not to be nejsem nejsi není

Pronouncing js at the beginning of words

Jsem is correctly pronounced as 'sem'. Although, there are Czechs who will try to convince you otherwise. The same holds for words like jmenuju se. Note, however, that in negation, the j comes back. Therefore, nejsem and nejmenuju se.

I, you, he, she … they -

Personal Pronouns and Endings Personal pronouns always have a corresponding ending on the verb they are paired with. The system of endings is fairly complex (see below) but it has these things in common. pronoun ending pronoun ending I

já

-u, -i, -m (-ím, -ám)

we

my

you

ty

-š (-eš, -neš, -ješ, -íš, -áš) -0 (-e, -ne, -je, -í, -á)

you guys

vy

he she it !

-me (-eme, …, áme) -te (-ete, …, -áte)

on -ou, -í (-í, -ejí, they oni ají) ona to/ono Mostly, the ending is the only way of expressing the person (similarly to Spanish). Personal pronoun is only used when stressing the subject of the verb (i.e. agent). Something done mostly by intonation in English. Therefore there is a big difference between I am = jsem and I am = já jsem

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Summary of Conjugation Patterns There are five categories of Czech verbs which are then further broken into subclasses (giving a total of 14 models). For simplicity's sake we only present the system with four classes (commonly used for learners) and treat the subclasses as exceptions. The entire system is described at the end of the Verbs section. -uju -uješ -uje -ám -áš -á -ím -íš -í -u -eš -e !

  

INFINITIVE -ovat

-ujeme -ujete -ujou -áme -áte -ají -íme -íte -í, -ejí -eme -ete -ou

kupovat, pracovat, studovat, telefonovat, kontrolovat, opakovat

-at

dělat, obědvat, snídat

-át -et -ět -it

ptát se, znát večeřet, bydlet, myslet rozumět, sedět, vědět – vím končit, mluvit jít - jdeš, jet - jedeš, číst - čteš, psát -píšeš, mýt se - myješ se, pít - piješ,

! irregular

Unlike English, French, or German, Czech uses only endings for expressing the subject of the verb. Personal pronouns (I, you, he, she ....) are used only to stress the subject. The –u/-ou endings are still a little controversial and many people insist on the literary -i/-í which are not used in spoken Czech at all.

Infinitive    

Infinitive is mostly used with verbs like chtít, muset, moct, potřebovat. It is the form of the verb that is found in the dictionaries. The ending of the infinitive is always -t. Sometimes, especially in songs and poems, you may encounter the archaic form ending in -ti. The other exception is the verb can which has the infinitive ending of moci and verbs derived from it like pomoci (help).

muset

večeřet, končit, pracovat, studovat, …

Examples musím se učit musím jít

I want to potřebuju I need to pít have drink chci spát I want to potřebuju I need to sleep have musíš psát You have to chceš vstát? do you want obědvat lunch to get up? write Other verbs used with the infinitive are: mít (should), smět (may), nesmět (must not), začít (begin), přestat (stop)

40

I have to study I have to go

chci mít

The infinitive can also be used in prohibitions and in emphatic commands as in neparkovat! (do not park) or mlčet! (be quiet); wishes and statements of condition (see Conditional and Wishing later).

Tense and Aspect (Saying When and How Things Happen) Traditionally, Czech is said to only have three tenses–past, present and future. All the complexity of how things happen in time is then expressed by aspect and typically, two–perfective and imperfective–are described for Czech. The traditional definition is very simple (perfective describes completed events happening once while the imperfective describes events in progress not yet completed) but its use is incredibly complex not least because aspect is used slightly differently with different tenses. And this is one of the reasons why this description takes a different approach to the combination of tense and aspect. This approach has many advantages including the fact that it make the Czech tense system easy to contrast with English. According to this new approach, instead of three, there are eight tenses in Czech and each expresses a number of functions. To form these tenses appropriately it is necessary to use the verb of the appropriate aspect. There are three aspects of verbs – perfective, imperfective and repetitive. For almost all verbs the repetitive form is the same as the imperfective. Verbs of motion have all three forms.

What tenses there are and how to form them Past

Perfective Form: -l form of perfective verbs. Meaning: Actions completed in the past (often only happening once).

Present

Future

Form: Conjugated form of perfective verbs. Meaning: Future completed, unrepeated actions.

Imperfective Form: -l form of imperfective verbs. Meaning: Actions happening for a certain time/in parallel in the past. Form: Conjugated form of imperfective verbs. Meaning: Actions happening now. Form: budu + infinitive of imperfective verbs. Meaning: Future continuous actions.

Repetitive Form: -l form of imperfective verbs. Meaning: Habitual or repeated actions in the past. Form: Conjugated form of imperfective verbs. Meaning: Repeated, habitual actions in the present. Form: budu + infinitive of imperfective verbs. Meaning: Future repeated, habitual actions.

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language What do the tenses express Each tense has several functions, that is, it expresses a slightly different meaning depending on context. While no Czech tense has a clear equivalent in another English tense, most functions do. Sometimes there are two functions in Czech where English only has one and vice versa. For ease of use, functions that are not as common or are of more benefit to the more advanced student are marked [ADV]. This division is not solid but might provide an insight into which functions are more important to learn first. Tense/aspect Function PAST Accomplished activity in the perfective past (with už [already])

Completed condition for future or action or state (with jestli or pokud) Interruption to an ongoing activity (expressed by past imperfective) Departure for further activity (often beginning with když) Enumerated accomplishment in the past

PAST imperfective

Parallel continuous actions in the past (Narrative) (often with zatímco [while]) Ongoing actions in the past interrupted by a perfective action (often with když [when]) Action continuing for a period of time in the past

Recent and/or remembered experience (can be enumerated, often in questions)

Background condition for past state [ADV] Sudden perception or realization [ADV]

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Example Ten dopis jsem už napsal. (I’ve already written the letter.) Domácí úkol už jsem udělal. (I’ve already done my homework.) Jestli to udělal, bude mít hodně peněz. (If he had done it, he will have lots of money.) Díval jsem se na televizi [ipf.], když zazvonil telefon. (I was watching TV, when the phone rang.) Když jsem se nasnídal, šel jsem do školy. (When I[’d] had my breakfast, I went to school.) Přečetl tu knihu třikrát. (He read the book twice.) Několikrát vylezl na Sněžku. (He climbed Sněžka several times.) Včera večer Petr vařil večeři a zpíval si. (Last night Peter was cooking dinner, and singing.) Díval jsem se na televizi, když zazvonil telefon [pf]. (I was watching TV, when the phone rang.) Včera jsem se díval na televizi od osmi do desíti. (Yesterday, I was watching TV from 8 to 10.) Četl jsi tu knihu? (Did you read the book?) Díval jsem se na to dvakrát. (I watched it twice.) Šel jsi do kina? (Did you go to the movies?) Jestli to dělal, cítil se šťastný. (If he was doing it, he was feeling happy.) Přišel a viděl. (He came and he saw.) Najednou cítil, že ho někdo sleduje.

Emphatic questions about the source/producer (optional) [ADV] PAST repetitive

Repeated action in the past

Life experience (with už)

PRESENT imperfective

Narrative of present action (Commentary)

Future timetable

Historical narrative [ADV] PRESENT repetitive

Personal habit Present result of continuing past action

Ability to do something

Repetition Likes and dislikes (with

(Suddenly, he felt that someone is watching him.) Kdo ti šil ten svetr? (Who sowed the sweater for you?) Kdo ti to říkal? (Who told you that?) Chodil jsem do školy každý den po tři roky. (For three years, I went to school every day.) Domácí úkoly jsem si dělal každý den. (I did my homework every day.) Už tenkrát si děti pravidelně čistily zuby. (Even then, children brushed their teeth regularly.) Petr to už dělal. (Petr has done it before.) Do školy jsem chodil. (I’ve attended school.) Už jsem řídil auto. (I’ve driven a car before.) Olda právě vchází do domu. (Olda is entering the building.) Novák střílí a dává gól. (Novák shoots, and he scores!) Autobus odjíždí zítra v jednu hodinu odpoledne. (The bus leaves tomorrow at one pm.) Karel IV. zakládá univerzitu v roce 1348. (Karel IV. founds the university in 1348.) Ruce si myji vždy před jídlem. (I always wash my hands before meals.) Bydlíme v Praze už pět let. (We’ve been living in Prague for 5 years now.) Pracuju u této firmy od roku 1990. (I’ve been working for this company since 1990.) Touto společností létám už dlouho. (I’ve been flying with this company for a long time.) Hrajete na piáno? (Do/Can you play the piano?) Petr běhá závodně. (Petr runs professionally.) Lodě odsud vyplouvají každé ráno. (Every morning, the ships leave from here.) Rád chodím do divadla, ale nerad hraju

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language rád, ráda, rádi)

Statement of (scientific) fact [ADV]

Prohibitions and negative imperatives [ADV]

FUTURE perfective

Statement of plan

Condition for future action/prediction of result of completion with až (when) Condition for future action with když, jestli, or pokud Instructions

Emphatic prohibitions/warnings with ať [ADV]

Emphatic historical narrative (combined with imperfective) [ADV]

Repeated action with (often negative) emphasis [ADV]

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fotbal. (I like going to the theater, but I don’t like playing football.) Ptáci odlétají na podzim. (Birds fly away in the fall.) Voda se vaří při 100 stupních. (Water boils at 100 degrees.) Ať si sem nesedá. (Let him not sit here.) Nezpívej tady. (Don’t sing here.) Tady se chodí pomalu. (One walks slowly here.) Zítra ráno vstanu a uvařím si kávu. (Tomorrow morning, I’ll get up and make some coffee.) Úkol napíšu až pozítří. (I’ll write my homework the day after tomorrow.) Až to udělá, bude mít volno. (When he does this, he’ll have time off.) Až přijde, zazpíváme mu písničku. (When he comes, we’ll sing a song for him.) Když to udělá, nevyhodí ho. (If he does it, they won’t fire him.) Nejdřív uvaříme rýži a potom nakrájíme zeleninu. (First, we cook the rice and then we dice the vegetables.) Ať sem ani nevkročí. (He’d better not even set foot in here.) Jen ať mi to řekne. (Let him tell it to me, then.) Ať si na to nikdo nesedne. (Let nobody sit on this.) A pak mu Pepa jednu vrazí a spadnou na zem, a … (And then Pepa smacks him, they fall on the ground and …) Policisté ho sledují a pak ho zastřelí a on se válí na zemi. (The police follow him, then shoot him and he’s lying on the floor.) On si sem klidně každé ráno přijde a sedne si na židli. (He will come here every morning without so much as by your leave and sit on the chair.) Nikdy nepozdraví.

Emphatic plan for repeated future action [ADV]

Polite acceptance / expression of willingness (with rád) [ADV]

FUTURE imperfective

Future parallel or interrupted action

Plan for a block of time

Background of future action with když and až, zatímco

FUTURE repetitive

Future repeated action (Condition) Time non-specific future wish [ADV]

(He never says hello.) Příští rok půjdu do kina alespoň jednou týdně. (Next year, I will go see a movie at least once a week.) Rád přijdu zítra na večeři. (I will be happy to come to dinner tomorrow.) Rád to udělá. (He will be happy to do it.) Vy budete vařit polévku a my budeme připravovat salát. (You’ll be cooking the soup and we’ll be preparing the salad.) Zítra se budu učit od jedné do dvou. (Tomorrow, I’ll study from one to two.) Příští rok budeme celé léto cestovat. (Next year, we’ll spend the whole summer traveling.) Když bude psát úkol, bude mu hrát hudba. (While he’ll be doing the homework, the music will be playing.) Až bude psát úkol, nebude s nikým mluvit. (When he’s writing his homework, he won’t speak to anybody.) Příští rok budu každý týden chodit do kina. (Next year, I will go to the movies every week.) Snad příští rok nebude tolik pršet. (Hopefully, next year, it won’t rain so much.) Příští týden budu více cvičit. (I’ll exercise more next week.)

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Aspect of verbs This section describes some general facts about verbal aspect. The following sections describe in more detail its meaning and how it is formed. As we saw above, aspect only appears in conjunction with a tense (but there are some exceptions that make it useful to understand the principles of aspect on their own). Here are some beginning facts about aspect of verbs:  Actions (running, reading, doing) and states (thinking, feeling) are described by verbs.  In Czech, each action can be described by one of three verbs: perfective, imperfective or repetitive. These are called aspects.  There are no neutral verbs in Czech. Each verb you find in the dictionary describes one of the three aspects.  The “aspect of a verb” determines how that verb describes an activity.  Each verb can only be used in one of the three tenses: past, present and future.  Because they describe the action as a whole which cannot all happen at the present point, perfective verbs cannot be used as a present tense.  The vast majority of imperfective verbs are also repetitive. Only verbs of motion have a special repetitive form. Here are some advanced facts about aspect:  Sometimes the aspect of the action changes even the meaning of the verb (sometimes slightly and sometimes beyond all recognition). For example, číst [read] and přečíst [finish reading], or žít [live] and přežít [survive]. Another example, where the completed action is described by two different verbs in English is volit [vote] and zvolit [elect].  If the perfective verb in the imperfective/perfective pair has a prefix, its meaning is likely to be slightly different. Some prefixes like při- change the meaning more radically, while some such as –u change it only slightly or not at all (cf. dělat/udělat).  If the imperfective verb in the imperfective/perfective pair has a prefix, the meaning of both verbs is likely to be fairly similar.  Some verbs occur in one aspect only. Some states, feelings and sensations only have the imperfective aspect. (Chtít, být, mít are some of the examples.)  Very few verbs (none of the common ones and mostly of foreign origin) describe all three aspects. For example, both graduovat [graduate] and definovat [define] can be used in all three aspects.  The aspect of verbs shows up even in nouns and adjectives (quite a few – nearly all derived from verbs such as the thinking of this man, the thinking man).  Some verbs don’t have a true pair. Such as sedět [sit] seems to have its perfective pair in sednout si but sednout si has its own imperfective/repetitive pair in sedat si. The latter two describe the process of sitting down, while the sedět describes the process of being seated.  Some verbs form a false pair. They describe different aspects of the same action but grammatically they are separate and often have another pair. For example, hledat [search, look for] seems to be the imperfective aspect of najít [find] but it isn’t because the perfective pair of hledat is vyhledat [look up] and the imperfective pair of najít is nacházet (which is also the repetitive form).

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Actions and verbs (Meaning of aspect) Verbs describe actions. Actions generally have three parts. The onset, progressive, and finishing part.

PROGRESS FINISH ONSET

Czech verbs pick different aspects of actions, and are therefore classified into three classes. So called aspects of verbs. They are: Perfective Aspect P PERFECTIVE concerns the action as a whole, or F the finish part only of the action. O A consequence of sthis is, that verbs of this aspect have always future meaning in their conjugated form. For instance, přijdu means I will come

Imperfective Aspect concerns progress of the action without specifying anything about its beginning or end. Verbs of this aspect describe an ongoing process when conjugated and to use budu plus infinitive to indicate the future tense. In the past they describe something happening over a period of time. Repetitive Aspect takes any action many times. This aspect often describes a habit. An example is: Kam chodíš hrát tenis? meaning Where do you usually go to play tennis? This aspect is often grouped with the imperfective.

IMPERFECTIVE

P F

O

REPETITIVE - HABITUAL

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language How to tell the aspect of a verb When you learn a new verb, it is wise to learn its aspect because in general, there’s no way to tell what aspect a verb is just by looking at it. There are a few rules which could guide you in learning new words. You usually cannot tell 100% if a verb is perfective or imperfective when you see it but if you see a pair of verbs you can usually tell which has what aspect. There are three ways different aspect verbs are differentiated: Endings

The imperfective and perfective verbs have a different ending.

opravovat > opravit

to correct

Prefix

The perfective verb has a prefix and the imperfective does not.

dělat > udělat

to do

Different words

Different words are used for imperfective and perfective verbs.

brát > vzít

to take

(comparatively rare)

Endings Imperfective - OVAT

kupovat opravovat

Perfective -IT

koupit opravit

to buy to correct

-AT

zapomínat

-NOUT

zapomenout

to forget

-C-

vracet se

-T-

vrátit se

to come back

-Z-

uklízet

-D-

uklidit

to clean

-ÁVAT

dávat

-ÁT/-AT

dát

to give

2. Prefixes U-

děláš vaříš myješ se vidíš

uděláš uvaříš umyješ se uvidíš

IPF. dělat vařit mýt se vidět

PO-

díváš se

podíváš se

dívat se

podívat se

děkuješ prosíš znáš

poděkuješ poprosíš poznáš

děkovat prosit znát

poděkovat poprosit poznat

píšu snídáš obědváš

napíšu nasnídáš naobědváš se

psát snídat obědvat

napsat nasnídat se naobědvat se

NA-

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PF. udělat uvařit umýt se uvidět

to make, do to cook, boil to wash one self to see to (take look to thank to ask for to (get know to write to breakfast to lunch

a)

to)

večeříš

navečeříš se

večeřet

navečeřet se

to dine

PŘE-

čtu

přečtu

číst

přečíst

to read

PŘI-

vítáš

přivítáš

vítat

přivítat

to welcome

S-

končíš jíš

skončíš sníš

končit jíst

skončit sníst

to end to eat

Z-

opakuješ

zopakuješ

opakovat

zopakovat

to repeat

VY-

piješ čistíš si

vypiješ vyčistíš si

pít čistit si

vypít vyčistit si

to drink to clean

ZA-

platíš hraješ telefonuješ voláš

zaplatíš zahraješ zatelefonuješ zavoláš

platit hrát telefonovat volat

zaplatit zahrát zatelefonovat zavolat

to pay to play to phone to call

ZE-

ptáš se

zeptáš se

ptát se

zeptat se

to ask about

!

! %

Very often the verb with the prefix can be translated in to English using the get + -en like in udělat = to get done, poznat = to get to know, podívat se = to take a look signifying that the action only happens once. With verbs describing meals (to dine etc.) and with quite a few other verbs as well, the perfective adds se. obědvat –naobědvat se Very often the prefix changes the meaning of the verb. For instance, jít (to go) with the prefix na- changes to najít (to find).

How does aspect translate into English? There is no straightforward way of translating the difference between imperfective, repetive and perfective from Czech into English unless aspect is combined with a tense. Very often, English needs two words to express completeness. One word with two aspects in Czech Two different words in English dívat se podívat se to look to take a look znát poznat to know to get to know učit se naučit se to study to learn milovat zamilovat se to love to fall in love volat zavolat to call to give a call ! Notice, that here the difference between imperfective and perfective is one of a process or action taking place over some time, and actions that take place once in an instant.

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Pairs and Hubs of Verbs Verbs organized in pairs Most Czech verbs have at least one counterpart in a different aspect. Since the imperfective verb is almost always used as the repetitive as well, most vebrs can be said to ocur in pairs of perfective and imperfective verbs. A perfect example of such pair is vzít vs. brát. Vzít describes the the act of taking as a whole while brát describes its process or repetition. But many pairs do not describe exactly the same meaning, because the nature of the completed action is different from its progress. See the list of top 150 verbs for some good examples.

Verbs organized in hubs Very often, an imperfective verb serves as the basis of a number of perfective verbs which are then formed by adding a prefix. There are twenty prefixes available for this. So there may seem to be virtually twenty counterparts to any verb. But only the verbs of motion can take on all of the prefixes. Often, one of the verbs in the hub has virtually the same meaning as the imperfective verb and others have a different meaning. Very often they become separate verbs and find their own imperfective/repetitive verb to pair up with. These cannot really be said to be related to the original imperfective verb other than historically. The hub is in fact a collection of pairs. Here is an example of a verb with a hub. The imperfective verb psát (write) has a true perfective pair in napsat. However, using prefixes, seven more verbs can be created from the original verb. All of these differ somewhat in meaning and some differ substantially (e.g. podepsat to sign. All these non-true aspect pairs have found their own imperfective pair verb to be able to express the progress of the new meaning. Note 1: There is no verb pisovat nor is it possible to make napisovat. Note 2: Most of the prefixed perfectives can take on the reflexive se or si optionally. Upsat se can only appear with the se.

dopsat dopisovat finish writing vypsat vypisovat post, write out odepsat odepisovat write back

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podepsat podepisovat sign

psát write (ipf)

přepsat přepisovat copy over sth.

opsat opisovat copy

napsat write (pf) upsat se upisovat se sign up to sth.

Verbal Prefixes OB-

O-

VZ-

V-

PO-

Z-

POPO-

U-

PROPŘE-

ZA-

PŘIPŘED-

NADPODNAVYODDOROZS-

-VERB

ZAdirection behind st. direction inside st.

Zašel jsem za roh. Auto zajelo do garáže.

I went around the corner Car drove into garage.

cover surface with st. beginning and short duration of activity conceal or destroy st.

Zakryla si oči. Zastavil se a zavázal si botu.

conduct an activity with joy Udirection away from st.

Půjdu si zakouřit.

She covered her eyes. He stopped and tied his shoe laces. He concealed important information. I’ll go smoke a cigarette.

Ujel nám autobus.

We missed the bus (lit. the bus ran

Zamlčel důležitou informaci.

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gain by activity subtract accomplishment negative accomplishment Z(E)change in status perfective action V(E)direction in O(B)change of status

peel off lower quality make a copy OB(E)direction around (OB-) VZ(E)direction upward or increase improve status opposition POmovement on surface small portion of activity gradual completion of action POPOgradual movement PROdirection through thorough activity satisfaction with movement S(E)direction from top down direction toward the middle

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Ušetřit peníze. Ubrat na vázes. Ušli jsme 10 km. Upil se k smrti.

away from us). Save money. Loose weight. We walked 10 km. He drank himself to death.

Počasí se zhoršilo. Zorganizovat, zodpovědět, zopakovat.

The weather got worse. Organize, answer questions, repeat.

Vstupte!

Enter!

Onemocněl. Obnovit. Opít se. Otěhotnět. Osekali větve. Ochodili koberec. Ofotit, opsat.

He fell sick. Renovate. Get drunk. Get pregnant. They chopped off branches. They have worn the carpet by walking on it. Photocopy, copy.

Objeli jsme náměstí.

We drove around the square.

Zisk vzrostl. Letadlo vzlétlo. Vzpamatovat se. Vzbudit se. Vzdorovat.

Profit increased. The plane rose (flew up). To come to. Wake up. Oppose.

Popsal jsem dvě stránky. Poodešel stranou. Posbíral papíry.

I wrote on two pages. He moved a little bit aside. He picked up papers one by one.

Auto popojelo o 5 cm.

Car moved by 5cm.

Projeli jsme městem. Projel celou Asii. Hezky jsme se projeli. Pojďme se projít.

We drove through town. He drove through entire Asia. We had a nice drive. Let’s go for a walk.

Sešel dolů. Sejdeme se zítra,

He came down. We will gather (meet) tomorrow.

(together) action with negative impact PŘEdirection from one side to another (across) do st. again and better interruption perfective, completed action PŘIdirection toward st. add st. PŘED(E)direction in front of st.

action preceding certain event NAD(E)direction upward, over st. také shorter route POD(E)direction down, lower than st. NAdirection onto a surface direction inside/up start and not conclude activity overdo st. VYdirection inside out direction from down up OD(E)direction away from st. separate part from whole, get rid of action initiated by another action DOreach a goal approach a gola conclude an activity

prohrát, propít

loose, drink away all your money

Přejít ulici.

Cross the street.

Předělej tu zprávu. Přerušit hovor. Přečetl knihu.

Do the report again. Interrupt conversation. He read the book.

Přijel domů. Přidal mi knedlíky.

He came home. He gave me more knedlíky.

Předjelo mě modré auto. Předložit smlouvu k podpisu. Předplatil jsem si časopis.

The blue car passed me. Submit the contract for signature.

Nadhodnotit dům. Nadejdu si lesem.

Overprice a house. I’ll cut through the forest.

Podepsat smlouvu. Podhodnotit dům.

Sign contract. Underprice a house.

Nalepit známku. Nastoupit do tramvaje. Nakousnout jablko.

Put as stamp on envelope. Get into a tram. Bite into an apple.

Navařit guláš.

Cook lots of goulash.

Vyjel z města. Voda se vyvařila. Vyjít na kopec.

He drove out of the city. The water boiled out. Climb on a hill.

Odešel před hodinou. Odepsal si nový počítač.

He left an hour ago. He wrote off the new computer.

Odepsal mi na dopis.

He answered my letter.

Došel domů. Došel až ke dvěřím. Dočetl knihu.

He came, reached home. He came up to the door. He finished reading the book.

I subscribed to a magazine.

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ROZ(E)movement in different directions beginning of an action unconcluded action

Dovolal se na informace.

He reached information.

Rozejít se. Rozdělit se. Rozbolela mě hlava. Rozečetl knihu.

Separate. Split into groups. My head started aching. He started reading the book.

Differences between pairs of similar prefixes Describing these differences in words is cumbersome. It is best to compare meanings and try to internalize the difference for own use.

u- vs. do- as prefixes of completion udělat (do – once and completely) vs. dodělat (finish something previously unfinished) ujít (complete a distance) vs. dojít (complete, finish walking, also idiom-run out)

od- vs. roz- vs. u- vs. vy- vs. na- vs. do- vs. z- as prefixes of destruction odlomit (break a bit off), rozlomit (break into pieces[in half]), ulomit (break off), vylomit (break out), nalomit (partially break off), dolomit (finish breaking off), zlomit (break irreparably [in half])

vy- vs. roz- vs. od- vs. na- vs. za- as prefixes of beginning vyjít (set out), rozejít se (start walking), odejít (walk away from), našlápnout (step out)

po- vs. popo- vs. na- vs. u- as prefixes of degree poskočit (jump a little), poposkočit (jump very little), nalomit (break a little), ulomit (break off a little piece)

Forming Tenses Past tenses All three past tenses use the –l form of the verb and the auxiliary (helping verb) být. They differ only in whether they will choose a perfective, imperfective or repetitive verb. On

Ona

Ono

já

dělal

-la

-lo

jsem

I did

ty

dělal

-la

-lo

jsi

you did

on/ona/ono

dělal

-la

-lo

my

dělali

-ly

-ly

jsme

we did

vy

dělali

-ly

-ly

jste

you did

oni/ony

dělali

-ly

-ly



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he/she/it did

they did

The -l form (equivalent of the English –ed form )of the verb in Czech is formed by stripping off the –t in the infinitive and substituting –l (dělat  dělal).





The subject is expressed by an auxilliary (helping) verb – a form of být. The he/she form does not use the auxiliary. (dělal jsem, dělal jsi, dělal, dělali jsme, dělali jste, dělali) The gender of the subject is expressed through an ending of the verb’s past form. –0 for masculine; -a for feminine, -o for neuter. E.g. dělal – he did, dělala – she did, dělalo – it did.

How to order words in the past tense? 1 Já Koupil Díval Koupil

2 jsem jsem jsem jsi

3 to si se mu

4 koupil to na televizi. to

5 včera. včera. včera.

The auxiliary jsem, jsi, jsme, jste are always in the second place. The se and si follow, preceding other monosyllabic words like to, mu, jí, mi etc.

Summary of -l forms. -at -át -it -ít -et -ovat át

     

-al -al -il -il -el -oval

čekat psát koupit pít myslet studovat



-ál

-

čekal psal koupil pil myslel studoval

wait write buy drink think study

stát

stál

to stand

bát se smát se hrát přát

bál se smál se hrál přál si

to be afraid to laugh to play to wish

Irregular –l forms -it



-el

jít mít chtít otevřít umřít

-

šel, šla, šli měl chtěl otevřel umřel

to go to have to want to open to die

-st

 

-tl -dl

číst jíst sníst

-

četl jedl snědl

to read to eat to eat

-ct

 

-kl -hl

říct moct

-

řekl mohl

to say can

-al

vzít začít

-

vzal začal

to take to start

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language

-nout



-l

přijmout

-

přijal

to accept

obléknout zapomenout vzpomenout si

-

oblékl zapomněl vzpomněl si

to dress to forget to recall

How to be polite in the past tense? In the polite form (which in the present tense corresponds to the plural) only the auxiliarry jsem, jsi, jsme, jste is in plural, and the verb has the singular form. jak jste se měl / měla jak jste se měli how have you been (professor) how have you guys been

Past tense and verbs with se and si If reflexive verbs like dívat se or koupit si are in the past tense, the se or si combine with the auxiliary jsi. dívat se se + jsi  ses díval(a) ses watch koupit si si + jsi  sis koupil(a) sis buy

Past tense in Wh- questions Optionally, the Wh- words and to can combine with the auxiliary jsi. Kdo? and Co? can be combined in all their forms. Co jsi tam dělal? co + jsi  cos Cos tam dělal? What did you do there? Kde jsi byl? kde + jsi  kdes Kdes byl? Where have you been? Kam jsi šel? kam + jsi  kams Kams šel? Where did you go? Kdys jsi přišel? kdy + jsi  kdys Kdys přišel? When did you come? Koho jsi viděl? koho + jsi  kohos Kohos viděl? Who did you see? Proč jsi to udělal? proč + jsi  pročs Pročs to udělal? Why did you do it? Jak jsi tam jel? jak + jsi  jaks Jaks tam jel? How did you go there? To jsi neměl to + jsi  tos Tos neměl dělat. You shouldn’t have done dělat. that.

Habitual past tense – I used to … (–va– form) To express feelings equivalent to the English used to … , Czech uses a special infix –vawhich is inserted before the infinitival –t and lengthening the vowel before it thus creating two typical habitual sounding endings: -ávat or -ívat. -ávat Rodiče mi to říkávali. My parents used to tell me that. -ívat To jsem si myslíval taky. I used to think that, too. Tady chodívala moje žena. My wife used to walk here. !

Verbs whose root contains –ívat or –ávat (e.g., zpíval – sang, dával – gave) add the habitual past ending to form –ívávat, -ávávat (e.g., zpívával – used to sing, dávával – used to give). This form can also be used in the present and future (although in these tenses it is not as common). Some verbs have a special form for this function which can be further emphasized by the infix, for example: číst – čítat – čítávat (read), vidět – vídat – vídávat (see), slyšet – slýchat – slýchávat, etc.

!

This –va– form is often confused with the repetitive aspect but it is in fact a completely separate thing. It can be added even to repetitive verbs such as jezdit to make jezdívat.

!

Any number of –vá– can be added to make –váva– if you want to indicate more

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infrequent repetition. A verb such as chodívávávávávat is then theoretically possible but only used in extremely emphatic and informal speech.

Future tenses Perfective future – such as udělat The formation of this tense is perfectly simple (or depending on your perspective really difficult). All that needs to be done is to conjugate a perfective verb (see conjugation rules earlier). If you find conjugation difficult, then you’ll find forming the perfective future difficult as well.

Imperfective and repetitive future – budu + infinitive Both the imperfective and repetitive future tenses are formed the same way. Simply add the appropriate form of the future of be (budu) to either a repetitive or an imperfective verb. Kdo

…will be

+ infinitive (ipf)

já

budu

dělat

ty

budeš

dělat

on/ona/ono

bude

dělat

my

budeme

dělat

vy

budete

dělat

oni

budou

dělat

Irregular future tense with budu Verb být (to be) The verb být (to be) uses its future form only. The auxiliary budu is not used again. budu být  budu, budeš … Verbs of motion Verbs of motion form irregular future tense. For example, it is impossible to say budu jet and the form pojedu must be used instead. There is no infinitive pojet, however. jít  půjdu, půjdeš, … (to go) jet  pojedu, pojedeš, … (to go [by vehicle]) letět  poletím, poletíš, … (to fly) běžet  poběžím, poběžíš, … (to run) lézt  polezu, polezeš, … (to crawl) There are around 20 more or less obvious verbs of motion. See Verbs of Motion below. Note: po- also functions as an ordinary perfectivizing verbal prefix (see below). Marginal verbs of motion: There are a few verbs that only behave as verbs of motion in the irregular future tense: růst  porostu, porosteš, … (to grow) kvést  pokvetu, pokveteš, … (to bloom) trvat  potrvám, potrváš, … (to last, take time) Note: The imperfective future tense can also be formed with budu for these verbs.

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Verbs of perception Some other verbs (mostly related to perception) do not form the budu future tense. E.g. vidět (to see) where the future of vidím is uvidím. (Budu vidět is also possible but it means I will be able to see). The same holds for slyšet (to hear) and cítit (to feel, to sense, to smell).

Summary of tenses for four most frequent verbs být mít

jít chtít

dnes jsem jsi je mám máš má jdu jdeš jde chci chceš chce

jsme jste jsou máme máte mají

včera byl jsem byl jsi byl měl jsem měl jsi měl

byli jsme byli jste byli měli jsme měli jste měli

zítra budu budeš bude budu mít budeš mít bude mít

jdeme jdete jdou chceme chcete chtějí

šel jsem šel jsi šel chtěl jsem chtěl jsi chtěl

šli jsme šli jste šli chtěli jsme chtěli jste chtěli

půjdu půjdeš půjde budu chtít budeš chtít bude chtít

budeme budete budou budeme mít budete mít budou mít půjdeme půjdete půjdou budeme chtít budete chtít budou chtít

! In past tense singular for women a is appended (byl – byla, chtěl jsem – chtěla jsem) Sequence of Tenses In Czech, when you say that someone wrote, said, thought, mentioned, heard … that the tense you use is the tense used by the speaker of the original sentence. Czech Literal Translation English Řekl, že přijede zítra. He said that he will arrive He said that he would arrive tomorrow. the day after. Řekl, že přijel včera. He said that he arrived He said that he had arrived the yesterday. day before. Řekl, že čte knihu. He said that he is reading a He said that he was reading a book. book.

Voice The category of voice distinguishes between the active and passive. While in English, this is a very important distinction, in Czech it is not used as often, and the few passive verbs that are used more frequently you learned as adjectives. The meaning of passive as in It was decided. is usually expressed by the reflexive se in Czech (Rozhodlo se.). See Uses of SE.

Passive The passive form is very simple in Czech. It is rarely used in its true form. It is rather transformed into an adjective (see below). The key to formation of the passive is the past form from which the –l is stripped and replaced with –n. If the last consonant is preceded with an –a- it is lengthened to –á-. Words ending in – nul are changed to –nut.

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Passive is gender specific which means that –a, -o are used to mark the gender of the subjects. The syntax of the passive is similar to English. It is used after the copula and the agent is expressed by instrumental (Kým?Čím?) as in Jěžíš byl ukřižován Židy. (Jesus was crucified by the Jews.) infinitive -ovat -at -it -nout

passive TEN -ován -án -en -nut

passive TA -ována -ána -ena -nuta

passive TO -ováno -áno -eno -nuto

passiveTI -ováni -áni_ -eni -nuti

passive Ty -ovány -ány -eny -nuty

How to form the equivalents of the English –ed and –ing forms (as in planned, planning) to plan_

planned projects, planning good planning is important it will be well planned strategic planning plánovat plánovaný plánovan… (ipf.) plánování dobré plánování je projekty důležité naplánovat naplánovaný bude to dobře strategické plánování naplánované (pf.) By the –ed form you make and adjective out of a verb while the –ing form serves to make nouns. You make the right form using the past tense form of the verb as below. -ovat -it -at -nout

planned

-ed (he –ed) -oval -il -al -nul

-ed (a –ed thing) -ovaný, -ovaná, -ované -ený -aný -nutý

-ing -ování -ení -ání -nutí

Note that most of the adjectival –ed forms are made of perfective verbs to describe accomplishment of the action. The equivalent of the passive is the same as the noun form without the ending –í. The difference in gender is preserved by –0 (m.), --a (f.), --o (n.) in singular and –i (ma.), -y (mi., f.), --a (n.) In present day Czech the adjective and the passive forms are used almost interchangeably.

How to form equivalent of –ing as in a reading man:  

For this you need the 3rd person plural form of the verb to which you add an ending –cí as in čtoucí muž (a reading man), or budoucí čas (future tense). Note, however, a difference between plánovací oddělení (department of planning—formed from the infinitive to indicate designation) vs. plánující oddělení (a planning department—formed regularly to indicate activity)

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Aspect of nouns and adjectives formed from verbs The difference in aspect also shows up in many nouns and adjective formed from verbs (so called deverbatives). Here are a few examples. Perfective Imperfective Repetitive Adjectives pochválený (praised chválený (praised chválený (praised often) once) now) jdoucí (walking now) chodící (walking often) Nouns přispění přispívání (regular (contribution) contribution) probuzení (the whole probouzení (the probouzení (regular of waking up) moment of waking waking up) up)

Mood There are three moods a Czech verb can be in. Indicative – simple statements; Conditional – statements of what would be; Imperative – direct commands. The imperative is the most unusual for you because, Czech, unlike English, uses different forms to express it.

Imperative If you want someone to do something you tell them to do it. For example: They repeat, repeat too!!!!!! Opakují, opakuj taky! Opakují, opakujte taky! They repeat, let’s repeat too!!! Opakují, opakujme taky! In English you just name the action, in Czech you give the verb a special form and you add –te to it if you want more than one person to do something, or –me if you want to say Let’s … .

To do it with the right forms:        

Take the third person plural and strip off the ending –ou or –í The consonants d, t, a are softened into ď,ť, ň (Exx. jedou jeď!) The ending –aj it changes into –ej (Exx. dělaj[í]  dělej!) The –e- verbs are divided in to two classes because it would be difficult to pronounce some of them without adding –i, (Exx. začni! jdou  jdi!) -i can also be added to some other verbs like (Exx. myslíš  mysli!) To command more people ( plural ) just add –te to the singular form The words ending in –i change from –ite to –ete (Exx. jdi  jděte!!) To say Let us do something! you use –me in place of –te

Telling someone to come along, or close to you Come here!!! Pojď sem!!! Come with me!!! Pojeď se mnou!!! To do this you use the prefix po-. po- can be used with verbs of motion such as, pojď, pojeď, poběž parallel to their regular form jdi, jeď, běž. It implies direction to[wards] (me – the speaker) or together with (me – the speaker).

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Summary of Imperative infinitive pracovat dělat mluvit pít jít číst ! !

oni – form pracujou dělají mluví pijou jdou čtou

ty – imperative pracuj dělej mluv pij jdi čti

d–t–aď–ť–ň vstanou  vstaň, vstaňte; jedou  jeď, jeďte píšou  piš, pište! (í > i) koupí  kup, kupte! (ou >u) vrátí se  vrať se, vraťte se (á > a)

vy – imperative pracujte dělejte mluvte pijte jděte čtěte

to write to buy to return

Irregular Imperative Forms být stát jíst pomoct odpovědět mít JÍT !

buď! buďte! stůj! stůjte! jez! jezte! pomoz! pomozte! odpověz! odpovězte! měj! mějte! - jdi! = go away - pojď! = come along - pojď sem! = come here

be stand eat answer have

Negative commands are almost exclusively formed from imperfective verbs kupujte kupte piš napiš vraťte dejte vezmi si !

jdi, pojď, přijď, choď jeď, jezdi

nekupujte nekupujte nepiš nepiš nevracejte nedávejte neberte si  

buy buy write write return give také nechoď! nejezdi!

Infinitive as a command The infinitive can also be used in prohibitions and in emphatic commands as in neparkovat! (do not park) or mlčet! (be quiet). It is mostly used in strong spoken language like sednout (sit!!!), although it can also be seen on signs marking private property like nevstupovat (do not enter).

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Ať as indirect command or telling somebody to do

something

AŤ + verb in on/a/o-form or oni-form Řekni mu, ať píše. Řekni mu, ať dělá. Řekni mu, ať pracuje. Řekni mu, ať přijdou. !

Tell him Tell him Tell him Tell him

to write. to work. to work. to come.

This construction is also used to express wishes. ať žije král long live the king ať je mír let there be peace ať se ti všechno daří may everything go well for you

Subjunctive as indirect command Another way to tell somebody to do something is to use the subjunctive. The core meaning of the subjunctive is expressing wishes and requests. It uses the same basic form as conditional (below). ABY + verb in past tense já

ty

abych

abys

Řekni mu, Řekni mi, Řekni nám, Chci, Chci,

on, ona, ono aby

my

vy

oni

abychom

abyste

aby

aby psal. abych psal. abychom to pracovali. abys pracoval. abyste přišli.

Tell him Tell me Tell us I want you I want you all

to write. to work. to work. to work. to come.

Subjuntive or purpose clauses In order to . . . PURPOSE CLAUSES abych, abys, aby, abychom, abyste To be able to come you have to have Abys mohl přijít, musíš mít money. peníze. She told him to come. Řekla mu, aby přišel. They did it to win. Udělali to, aby vyhráli.

Conditional I, you, … , they would be 

the conditional in Czech is formed using the past tense form of the verb and a particle by bych, bys, … , byste byl (a,o,i) byl(a)

bych bys

I would be you would be

byl(a) byl(a,o)

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by

he(she, it) would be

byli

bychom

byli

byste

byli

by

we would be you guys would be they would be

 

!



byl (a) byste you would be ( the polite form) bychom belongs to literary Czech, it is almost never used in spoken language bysme is what people use sometimes people say by jsme, by jste to sound literary but it is wrong

the word order for the conditional particle by 1. Jela Zítra        

2. … …. 1. 2. 3. bych do Brna. Učil bych se. bych jela do Brna. Večer bych se učil. the rules for using conditional differ slightly in Czech and in English the conditional expresses a) polite request Měl byste dnes čas? Zavřel bys okno? Mohl byste přijít zítra? b) asking for permission Mohl bych si zavolat? Nemohla by to udělat zítra? c) person´s wish Chtěli bychom jet do Londýna. Ráda bych šla na koncert. d) conditional statement Jeli bychom na hory, ale museli bychom si koupit jízdenky. e) advice Měl bych jít domů. Měli bychom víc studovat. f) hypothetical condition Kdybych, kdybys, kdyby, kdybychom, kdybyste

If . . . If ... If I had a car, If I had time If I had money

... would ... I would go tPrague. I would go tomovies. I would go to Paris.

Kdyby ... Kdybych měl auto, Kdybych měl čas, Kdybych měl peníze,

... by ... jel bych do Prahy. šel bych do kina. jel bych do Paříže.

English and Czech conditionals compared 0 conditional 1st conditional 2nd conditional 3rd conditional

If I do it, he is sad. Když to udělám, je smutný If I do it, he will be sad. Jestli to udělám, bude smutný. If I did this, he would be sad. Kdybych to udělal, byl by smutný. If I had done this, he would have Kdybych to byl udělal, byl by býval been sad. smutný.

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Verbs of Motion – Their Aspect and Tense Verbs of motion form a separate category in Czech with respect to both tense and aspect. Although there are only roughly 15 of them, they are very important in Czech because, through the use of different prefixes, they appear at the core of more than 500 possible dictionary entries. They differ from the other verbs in two respects. 1) Future tense is formed with a prefix po-, and 2) they have a special form for the repetitive aspect (where other verbs use the imperfective form). Also, some of them make a distinction between movement on foot and by a vehicle (as in jít vs. jet or nést vs. vézt). Note: Some verbs only display some characteristics of verbs of motion. The verbs most commonly listed as verbs of motion are: Imperfective jít jet běžet letět vést nést vézt hnát táhnout lézt

Future půjdu pojedu poběžím poletím povedu ponesu povezu poženu potáhnu polezu

Repetitive chodit jezdit běhat létat vodit nosit vozit honit tahat lézt

Translation to go (on foot) to go (by vehicle) to run to fly to lead to carry (in arms/on foot) to carry (in a vehicle) to chase to pull, drag to crawl

Verbs of motion are further special in that they can each take on the full range of the 20 prefixes in Czech. Sometimes the prefix will only add its meaning to the verb, for example to indicate direction, as in obejít (to walk around, circumvent) but sometimes it will create a whole new word where the original meaning of the verb is barely recognizable, as in najít (to find). By attaching a prefix to an imperfective verb of motion, the verb becomes perfective. It could then be said that each imperfective verb of motion has 20 perfective equivalents (see above for hubs of verbs) with slightly different meaning. The confusion steps in when we realize that each of these newly created perfective verbs has in turn an imperfective pair without any alteration of meaning. This pair verb is created using the repetitive verb of motion as its root. That is shown in a table below using the prefix při- (in the direction toward the point of reference). The same holds for all the remaining 19 prefixes. Imperfective Perfective with přijít přijít jet přijet běžet přiběhnout letět přiletět vést přivést nést přinést vézt přivézt hnát přihnat

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Imperfective with připřicházet přijíždět přibíhat přilétat přivádět přinášet přivážet přihánět

Translation to come (on foot) to arrive (by vehicle) to run (toward) to fly (toward) to lead (toward) to carry (in arms/on foot – toward) to carry (in a vehicle toward) to chase (toward)

táhnout lézt

přitáhnout přilézt

přitahovat přilézat

to pull (toward) to crawl (toward)

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Categories of Verbs for Conjugation – Complete Chart The traditional full classification of Czech verbal conjugation uses the following five classes with subcategories, giving a total of 14 models distinguished by the ending in the third person. Even that is not enough for full classification but it covers the majority of Czech verbs, see Fronek’s Czech-English/English-Czech Dictionary. There are other ways to organize the verbs as well. Model Present Past INFINITIVE -e

-u/-i, nese

nesl

-Ct

vézt, lézt, vést, číst, krást, třást, kvést, mást

-ne

-u/-i, peče -u/-i, bere -u/-i, maže -u/-i, tře -nu, tiskne

pekl bral mazal třel tiskl/tisknul

-ct/-ci -át -at -ít -C+nout

-je

-nu, mine minul -nu/-mu, začne začal/začnul -ju, kryje kryl

moct, téct, vléct prát, žrát, hnát, koupat, kopat, chápat, plavat, kašlat, lámat, klamat lhát, psát, poslat, vázat, kousat, skákat, páchat, řezat umřít, zavřít, přít, dřít, vřít risknout, písknout, zapnout, vypnout, obléknout, stárnout, škrábnout, nadchnout, zamknout, odemknout zapomenout, vzpomenout, linout, vinout, stát se zatnout, vyjmout, přijmout, pojmout, vzít pít, zabít, žít, mýt, obout, zout, hřát, hrát, dít se, smát se

-ju, kupuje -í

kupoval

-V+nout -nout/-ít -ýt/-ít/-out/ -ět/-át -ovat

pracovat, studovat, telefonovat, kontrolovat, opakovat, bojovat, cestovat, sportovat, stopovat učit, končit, mluvit, půjčit, pustit, čistit, ublížit, umět, večeřet, letět, sedět, vidět, rozumět, vědět, ležet, myslet muset, bydlet, smět, znít

-ím, prosí prosil -it/-ít -ím, trpí, …, -í trpěl -ět/et (-ít) -ím, sází, ..., - sázel -et (-ít) ejí -á -ám, dělá dělal -at/-át znát, koukat, dát, začínat, obědvat, snídat, ptát se, znát, nechat Most common verbs irregular in one or more aspects are: spát, mít, být, chtít, vědět, říct, jíst, moct, bát se, stát, jít, vést, číst, krást, třást, hnát, lhát, psát, poslat, vázat, kousat, skákat, páchat, řezat, stát se, zatnout, vzít, vyjmout, přijmout, pojmout, obout, zout, hřát, hrát, dít se, smát se, myslet (see details below for selected verbs). Note 1: Verbs in classes I-IV are further subdivided according to the past, the 3rd person plural forms, or palatalization of the last consonant. Note 2: The numbers of these categories have no correspondence to numbers of categories in the conjugation summary.

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Selected (most common) Irregular Verbs Some of these 21 verbs are not strictly speaking irregular but from the point of view of the student it is best to treat them this way. Verbs can also be irregular in some of their other forms such as passive, not reflected in this chart. More, rarer irregular verbs exist. Být is not included in this list. Infinitive 1stSg 3rdSg 3rdPl

Past Impera As Aspect pairs Aspect pair not tive pect behaving the same behaving the same way way bát se bojím bojí bojí bál boj ipf N/A chtít chci chce chtějí chtěl chtěj ipf N/A číst čtu čte čtou četl čti ipf přečíst, dočíst, … hrát hraju(i) hraje hrajou(í) hrál hraj ipf zahrát, vyhrát, prohrát, … jíst jím jí jedí jedl jez ipf najíst se, přejíst se jít jdu jde jdou šel jdi ipf přijít, najít, vyjít, dojít, … plavat plavu plave plavou plaval plav ipf připlavat, zaplavat, přeplavat lhát lžu lže lžou lhal lži ipf zalhat, vylhat mít mám má mají měl měj ipf N/A moct můžu může můžou mohl N/A ipf N/A mohu mohou psát píšu píše píšou psal piš ipf napsat, podepsat, opsat, … pít piju pije pijou pil pij ipf napít se, vypít, opít se, dopít smát se směju směje smějou smál směj ipf zasmát, vysmát, usmát spát spím spí spí/spějí spal spi/spěte ipf vyspat, zaspat, dospat, … stát stojím stojí stojí stál stůj ipf postát, dostát, vystát, … vědět vím ví vědí věděl věz ipf N/A vést vedu vede vedou vedl veď ipf přivést, dovést, …

Translation

to be afraid to want to read to play to eat to go (on foot) to swim to lie to have, should can, to be able to to write

to laugh to sleep to stand, cost to know to lead

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language poslat pošlu pošle pošlou poslal pošli říct (říci) řeknu řekne řeknou řekl řekni stát se stanu stane stanou stal staň

pf pf pf

vzít

vezmi

pf

přijmout přijmu přijme přijmou přijal přijmi

pf

vezmu vezme vezmou vzal

doříct, přeříct

posílat

to send to say, to tell stávat se to happen, become brát, beru, bereš,…, to take berou přijímat to accept

Top 150 Czech Verbs Verb

Present

-L-form (past)

bavit (se) běžet

1st Sg 3rd Sg -ím -í -ím -í

bojovat

-uju

bydlet

-ím

3rd Pl -í -l -í -l

-uje - -l ujou -í -í -l

být*

-N-form Imperative Collocation (passive)

Asp Pair (same ect meaning)

baven běžen

Ipf pobavit se Ipf při-, do-, vyběhnout Ipf vybojovat

entertain, enjoy run

Ipf -

live (inhabit)

bav běž

bojován -uj bydlen bydli -

(koho)

s kým, s čím (kde, s kým) (co, čím, kde) (na koho) (kudy, kam, s kým)

-ám -uju

-á -ají -l -uje - -l ujou

čekán -ej cestován -uj

chápat

-u

-e -ou -l

chápán chápej

co, koho

Ipf pochopit

chtít

chci

chtěn

koho, co

Ipf -

chutnat

-ám

-e chtě chtěl jí -á -ají -l

68

chutnán chutnej

zabydlet

Ipf -

čekat cestovat

chtěj

Prefix Derivates (diff meaning)

Ipf počkat Ipf -

English Translation

fight (in war)

be přečkat vycestovat, odcestovat, docestovat

zachtít se

co (komu) Ipf zachutnat pochutnat si

wait travel

understand, grasp (concept) want like taste, taste

-L-form (past)

-N-form Imperative Collocation (passive)

Asp Pair (same ect meaning)

četl -l -l dal

čten čistěn cítěn dán

čti čisti ciť -ej

Ipf Ipf Ipf Pf

-á -ají dal -á -ají -l -á -ají -l

dělán díván

-ej -ej dívej

Verb

Present

číst* čistit cítit dát

čtu -ím -ím -ám

čte -í -í -á

dát si dělat dívat se

-ám -ám -ám

doufat hledat hrát

-ám -á -ají -l -ám -á -ají -al hraju -e -ou -l

doufán -ej hledán -ej hrán hraj

jet

jedu

-e -ou -l

jet

jíst kašlat

jím -u

jí jedí jedl -e -ou -l

jeden jez kašlán kašli

co

končit kontrolovat

-ím -uju -u

končen konči kontrolo -uj ván koupán koupej

(s čím) koho, co

koupat se

-í -í -l -uje - -l ujou -e -ou -l

koupit kouřit

-ím -ím

-í -í

koupen kup kouřen kuř

kousat krást*

koušu -e -ou -l kradu kra kra kradl

čtou -í -í -ají

-í -í

-l -l

co co (čím) co co, koho komu co co na co, na koho v co co, koho co, na co, s kým, s čím

jeď

kousán kousej kraden kraď

přečíst vyčistit ucítit dávat

Prefix Derivates (diff meaning)

vycítit

English Translation

read clean feel, smell give

Pf dávat si have food, order Ipf udělat dodělat, vydělat do Ipf podívat se watch Ipf Ipf Ipf -

hope dohledat search, look for zahrát, vyhrát, play obehrát

Ipf -

přijet, odjet, vyjet, dojet, předjet najíst se vykašlat, dokašlat

Ipf sníst Ipf zakašlat

Ipf skončit Ipf zkontrolov at (kde) Ipf vykoupat se co (komu) Pf kupovat nakoupit (co) Ipf vykouřit, zakouřit si co, koho Ipf kousnout co (komu, Ipf ukrást vykrást, okrást

go (by vehicle)

eat cough end check swim, take a bath (bathe sb w/o se) buy smoke bite steal

69

Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Verb

Present

-L-form (past)

-N-form Imperative Collocation (passive)

kreslit křičet letět

-ím -ím -ím

de -í -í -í

ležet

-ím

-í

lhát

lžu

-e -ou lhal

lhán

lži

komu

líbit se

-ím

-í

líben

-

kdo, co komu

lyžovat

-uju

lyžován -uj

mluvit

-ím

-uje - -l ujou -í -í -l

mluven mluv

moct*

můžu (mohu) -ím -ím

mů že -í -í

muset myslet (si) mýt (se) najít

dou -í -l -í -l -í -l

kreslen kresli křičen křič letěn leť

z) (co) (na koho) (kam)

-í

ležen

lež

(na čem)

-í

-l

-l

Ipf nakreslit Ipf křiknout zakřičet Ipf uletět, vyletět, přiletět, zaletět Ipf lehnout (si) Ipf zalhat Ipf zalíbit se

English Translation

draw shout fly lie (on bed) lie (not tell the truth) like appearance

zalyžovat si

ski

(s kým)

Ipf -

speak, talk

mocen n/a

(co dělat)

Ipf -

domluvit se, vymluvit se pomoct (help)

musen n/a myslen mysli

(dělat) (co)

Ipf Ipf -

vymyslet, pomyslet

myl našel

myt najit

koho co, koho

Ipf umýt (se) Pf nacházet

must, have to think (have an opinion) wash (self) find

-l

nakoupe -uj n nastoup nastup en nechán -ej

(co)

Ipf nakoupit

shop

(do čeho)

Ipf nastupova t Pf nechávat

get on (a vehicle)

Ipf naobědvat se

have lunch

můž mohl ou -í -l -í -l

nastoupit nechat

-ám

-á -ají -l

obědvat

-ám

-á -ají -l

70

Prefix Derivates (diff meaning)

Ipf -

myju -e -ou najdu naj najd de ou -uju -uje ujou -ím -í -í

nakupovat

Asp Pair (same ect meaning)

-l

myj najdi

odbědvá -ej n

koho, co, (čeho) (co)

can

let, leave alone

Verb

Present

-L-form (past)

-N-form Imperative Collocation (passive)

obléknout (se) obout (se)

oblékn -e -ou oblékl u (nul) obuju -e -ou obul

odejít

odejdu -e -ou odešel

odemknout odjet

odemn -e -ou odemkl knu (nul) odjedu -e -ou -l

odpočívat

-ám

-á -ají -l

opakovat

-uju

opravit páchnout

-ím -u

pít plánovat

piju -uju

platit

-ím

-uje - -l ujou -í -í -l -e -ou páchl (nul) -e -ou pil -uje - -l ujou -í -í -l

plavat

-u

-e -ou -l

plaván plav

počítat

-ám

-á -ají -l

počítán -ej

poslat poslouchat

pošlu -e -ou -l -ám -á -ají -l

Asp Pair (same ect meaning)

Prefix Derivates (diff meaning)

oblečen oblékni

English Translation

koho (si co) Pf oblékat (se) obut obuj koho Pf obouvat (se) odejit odejdi (kam, Pf odcházet odkud) odemkn odemkni co, komu Pf odemykat ut odjet odjeď (kam, Pf odjíždět odkud) odpočív -ej Ipf odpočinou án t si opaková -uj co (komu) Ipf zopakovat n opraven oprav co, koho Pf opravovat páchnut páchni (od čeho) Ipf -

dress (oneself)

pit pij plánová -uj n placen plať

drink make plans

poslán pošli poslouc -ej hán

co co

Ipf napít se, vypít Ipf naplánova t Ipf zaplatit uplatit

kolik, komu, za co (kde, kam) Ipf -

co, koho, (s Ipf spočítat čím) co (komu) Pf posílat koho, co Ipf poslechno ut

přeplavat, vyplavat, uplavat, doplavat vypočítat

put on shoes (self) leave (on foot) unlock leave (by vehicle) rest repeat correct smell (reek)

pay swim (doing strokes)

count (on) send listen

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Present

potkat (se) povídat (si)

-ám -ám

pozvat

pozvu poz poz pozval ve vou -uju -uje - -l ujou

pozván pozvi

s kým Pf potkávat komu co, (s Ipf povědět kým) koho (kam) Pf zvát

pracová -uj n

(pro koho, Ipf kde)

prát (se)

peru

prán

per

co (s kým) Ipf -

přát (si)

-ám

přán

-ej

Ipf -

vypracovat, work dopracovat, přepracovat vyprat, přeprat wash (clothes), fight (with se) wish (for oneself)

Ipf -

-

pracovat

-L-form (past)

-á -ají -l -á -ají -l

per pero pral e u -á -ají přál

předpokládat -ám

-á -ají -l

překládat

-ám

-á -ají -l

překvapit

-ím

-í

-í

-l

přemýšlet

-ím

-í

-í

-l

přesvědčit

-ím

-í

-í

-l

přijet

přijedu -e -ou -l

přijít

přijdu -e -ou přišel

přijmout

přijmu -e -ou přijmul (přijal) připravovat -uju -uje - -l ujou probudit (se) -ím -í -í -l

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-N-form Imperative Collocation (passive)

Asp Pair (same ect meaning)

Verb

potkán -ej povídán -ej

komu co, (co) předpok -ej co (o čem, ládán kom) překlád -ej co (z čeho án do čeho) překvap překvap koho (čím) en přemýšl přemýšlej (o čem) en přescědč přesvědč koho (čím) en přijet přijeď (kam, odkud) přijit přijď (kam, odkud) přijmou přijmi co, koho t (kam) připravo -uj co ván probuze probuď koho

Prefix Derivates (diff meaning)

English Translation

meet talk, recount invite

suppose, assume

Ipf přeložit

translate

Pf překvapov at Ipf -

surprise

Pf přesvědčo vat Pf přijíždět

convince

Pf přicházet

arrive (on foot)

Pf přijímat

accept

Ipf připravit

prepare

Pf budit (se)

wake up

think, ponder

arrive (by vehicle)

Verb

Present

-L-form (past)

-N-form Imperative Collocation (passive)

prosit psát

-ím píšu

-í -í -l -e -ou psal

n prošen pros psán piš

ptát se

-ám

-á -ají ptal

ptán

půjčit (si)

-ím

-í

-í

-l

půjčen

pustit

-ím

-í

-í

-l

puštěn

radit řídit risknout rozbít rozumět

-ím -ím risknu -ju -ím

-í -í -e -je -í

-í -í -ou -jou -í

-l -l risknul rozbil -l

růst

rostu

sedět

-ím

rost rost rostl e ou -í -í -l

razen řízen risknut rozbit rozumn ěn -

skákat

skáču -e -ou -l

sezen, seď seděn skákán skákej

slíbit slyšet

-ím -ím

-l -l

slíben slyšen

slib slyš

smát se

směju -e -ou -l

smán

směj

smět

-ím

-

n/a

-í -í

-í

-í -í

-í

-l

Asp Pair (same ect meaning)

koho Ipf poprosit co (komu) Ipf napsat

-ej

koho, čeho (na koho co) pujč co komu (co od koho) pusť koho (z, od čeho) raď komu co řiď (co) riskni co rozbij co rozuměj komu, čemu (na čem, s kým) (kde, kam, přes co) co (komu) koho, co

Prefix Derivates (diff meaning)

odepsat, připsat, podepsat

English Translation

beg, ask write

Ipf zeptat se

ask

Pf půjčovat

lend (lend)

Pf pouštět

let go, turn on (music) advise drive risk break understand

Ipf Ipf Pf Pf Ipf

poradit uřídit, seřídit riskovat rozbíjet porozumět

Ipf vyrůst

grow

Ipf sednout si

sit

Ipf skočit

jump

Pf slibovat Ipf zaslechno ut (komu, na Ipf zasmát se koho) (dělat) Ipf -

promise sth (sb) hear laugh may, be allowed

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language -N-form Imperative Collocation (passive)

Asp Pair (same ect meaning)

Prefix Derivates (diff meaning)

English Translation

-í -í -l -á -ají -l

snažen snaž snídán -ej

o co (co)

-

try, attempt have breakfast

-í

souhlaše souhlas n, souhlase n spadnut spadni

(s kým)

Ipf Ipf nasnídat se Ipf -

-

agree

(kam)

Pf padat

Verb

Present

snažit se snídat

-ím -ám

souhlasit

-ím

spadnout

strávit

spadnu -e -ou spadl (nul) -uju -uje - -l ujou -ám -á -ají -l stanu -e -ou stal -ím -í -í -l -uju -uje - -l ujou -ím -í -í -l

stříhat

-ám

-á -ají -l

stříhán -ej

studovat

-uju -uju

telefonovat

-uju

těšit se třást* (se)

-ím třesu

-l třesl

studová n tancová n telefono ván těšem třesen

-uj

tancovat

učit

-ím

-uje ujou -uje ujou -uje ujou -í -í třes třes e ou -í -í

-l

učen

uč

sportovat starat se stát se stavět stopovat

74

-L-form (past)

-í

-l

-l -l -l

sportová n starán stán stavěn stopová n stráven

-uj

Ipf -

-ej staň stav -uj

o koho (komu) co

Ipf Pf Ipf Ipf

strav

(jak dlouho) co, koho

Pf trávit

-uj -uj těš třes

fall -

postarat se stávat se postavit stopnout

Ipf ostříhat, střihnout co Ipf vystudovat, dostudovat (s kým) Ipf zatancovat (si) komu Ipf zatelefono vytelefonovat, vat obtelefonovat na co, koho Ipf (čím, před Ipf zatřást, vytřást kým) koho co Ipf naučit (koho

do sports take care happen, become build hitchhike spend (time) cut (with scissors) study dance telephone look forward to shake (se for self) teach

Verb

učit se ukázat

Present

-L-form (past)

uklidit umět umřít usmívat se vařit večeřet

-ím -í ukážu uká že -ím -í -ím -í umřu -e -ám -á -ím -í -ím -í

vědět

vím

věřit vést*

-ím vedu

vézt*

vidět volat

volit vrátit (se) vypnout vysvětlit

ví

-í uká žou -í -í -ou -ají -í -í

-N-form Imperative Collocation (passive)

čemu) co co komu

-l -l

uč ukázán ukaž

-l -l umřel -l -l -l

uklizen uměn umřen usmíván vařen večeřen

ukliď n/a umři -ej vař večeř

co (kam) co

vězen, věden věřen veden

věz

(to)

vědí -l (ví) -í -í -l ved ved vedl e ou

věř veď

(na koho) co (co)

(co) komu koho, co (kam, kudy) vezu vez vezo vezl vezen vez koho, co e u (komu, kam) -ím -í -í -l viděn viď (viz) co, koho -ám -á -ají -al volán -ej (co na koho), (komu) -ím -í -í -l volen vol koho, co -ím -í -í -l vrácen vrať co komu, (kam) vypnu -e -ou vypl (nul) vypnut vypni co -ím -í -í -l vysvětle vysvětli co komu n

Asp Pair (same ect meaning)

Prefix Derivates (diff meaning)

English Translation

Ipf naučit se Pf ukazovat

learn show

Pf Ipf Pf Ipf Ipf Ipf

uklízet umírat usmát se uvařit navečeřet se Ipf dozvědět se

clean up be able to do die smile cook have dinner

Ipf uvěřit Ipf vodit

believe lead

Ipf vozit

carry by vehicle

Ipf uvidět Ipf zavolat

see call, phone, shout

Ipf zvolit Pf vracet se

vote, elect return

Pf vypínat Pf vysvětlova t

turn off explain

know

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Verb

Present

-L-form (past)

-N-form Imperative Collocation (passive)

Asp Pair (same ect meaning)

Prefix Derivates (diff meaning)

English Translation

vzít (si) vezmu -e -ou vzal vzat vzpomenout vzpom -e -ou vzpomněl vzpome si enu (vzpomen nut ul) zabít zabiju -e -ou zabil zabit začínat -ám -á -ají -l začínán žádat -ám -á -ají -l žádán

vezmi co (komu) Pf brát (si) vzpomeň na co, na Pf vzpomínat koho si

take (marry) remember, recall

zabij -ej -ej

zahnout zamknout

zahnu zamkn u zapnout zapnu zapomenout zapom enu

zahnut zamknu t zapnut zapome nut

zahni zamkni

(kam, kde) co, koho (kde) zapni co zapomeň co, koho

Pf zahýbat Pf zamykat Pf zapínat Pf zapomínat

turn on forget

zavřít žít zkusit znát (se) zout (se) zpívat ztratit (se)

-e -ou zahl (nul) -e -ou zamkl (nul) -e -ou zapl (nul) -e -ou zapomněl (zapomen ul) zavřu -e -ou zavřel žiju -e -ou žil -ím -í -í -l -ám -á -ají znal zuju -e -ou zul -ám -á -ají -al -ím -í -í -l

kill start, begin request, ask (for something) turn lock

zavřen žit zkusen znán zut zpíván ztracen

zavři žij zkus -ej zuj -ej ztrať

co, koho

Pf Ipf Pf Ipf Pf Ipf Pf

close, lock up live try, test know (each other) take off shoes (own) sing lose

zůstan -e -ou zůstal u

-

zůstaň

(kde)

zůstat

76

koho (co) koho o co

Pf zabíjet Ipf začít Ipf požádat

co koho, co koho (co) co

zavírat přežít, dožít (se) zkoušet poznat (se) zouvat (se) zazpívat ztrácet (se) Pf zůstávat

remain, stay

How to use the verb chart Verb The verb as it is found in the dictionary. Typically only one aspect is given for each pair. It is the one that seems to be more common (whenever possible). Note on se and si: If se or si can be used with the verb, they are listed in parentheses. If they are not in parentheses, the verb can only be used with them. If used optionally, they typically change the meaning (at least to self) this is then given under English Translation also in parentheses.

Present The conjugation is given in the forms of: first person singular (I), third person singular (he, she, it) and third person plural (they). When a verb has an irregular conjugation, these are the forms likely to be different.

L-form (past) This is the form of the verb used in the past tense. –l means that the final –t of the infinitive is simple replaced with the –l. Otherwise the full –l form is given. Some verbs have more than one possible form. The more formal (written) is given first.

N-form (passive) Although the –n form is mostly regular, the full form is given for all verbs. Not all verbs can be used in a passive sentence but most need this form to make nouns and adjectives.

Imperative Even though, the imperative is almost always regular, the full singular form is given for all verbs except for verbs ending in –ovat which only replace the infinitive ending with –uj. The plural form can always be formed according to the rules listed under Imperative.

Collocation Sometimes called valence, this indicates what type of object is the verb likely to have. The question words indicate whether it is a noun, a noun following a preposition, or an adverbial phrase of time or place. The question word for the noun also indicates the case. When two collocations are separated by comma, it means, that one or the other can be chosen. When they are not, it means that both have to be present at once (although the exact word order may be different). Collocations listed in parentheses are optional. Those given without any marks, always need to be present in some form. The slot marked by koho (for accusative) can be filled by se and komu (for dative) can be filled by si if one or both are marked as possible in the first column.

Aspect Ipf. marks an imperfective verb and Pf. marks a perfective verb.

77

Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Pair (same meaning) If the verb has a pair verb, with the same meaning but of the opposite aspect, it is listed here. Note: It may not be conjugated according to the same pattern. See Irregular verbs below to check whether it requires special treatment.

Prefix Derivates (diff meaning) If there are verbs derived from this one by a prefix, the most important ones are listed here. They always have a slightly different meaning than the verb in the first column (which is not marked, however).

English Translation The most straightforward English translation possible is given here. See a larger dictionary for more.

78

Adverbs Manner These answer the question Jak? (How) Jak? dobře rychle hezky špatně pomalu ošklivě jaký? dobrý špatný krásný ý  e/ě mladý starý drahý dlouhý hezký český anglický jasný dlouhý

!

zký  zky ský  sky cký  cky ýo ýo

... ... jak? dobře špatně krásně mladě staře draze dlouze hezky česky anglicky jasno dlouho

Most of adverbs in Czech are formed from adjectives.  The -ý or -í ending of the adjective is dropped, and -e or -ě is added. Remember that -ě changes the consonant before it.  dobrý - dobře, jarní - jarně, mladý - mladě k  c krátký  krátce ch  š jednoduchý  jednoduše r  ř starý  staře h  z drahý  draze  The -cký, -ský, zký endings are shortened  hezký - hezky, český - česky  The -ý ending has an equivalent -o which is used for some words. Sometimes, there is a slight difference in meaning, which has to be learned with individual words in certain contexts.  daleký - daleko; dlouhý - dlouho; jasný – jasno 

Grade of Quantity

These answer the question Kolik? (How much/many?) Kolik? hodně velmi moc ... málo dost ...

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Comparing Adverbs - More and Most much hodně moc málo dobře špatně brzo/y rychle levně

more více

the most nejvíce

méně lépe hůř dřív(e) rychleji levněji

nejméně nejlépe nejhůř nejdřív(e) nejrychleji nejlevněji

více

než ...

nejvíce

z koho, čeho ...

!

more than ... the most of ...

ADJECTIVE + noun



Tomáš je lepší student než já.

ADVERB + verb



Učí se lépe než já.

(Tomáš is a better student than I)

(He learns better than I do.)

Place These are used as answers to the questions Kde? and Kam? (Where/Where to) Kde? Kam? in the back vzadu dozadu to the back

in the front

vepředu

dopředu

to the front

up

nahoře

nahoru

upward

down

dole

dolů

downward

in the middle uprostřed

doprostřed

to the middle

on the left vlevo on the right vpravo

doleva doprava

to the left to the right

Time These are used to answer the question Kdy? (When), Odkdy?(Since when?), Dokdy? (Till when): včera předtím teď/nyní potom zítra yesterday before now after tomorrow stále (always), občas (sometimes), tehdy (then), dosud (until now)

80

Prepositions Time v/ve

Koho? Co?

v 5 hodin, v úterý

v/ve

Kom? Čem?

během

Koho? Čeho?

kolem

Koho? Čeho?

v lednu, v zimě, v roce 1948 během léta během hodiny kolem páté

přes

Koho? Co?

přes den, přes víkend

during

za

Koho? Co?

za jeden den

in, after

po

Kom? Čem?

po obědě, po prázdninách

after

od … do

Koho? Čeho?

před

Kým? Čím?

od pondělí do pátku od osmi do devíti před rokem, před hodinou

k

Komu? Čemu?

k večeru, k ránu

after lunch, after vacation from … from Monday till till … Sunday, from 8 to 9 before, a year, month ago ago toward toward the evening

na

Koho? Co?

na týden, na prázdniny

for

o

Kom? Čem?

o víkendu, o prázdninách

ob

Koho? Co?

ob týden, ob den

on during every other

at on in during in around

5 o'clock Tuesday January, winter, 1948 during summer in an hour five o' clock during the day, during the weekend in/after one day

for a week, for a holiday on the weekend during vacation every other day, week

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Space - Kde? nebo Kam? Czech distinguishes between locality and directionality rather religiously. All prepositions of space observe this distinction. It is important whether the object is standing still or moving. For instance: auto jede na hory (a car is going to the mountains) vs. auto jede na horách ( car is in the mountains). What tell these two sentences apart is the case ending. There are two prepositions for each meaning ( e.g. in vs. into). One set uses the case to distinguish while the other set uses two different prepositions. Kde? stationary on

na (o) Kom?

Kam? directionally

Čem?

před

before

behind

over, above

under

near, close

next to

near, by

Komu?Čemu?

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pod

under

k

to, toward

do

into

od

from (edge)

Koho? Čeho? in

Kom?Čem?

naproti

over, above

Koho? Čeho?

Koho? Čeho?

v

nad

Komu? Čemu?

Koho? Čeho?

u

behind

Koho? Co?

Koho? Čeho?

vedle

za

Koho? Co?

Kým? Čím?

blízko

before

Koho? Co?

Kým? Čím?

pod

před Koho? Co?

Kým? Čím?

nad

onto

Koho? Co?

Kým? Čím?

za

Na

z

from(inside)

Koho? Čeho? opposite

naproti Komu?Čemu?

opposite

KDE?/KAM?/ODKUD? locational versus directional – summary of cases Kde?

Kam?

Odkud? Odkdy?

do Koho? Čeho?

v(e) / na Kom? Čem?

z(e) Koho? Čeho?

na Koho? Co?

k(e)

u / vedle

od(e)

Koho? Čeho?

Komu? Čemu?

Locational

Directional

Koho? Čeho?

Usage of v, do, and na hospody školy

kolej kavárny

náměstí

diskotéku

koncert

DO

Německa

NA

jít/jet

Koho? Čeho?

Moravu Brna

Koho? Co?

Havaj

Slovensko

Prahy

Tahity ostrov

hospodě škole

hrad

koleji kavárně

náměstí

diskotéce

koncertě

v

Německu

Brně Praze

NA

být

Kom? Čem?

hradě Kom? Čem?

Moravě Slovensku

Havaji Tahity ostrově

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Summary of selected prepositions of space na Koho? Co? in the direction on

k(e) Komu? Čemu? to, toward

do Koho? Čeho? to, into

u Koho? Čeho? at,near, by

od(e) Koho? Čeho? from (without)

z(e) Koho? Čeho? from (within)

Miscellaneous Prepositions o s bez mimo kromě včetně

Kom? Čem? Kým? Čím? Koho? Čeho? Koho? Co? Koho? Čeho? Koho? Čeho?

about with without except except including

o

Koho? Co?

v za z

Koho? Co? Koho? Čeho? Koho? Čeho?

sth. (as in bet sth., be afraid for sth) in (as in believe in.) during the time of down from

Other Uses of o, v, za, z

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Conjunctions List of Most Common Conjunctions Conjunctives a and

Učím se česky a francouzsky. Snídám housku a čaj. Půjdu domů a uvařím večeři.

I am studying Czech and French. I have roll and tea for breakfast. I'll go home and cook dinner.

i as well as both… and

Mám hlad i žízeň. Zajímá mě literatura i historie. Na zahradě máme ovoce i zeleninu.

jako jakoby as as though

Bylo to, jakoby se mu to zdálo. Cítil se jako doma.

I'm hungry as well as thirsty. I'm interested in literature and history. We have fruits as well as vegetables... It was as though in a dream. He felt like he was at home.

Causal proto that's why,

Moc kouří, proto je často nervózní. Jdu do kina a proto nemám čas.

protože because

Protože jsem přišel pozdě, ujel mi vlak.

He smokes a lot that's why he is often nervous. I'm going to the movies, that's why I don't have time. Because I came late, I missed my train.

Disjunctives ale but buď nebo either – or ani – ani neither – nor nebo or

Chci jít do divadla, ale musím jet do Prahy. Ten dům je hezký, ale drahý. Buď se budeš učit německy nebo anglicky. Dal jsem to buď Pavle nebo Honzovi. Nebyl tam ani on ani ona. Nemám čas ani dneska ani zítra. Uvidíme se v sobotu nebo v neděli. Chci modrý nebo červený svetr.

I want to go to the theater but I must go to Prague. The house is nice but expensive. You will either learn German or English. I either gave it to Pavla or to Honza. Neither he nor she were there. I won't have time neither today nor tomorrow. We'll see each other on Sat. or Sun. I want a blue sweater or red sweater.

Vím, kdo mluví německy.

I know who speaks German.

Vím, co chceš.

I know what you want.

Nevím, kdy přijde.

I don't know when he'll come.

Relative kdo who co what kdy when

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language kam where to kde where jak how který what, which než than

Nevíš, kam šel?

Do you know where he went to?

Nevíš, kde je?

Do you now where she is?

Řekl mi, jak to mám udělat.

He told me how to do it.

Viděl jsem film, který natočil Forman.

I saw the film which Forman made.

Máš se lépe než já.

You are better than me.

když when až when, as late as

Když jsem byl v Praze, koupil jsem si knihu. Až budu v Praze, koupím si knihu. Řeknu ti to, až zítra. Až skončí film, půjdeme domů.

než before

Dříve než ti odpovím, musím se zeptat Petra. Než přijde Petr, uklidím si pokoj.

When I was in Prague I bought a book. When I'm in Prague I'll buy a book. I will tell you tomorrow. When the film is over we will go home. Before I answer I have to ask Petr.

Time

jakmile hned jak as soon as zatímco while

kdykoli whenever, any time dokud as long as

Hned jak přijdu, zavolám ti. Jakmile se uzdraví, přijde na návštěvu. Zatímco jsi spal, já jsem pracovala. Zatímco ty se máš dobře, já se mám špatně. Kdykoli přijde, přinese dárek. Můžete mi zavolat kdykoli. (kdykoli serves as an adverb) Dokud jsem naživu nedostaneš ani cent.

Before Petr comes I will clean my room. As soon as I get back I'll call you. As soon as he recovers he will come to visit. While you were sleeping I was working. While you're okay, I'm bad. Whenever he comes he brings a gift. You can call me whenever. As long as I live you're not gonna get a cent.

Conditional jestli jestliže if když if, when kdyby if

Jestli bude sníh, pojedeme lyžovat. Jestliže to nebude hotové včas, nedostaneš peníze. Zeptej se ho, jestli přijde. Když bude sníh, pojedeme lyžovat. Když budu mít čas, udělám to. Kdybych měl čas, udělal bych to. Kdyby byl sníh, jeli bychom lyžovat.

-li if

Bude-li sníh, pojedeme lyžovat. Budu-li mít čas, udělám to.

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If there is snow, we will go skiing. If it's not done in time you will get no money. Ask him if he'll come. If there is snow, we will go skiing. If I have time I will do it. If I had time I would do it. If there were snow we would go skiing. If there is snow we will go skiing. If I have time, I will do it.

Concessional i když přestože ačkoli even though přesto in spite of anyway

I když se mi to nelíbí, udělám to. Přestože nemám moc peněz, koupím si to.

Even though I don't like it I will do it. Even though I don't have much money I will buy it.

Nemám moc peněz, přesto si to koupím.

I don't have much money but I will buy it anyway.

Selected Problematic Conjunctions AŽ and KDYŽ Both až and když can be used in more than one context (see table below). Only when used as the equivalent of the English when (i.e. temporally) can they become a source of confusion for the learner. Až always points to the future, while když describes events in the past, or the present, most often repeatedly (for instance, Vždycky když ... . is the only way to translate always when...). až temporal

local

když

až přijdu

when I come

když přišel

when he came

až to bude hotové

when it's ready

když to bylo hotové

when it was ready

až pojedeš do Brna

when you (will) go to Brno

když jedeš do Brna

when you go to Brno

až do Prahy

all the way to Prague

až v Praze

not until Prague když přijdu

if I come

když to udělá

if he does it

condition

Both až and když are found in a number of idioms and proverbs. E.g., když už tak už (used as when we're doing it anyway it might better be worth it), až na to ... (except that ...), mám toho až až, (I'm fed up with it), to je až moc (it's a little bit too much). There's even až když which means only when. Když + future tense is the equivalent of English 1st conditional.

KDY and KDYŽ Now it’s time to put když into opposition with kdy. The basic difference is similar to that of between který and co. They both mean when. But the basic usage of kdy is related to time, e.g. question word as in Kdy příjdeš? (When will you come?), or conjunction as in Řekněte mi, kdy se můžeme sejít. (Tell me when we can meet.) while když is basically used as a conjunction in relative clauses Když přišel, bylo to hotové. (When he came, it was done.) Temporal

Relative

Kdy přijdeš?

When will you come?

Když přijdeš, bude to hotové.

When you come it will be done.

Až to bude hotové dostaneš peníze.

When it’s done you will get money.

Když to bude hotové, dostaneš peníze.

If it’s done you will get money.

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Když is also used in the following way. Čtu jen když je světlo. (I read only when there is light.) Když to jinak nejde, přijdu. (If that’s the only way, I will come.) Když se mě to nelíbí, tak si to nekoupím. (If I don’t like it, I won’t buy it.) Když přijde, všechno bude v pořádku. (If/when she comes, everything will be OK.) Co když se jim něco stane? (What if something happens to them?) Udělám to i když nemám čas. (I will do it even though I don’t have time.) Když ono je to tak hezké. (But it is so nice!). Kdy is also used in a few rather bookish idioms. Nemám kdy. (I don’t have time.) Na to není kdy. (There’s not time for that.) Bylo to horší než kdy dříve. (It was worse than ever before.)

KTERÝ and ŽE One that sometimes causes misunderstandings is the English conjunction that which actually serves a double purpose. Consider these English sentences: 1) This is the man that I saw. 2) a. He said that he would do it. / b. He doesn't know that he owes me money. That in 1) further describes a person (or introduces a relative clause) while in 2/ it indicates a. reported speech and b. a reported fact. These two are easily distinguished, and in Czech they require a different word. 1) in Czech, would be To je ten muž, kterého jsem viděl. while 2) will be a. Řekl, že to udělá. b. Neví, že mi dluží peníze. Který is really an adjective, and therefore it takes on the case of the noun in the main clause (in Czech grammars you will find it classified as a relative pronoun). Že, on the other hand, is a true conjunction, and it doesn't change at all. Note: Unlike that in English, both který and že are always preceded by a comma.

AŤ and ABY The dreaded aby and ať are next. The indirect imperatives, or subjunctives. They are very similar to French subjunctives. Ať is followed by the he, she, or they form of the verb, while aby requires the past tense. It takes on the function of the auxiliary, and changes its form to abych, abys, aby, abysme, abyste, aby (in literary Czech the correct we-form is abychom). The difference in meaning between ať and aby is very slight . The sentences in the chart below should demonstrate. AŤ (direct wish)

ABY (indirect wish)

Řekni mu, ať přijde!

Tell him to come.

Řekni mu, aby přišel!

Tell him to come!

Ať si jde.

Let him go.

Chci, aby šel.

I want him to go.

Chce, abychom tam šli.

He wants us to go there.

Nechci, aby byla válka.

I don't want there to be war.

Aby přijel, musí mít peníze.

He must have money in order to come.

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Word Order Contrary to the popular belief, the Czech word order is not completely free. In Czech, word order serves to show what you want to stress. The general rule is What you want to stress goes at the end of the sentence. For instance, take the simplest possible sentence Petr pije kolu. (Petr is drinking coke.) The words in this sentence can be ordered in any way and it will still mean the same (unlike English where Coke is drinking Peter is a little awkward). BUT. Each of the orderings serves as an answer to a different question. Question Answer Co pije Petr? (What is Petr drinking?) Petr pije kolu. Kdo pije kolu? (Who is drinking coke?) Kolu pije Petr. Therefore, unlike English, from even a very simple answer you can guess what the question was. Notice that the answers are mirror images of their questions. Note: As you may see below the other possible combinations also make sense in Czech Jí kolu Petr? Petr kolu pije. (No, Petr doesn't eat coke he drinks it) Jí Petr kolu? Kolu Petr pije. Pije Petr kolu? (not mléko, or (these two combinations would be most čaj) likely perceived as questions) Pije kolu Petr? (not Jana, or Karel) Three words, thus, give us six possible combinations, and all have a slightly different meaning in Czech. The word order is always a little vague for even in English you have sentences like see it he did, Petr he saw, Petr saw he. To grasp the subtle differences you have to live with the language for a long time.

Typical Word Order of a Czech Sentence Simple sentence 1 subject

2 verb

Petr Petr

píše is writing

3 indirect object Martině to Martina

4 object dopis. a letter.

Note: 3 and 4 are interchangeable.

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Sentence with adverbials 1 adverbial of time Včera Yesterday

!



       

  

2 verb

3 subject

psal was writing

Petr Petr

4 indirect object Martině to Martina

5 object dopis a letter

6 adverbial of place v parku. in the park.

Any part of the sentence could be moved at the end to be stressed: Petr psal Martině dopis v parku VČERA. (not the day before) Dopis psal včera v parku Martině PETR. (not Jirka) Petr psal včera v parku Martině DOPIS. (not a poem) Petr psal včera v parku dopis MARTINĚ. (not to Jana) Petr včera dopis Martině v parku PSAL. (not read) The finite verb tends to keep the second position. (if unstressed) The adverbial of time usually precedes that of space. Otherwise the position of adverbials is fairly flexible si, se, mě, mi, ti, se, si, ho, mu (jsem, ..., jste in byl jsem,..., byli jste) always take the second position in the sentence Měl jsem se ho zeptat. (I should have asked him.) adjectives always precede nouns - dobrý učitel, malý muž, žlutý banán (the reverse - French like - order is possible but would sound archaic)

How does se change around in a sentence?

It in fact doesn't move at all. se always occupies in the second position in the sentence, and other words move around it to allow for that. 1 Jak Jmenuju Jak Mám Jak Petr

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2 se se se se se se

3 jmenuješ? Petr. máš? dobře. má má

4

Petr? dobře.

Where are auxiliary words placed in the sentence? 1 Koupil Koupil Díval Tak

2 jsem jsi jsem jsem

3 si to se se

4 to včera. na televizi. díval

5 včera. na televizi.

Questions in Czech co? kdo? kdy? kde? kam? proč? Co píše Petr? Petr píše dopis. Kdo píše dopis? Dopis píše Petr. Kdy čte Martina? Martina čte večer. Kde se učili studenti? Studenti se učili v parku. Kam šly děti? Děti šly do školy. Proč chcete jíst? Chceme jíst, protože ... .  if a question starts with a question word the word order of the answer mirrors !  the intonation of this kind of question is identical with that of simple statements

ano nebo ne Píše Petr dopis? Píše dopis Petr? Čte Martina večer? Šly děti do školy? Učili se studenti v parku?

Ano. Ano. Ano. Ano. Ano.

Petr píše dopis. Dopis píše Petr. Martina čte večer. Děti šly do školy. Studenti se učili v parku. Chcete jíst? Ano. Chceme jíst.  in YES/NO questions you typically swap the verb and the noun !  however, if your question requires a YES or NO answer, ano or ne will suffice  the word order of an answer to a YES/NO question is your typical word order for simple statements  the intonation of this type of question has a rising pattern - it goes up on the last syllable in the utterance

Negation The negative particle ne behaves differently in different tenses. Most of the time it is attached directly to the main verb. Only in the future with budu the auxiliary is negated instead. Yes No Past dělal jsem to nedělal jsem to I wasn’t doing it Present dělám to nedělám to I’m not doing it Conditional dělal bych to nedělal bych to I wouldn’t do it Future budu to dělat nebudu to dělat I’m not going to do it. Note: Sentences like Nejsem to dělal. Nebych jela. or Budu to nedělat. are wrong.

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Double Negatives In Czech, double negatives are a requirement!All pronouns and adverbs used to quantify have to be used in the negative form in addition to the verb in negative form. ANO Mám všechno. Ví všechno. Mám nějaký rohlík. Příjde vždycky ráno.

NE Nemám nic. Neví nic. Nemám žádný rohlík. Nepřijde nikdy.

I have everything / nothing. She knows everything / nothing. I have some bread / no bread. He always comes… / He never comes.

Reference Pronouns (Anaphors) No language likes to repeat nouns over and over. Pronouns referring back to nouns mentioned before. For example, instead of saying He bought a new car. The car was expensive. you say He bought a new car. It was expensive. You can also refer back to verb or whole sentences. For example, I ran a mile under 10 minutes. It was very difficult. English uses many pronouns for this purpose: he, she, it, him, her, his There are several things to remember about Czech in this respect. The pronoun has to match the gender. The pronoun may change according to case, especially after prepositions. The pronoun doesn’t always have to be expressed. Nouns

unexpressed pronoun on, ona mě, jemu, ji, jí

s ním, bez něho

Verbs

to

s tím

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Petr má nové kolo. Je červené. Jana si koupila knihu, ale ona nebyla dobrá. Petra nepřinesla tužku, protože ji nemohla najít. Mám dobrý počítač, bez něho nemůžu pracovat. Včera jsem ujel 100 km, bylo to těžké. Nemám peníze. S tím se nedá nic dělat.

Petr has a new bike. It is read. Jana bought a book but it wasn’t good. Petra didn’t bring a pen because she couldn’t find it. I have a good computer, without it I cannot work. Yesterday, I went 100 km, it was difficult. I have no money. There’s nothing to be done about it.

Relative Clauses and Phrases Relative clause or phrase is always begun with a relative particle. See Conjunctions for a list. The important thing to remember about the relative conjunctions (pronouns) který (which), kdo (who), jaký (what) is that they change with the case and gender of the noun they refer to. Co (what) is used with any case without change.

Který Který can be translated into English as who, what, that, which. More often than not, English drops the relative pronoun. Který is always preceded by a comma. Kdo? Co? Koho? Co?

Koho? Čeho? Komu? Čemu? Kom? Čem? Kým? Čím?

muž, který přišel, auto, které nejede muž, kterého jsem viděl, žena, kterou znám auto, které jsem koupil muž, kterého jsem se zeptal město, do kterého jsem přijel kamarád, kterému jsem telefonoval žena, které jsem to řekl muž, o kterém jsme mluvili země, ve které je svoboda člověk, se kterým se znám paní, se kterou přišel

man who came, car that doesn’t run the man I saw the woman I know the car I bought the man I asked city in which I arrived a friend I called woman who I told it to man about who we talked country in which there is freedom man who I know woman with who I came

Kdo Kdo (who) is used differently from English. It is common only in set phrases and only for TEN nouns. Kdo? Co? Koho? Co? Komu? Čemu? Kým? Čím?

ten, kdo přišel ten, koho znám ten, komu to dám ten, s kým přijdeš

he who came he who I know he, who I give it to he, with whom you come

Co In colloquial Czech, you can use co (what) in any relative clause regardless of gender or case. The subject must also be expressed by a pronoun in all cases except Kdo? Co? Kdo? Co? Koho? Co? Koho? Čeho? Komu? Čemu? Kom? Čem? Kým? Čím?

muž, co přišel, auto, co nejede muž, co jsem ho viděl, žena, co ji znám muž, co jsem se ho zeptal město, co jsem do něj přijel kamarád, co jsem mu telefonoval žena, co jsem jí to řekl muž, co jsme o něm mluvili země, co v ní je svoboda člověk, co se s ním se znám paní, se co jsem s ní přišel

man who came, car that doesn’t run the man I saw the woman I know the man I asked city in which I arrived a friend I called woman who I told it to man about who we talked country in which there is freedom man who I know woman with who I came

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Sentences without Subject See how these are used as idioms under Idioms, Phraseology and Vocabulary.

Weather - impersonal states Prší. Sněží. Mrzne. Hřmí. Blýská se. Taje.

je + adverb

Bude pršet. Pršelo. Bude sněžit. Sněžilo. Bude mrznout. Mrzlo. Bude hřmít. Hřmělo. Bude se blýskat. Blýskalo se. Bude tát. Tálo.

It's raining. It's snowing. It's freezing. There's thunder. There's lightning. There's a thaw.

This construction is used most often for describing states of weather, time, etc. Jak bude venku? Jak bylo venku? Jak je venku? How's the weather outside? Bude teplo. Bylo teplo. Je teplo. It is warm. Bude horko. Bylo horko. Je horko. It is hot. Bude hezky. Bylo hezky. Je hezky. It is nice. Bude chladno. Bylo chladno. Je chladno. It is cold. Bude zima. Byla zima. Je zima. It is cold. Bude pět hodin. Bylo pět hodin. Je pět hodin. It's five o'clock.

Feelings - je + Komu? Čemu? + adverb Jak je ti? Je mi dobře. Je mi zima. Je mi špatně. Je mi teplo. Je mi smutno.

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How are you feeling? I'm feeling well. I'm cold. I'm feeling sick. I'm hot. I'm feeling sad.

Jak ti bude? Jak ti bylo? Bude mi dobře.Bylo mi dobře. Bude mi zima. Bylo mi zima. Bude mi špatně. Bylo mi špatně. Bude mi teplo. Bylo mi teplo. Bude mi smutno. Bylo mi smutno.

Pronunciation Summary of pronunciation Czech prounciation is not particularly difficult. It is about as hard as it is to pronounce any language, if it does not happen to be the one you grew up with. This is because your muscles just find it hard to adjust to new things. It is true, however, that pronunciation is often the most difficult part for adult learners, and very rarely do they achieve nativelike accent. It is still important to practice pronunciation when learning Czech because Czech native speakers tend to value correct pronunciation over grammar when interacting with non. A student of Czech will have an easier time trying to converse with natives speakers when observing the correct pronunciation patterns.

Vowels There are a few peculiarities in Czech that tend to cause problems for English-speaking mouths. The most troublesome is the pronunciation of vowels. First, no matter where they are in the word, Czech vowels never loose their composure, and are always pronounced fully and unflaggingly. Second, each Czech vowel can be either short or long. Long vowels are exactly two times longer than their short brothers. It is very frequent that vowel length changes meaning of words significantly. For instance, děla (cannons) is differentiated from dělá (he is working) only by the long á in the latter, and there are even more embarrassing examples. The length of vowels is completely independent on the stress. The stress is unexceptionably on the first syllable in all Czech words. It is a very frequent phenomenon that a long vowel occurs in an unstressed position like in dělá. There are two diphthongs ou, au and eu which are pronounced fully, too.

Consonants Much less troublesome are Czech consonants. There are many that are the same as or very similar to those in English and in Czech. There are five, however, that are not in English at all: ch, ď, ť, ň, ř  of the above ř is the most feared one; it is famous for its quirky nature and soft gurgling sound; it is the sound that Czech children learn the last (around 5 – 6 years), and a certain portion of the population, including President Havel never learn to do it quite right; except for its fame and difficulty (it has been claimed that Czechs invented it deliberately to make Czech harder to learn) ř has little importance for learning the language, and many Czechs will be disappointed if you learn it well, which you very likely will  ch is the same as in Scottish loch, but mispronouncing will cause no disasterous misunderstandings;  ď, ť, ň, on the other hand have no claims to fame but play much more important role in the language because they often distinguish between the different meanings of similar words Much more important are sounds which are in English, too, but are pronounced just a little differently in Czech. For instance, k, p, t don't have aspiration, so it will be difficult for you to distinguish them from g, b, d when they are the first sound in a word. Czech r's are rolled very much like the Scottish r's. Finally, unlike English, Czech h is voiced,

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language which, I dare say, makes it the most difficult of Czech sounds for English speakers. Other than that, there's nothing in Czech that will surprise you.

Syllables Truly, when you speak the language, it is not the sounds you pronounce, it is syllables, words and sentences. Thus, when you practice pronunciation start putting the sounds into syllables and words. You will also find that then they are easier to pronounce.

Assimilation There are a few things that happen to individual sounds when put together. Especially consonants are vulnerable. If two consonants meet, the second always makes the first change its voicedness.2 For instance, in kde the voiced d changes the unvoiced k so that it is pronounced as voiced g. The pause is unvoiced so ending consonants are always pronounced unvoiced. Additionally, the following word always forces the change on the final consonant of the preceding word. Voiced consonants without an unvoiced pair (i.e. m, n, l, r, j) and v do not usually trigger assimilation.

Consonant Clusters Another trick of Czech pronunciation is its tendency to cluster consonants. As many as 4 consonants can be in one syllable without any vowels. Thus, zmrzlina (icecream) is in fact a two-syllable word. Examples of monosyllabic words without any vowels are smrt, krk, vlk, smrk, pštros, strom, stvol. 6 consonants in a row can be found in verbs in the past tense such as scvrkl (shrank) forming two syllables and even a 7 consonant rarity could be contemplated in the verb scvrnkl (pinged off a surface). Indeed, there is a famous Czech sentence Strč prst skrz krk which seemingly lacks vowels completely. Notice, however, that whenever there are no vowels in the word either r or l is present to play the role of a vowel.

Contrasts There are several groups of sounds which have something in common one way or another. Vowels and consonants are one example. Vowels are long and short. Consonants are soft and hard, or voiced and unvoiced. It is important to be aware of this opposition since very often when the form of a word changes the ending consonant changes from hard to soft. See the how to spell it charts below for examples.

Voicedness is a feature of consonants which is present in next to all languages. A consonant is voiced if you produce a vibration in your larynx while pronouncing it e.g. v, and unvoiced if you don't e.g. f. Voiced and unvoiced consonants are pared together. See the How to pronounce section for recorded examples. 2

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Short and long vowels There are many pairs of Czech words which are distinguished only by the length of the vowels. Soft, hard and neutral consonants This distinction is important for the choice of i or y which are pronounced identically but spelled depending on the preceding consonant. hard d t n ch k h g r [-y] soft ď ť ň š c, č z ž ř j [- i] The distinction between soft and hard consonants is very important for Czech. One of the less important implications is the spelling of i and y which are pronounced the same. The i only follows soft consonants, and y hard. For the characters below the distinction is not important. neutral b f l m p s v [- i ]/[-y] Czechs have to learn by heart which of the neutral consonants are followed by i or y. The default is i with a list of exception that has to be memorised by every Czech school child. Voiced vs unvoiced Some consonants are voiced and some are unvoiced. In Czech, it is very important to be aware of the difference because all voiced consonants become unvoiced at the end of words For instance, muž (man) is pronounced muš. The other rule is that there can only be two consonants of the same quality next to each other, and the second governs the first. For instance, kdy (when) is pronounced gdy, etc. Listen to the tape, and try to discern and reproduce the difference. voiced b v d ď g h z ž dž dz unvoiced p f t ť k ch s š č c The following consonants do not have unvoiced counterparts, and therefore are not influenced by nor do they do anything to other consonants: r, l, m, n, j. So e.g. z in znát (to know) does not change to s as it would for instance in zpátky (back). Note: The last two contrasts only appear in cases of assimilation (see above).

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Comparing Czech Sounds to English Those that are the same in Czech and in English How it is spelled in How it would be spelled Where you can see it in Czech Czech in English words b B b as in beet Brno, robot c C ts as in it's celý, ocel, nic č Č ch as in chili čili, oči, proč d D d as in adage dům, voda f F f/ph as in fit/phase paragraf, Franta g G g as in gear guma j J y as in yum jo, Mája, ahoj l L l as in love láska, Vltava m M m as in motor motor, máma, dům n N n as in nothing ne, ano, on s S s as in sip sedět, osoba, rys š Š sh as in ship šála, kaše, Aš v V v as in vase vědět, káva z Z z as in zip zip, mazurka Czech sounds that are similar to some in English How it is spelled in How it would be spelled Where you can see it in Czech Czech in English words h H h as in ham hora, aha, Praha k K k as in skip kamarád, oko, krok p P p as in spit pero, opakujte, r R r as in drum ryba, overal, autokar t T t as in stick táta, Ota, smrt ž Ž zh(s) as in pleasure život, kožich Czech sounds that are not in English at all ch Ch kh as in Mikhail chuť, chtít, rachot, strach ď Ď dy as in duty (Brit Eng) dítě, oděv ň Ň ny as in new (Brit Eng) něco, nic, kůň ť Ť ty as in tutor (Brit Eng) tělo, otěž, choť ř Ř říkat, přechod, břeh, zářez, Okoř Czech vowels short & long a A á Á laská vs láska e E é É peče vs péče i/y I/Y í/ý Í/Ý lyže vs líže o O ó Ó boje vs bóje u U ú/ů Ú muže vs může

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Pictorial Guide to Pronouncing Selected Czech Sounds In the pictures below you will see the position of the tongue, the rounding of the lips and the imprint of the tongue on the palate which shows you the shape of the tongue. Only the sounds that are not in English, or tend to pose difficulties for learners of Czech are displayed. Pull the tongue back and press the back of your jaws firmly together The tip of your tongue should be vibrating loosely. This sound can be either voiced or unvoiced.

Ř

R

Your lips are slightly rounded. The tip of your tongue is vibrating. You jaws are loose. This sound is always voiced.

R

Compare the Czech vibrating r with the English rounded r.

in English

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Ď and

Ť

Try pronouncing d or t with the tip of your tongue pressing against your lower teeth and the back of your tongue pressed against the back of your palate. ď is voiced and ť is unvoiced.

Ň

Try pronouncing n with the tip of your tongue pressing against your lower teeth and the back of your tongue pressed against the back of your palate.

C

Start pronouncing t with your tongue against the upper teeth and revert quickly to s which should flip the tongue down.

CH

Press the very back of your tongue against the sides of your palate and breathe out. ch is an unvoiced sound.

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Vowels I

U

E

O

A Vowels are always a little different in all languages. Notice the rounding of the lips and the position of the tongue and try to compare them to how you pronounce.

The things to look for are: rounding and openness of lips, the mass of the tongue low or high, or in the back or in the front.

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Intonation Intonation Rules There are basically two types of intonation in Czech:  simply descending which is used for simple statements and questions with question word  flat, rising on the last syllable which is used for YES/NO questions !

No matter what the intonation pattrn, the stress is always on the first syllable of a word which gives the intonation a slight rising pattern on each word.

Statement intonation Petr jede domů. pe tr je de do mů Mám se dobře. mám se dob ře

Wh- Question Intonation Jak se máš? jak se máš Co děláš? co dě láš Co dělá Petr? co dě lá pe tr

YES/NO Question Intonation Jede Petr domů? mů je

de

pe

tr

do

Máš se dobře? ře máš

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se

dob

Spelling Czech spelling is reputed to be very regular. It is true in that it is learnable. But it is not completely straightforward. The are basically three types of rules that are at work there. One type is purely formal, a certain combination is always pronounced in a certain way. For instance, if you see á you pronounce it as aaaargh. The second type is combinational. Two letters combined are pronounced in a certain way. For instance, ě in mě is pronounced differently than when it follows vě, or dě. The third type has to do with assimilation of consonants described above.

ABECEDA: Names of the letters in the Czech alphabet á gé

dlouhé á há

bé chá

ó ú s čárkou

dlouhé ó ů s kroužkem

pé vé

 !

 

cé í

čé dlouhé í qvé er dvojité iks vé

dé jé

ďé ká

é el

dlouhé é em

ef en

eř ypsilon

es dlouhé ypsilon

eš zet

té žet

ťé

ch is an independent character in Czech. It follows h in the alphabet and is so sorted in Czech dictionaries. Notice that the accented character always follows the normal one. Notice that the names of the short vowels are long vowels, and the long vowels are named as dlouhé (long).

Czech accent marks - Diacritics

´

čárka

ˇ

háček



kroužek

used to lengthen vowels (the vowel is the same only twice as long) can be used with all vowel with the same effect used to soften consonants c, d, n, r, s, t, z if d, t, n are followed by e the ˇ is placed over the e, when followed by i/í the ˇ is dropped (see below) (Note: In print, háček ˇ over d and t is displayed as an apostrophe ’: ť, ď.) only used with u if it is not the first letter in the word; otherwise ´ is used

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Spelling rules for i and ě letter + letter is pronounced as in n i í ňi / ňí nyní t i í ťi / ťí titíž d i í ďi / ďí jdi n ě ňe něco d ě ťe tělo t ě ďe dělo m ě mně město b/p/v ě bje / pje / vje věc The above chart describes how n, t, d, m, b, p, v are pronounced when followed by ě or i/í. Notice that the ě is pronounced as a regular e.

Using Capital Letters Czech rules for the use of capital letters are different from English. Titles of books and articles, and names of states and institutions all capitalize only the first word. Only cities with two names capitalize both. Also not capitalized are names of days of the week and months. Even words like names of nations are not capitalized when used as adjectives. Names of languages are also not capitalized.

Use of y vs. i The distinction between Y and. I is the most irregular phenomenon in the Czech spelling system. Both y and i denote identical sounds. Y is used regularly after all the hard consonants and never after soft consonants. Its use after ambiguous consonants is completely arbitrary and the words which use y have to be memorized by rote (even by native speakers.)

ú vs. ů The only difference is the position in the word. ú

ů

beginning of words words where a prefix is added to the beginning of a word whose root begins with ú middle and end of word

úkol, úspěch, účet, účet - zúčtovat, úhel - pravoúhlý

různý, způsob, Petrů

Basic rules of use of i and y after consonants i, í

y ý

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after ž, š, c, č, ř, j, ď, ť, ň

děti, život, žít, jít

after b, f, m , l , p, s, v, z in all words where y is not specifically required after l in past plural form of verbs if the subject is masculine animate after h, ch, k, r, d, t, n

bít, lid, dopis, vila muži šli, Petr a Jana šli (masc. takes precendence) nohy, roky, ryba, rány

after b, f, m , l , p, s, v, z for prescribed words být, byt, mýt, lyže, sypat, (can be found in Czech spelling manuals) vyjít, vykat, brzy, jazyk, … after l in past plural form of verbs if the subject is ženy a děti šly

not masculine animate

!

There are a few instances where i and y distinguish the meaning of two words. Most notably bít (to beat) vs být (to be) and mít (to have) vs mýt (to wash). In spoken language, however, these words are homonymous.

Punctuation Czech punctuation rules are much stricter then those of English. ,

čárka

After all conjunctions except a, nebo, i. Always to separate clauses.

Neví to, protože je hloupý. Není tu, ale poslal peníze. Protože neměl peníze, nepřišel.

;

středník

:

dvojtečka

Always to separate inserts Slíbil to, ale, protože neměl longer than one word. peníze, neudělal to. Rarely used in Czech texts, Czech typewriter keyboard doesn't even include it. Similar to English.

?

otazník

Similar to English.

!

vykřičník

Used always at the end of imperative sentences. Not usually used for exclamations.

Jdi domů! (Go home!)

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Idioms, Phraseology and Vocabulary This section lists several items that are often described as exceptions by grammar books. Since our source language is English, they are often compared to idioms in English.

How to say Czech in Czech Where there is one word in English there are five in Czech. čeština Czech language Češka Czech woman Čech Czech man český, česká, české Česká republika - Czech Republic česky Czech as in I speak Czech - an adverb Compare this with the words for English! angličtina English language Angličanka English woman Angličan English man anglický, anglická, anglické English (tea) anglicky English as in I speak English - an adverb !

Note that only the names of nationalities are spelled with a capital letter in the beginning.

Incorrect idioms resulting from confusion with English Very often, what you say in English does not sound very Czech when translated literally. Here are a few examples of the more common mistranslations of English phrases. No problem. Není problém. To je v pořádku. Is it OK? Je to dobré? Nevadí to? How are you? So-so. Jak se máte? Tak-tak. Jde to. Docela dobře. I am happy. Jsem šťastný. Mám radost. Je mi dobře. Jsem veselý. I have a question. Mám otázku. Můžu se zeptat?

Mental and Physical Health/Feelings I am vs. it is vs. I have a There are many phrases that cannot be translated directly from English to Czech. Often, groups of phrases have a similar translation. You need to memorize which phrases translate in what way. Most commonly, the literal translations oscillate between to have/to be or some other verb.

I am = mám/nemám I’m thirsty.

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Mám žízeň.

I’m hungry.

Mám hlad.

I’m busy. I’m lucky. I’m happy/glad.

Nemám čas. Mám štěstí. Mám radost.

I’m free/available. I’m not lucky. I’m depressed.

Mám čas/volno. Mám smůlu. Mám depresi.

I am = je mi I’m cold.

Je mi zima.

I’m warm. Je mi teplo. I'm sick. Je mi špatně. I’m well. Je mi dobře. I’m sorry. Je mi líto.* I’m sad. Je mi smutno. * I’m sorry only translates as je mi líto in the context of expressing regret and not in apologizing, where promiňte, or pardon is used. Another equivalent is, mrzí mě.

I have (a) = mám I have a cold I have flu.

Mám rýmu. Mám chřipku.

I have a cough. I have tonsillitis.

Mám kašel. Mám angínu.

I have a toothache.

Bolí mě zuby.

Je zima.

It’s nice.

Je hezky.

Jsem rád.

I’m very happy.

Jsem šťastný. Jsem veselý.

Nudím se.

I’m in a hurry.

Spěchám.

I have a …ache = bolí mě … I have a headache.

Bolí mě hlava.

it is = je + adverb (weather) It is cold.

I am = jsem I’m glad.

I am = a verb I'm bored.

Illnesses and treatments that are and that are not Despite the advances in international medicine, there are still interesting differences in the popular terminology of different languages. rýma

cold

angína

tonsillitis

angína pectoris nachlazení

angina

obklad

compress

pálení žáhy sádra

heartburn plaster cast

anestetikum

novocaine

catch a chill

Czech cure is blow nose even in public, Americans prefer to sniff. Mutually socially unacceptable. Very common complaint for Czechs, often used for conditions not technically a tonsillitis but more of a soar throat. Commonly confused in Czech-English translations. Not as important a complaint in English (hence no noun). Czech cure is no ice-cream, keep warm and prevent draft (průvan). Common Czech cure for soar throat, headache, sprains, etc. Seems slightly more common in English. Even in the 1990s still a popular cure for broken and sprained limbs. Used only sparingly (for most serious operations) by Czech dentists. Brand as such not known to Czechs.

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Wishing good luck, trip, nice time, etc. Have a nice weekend. Have a good time. Enjoy yourself.

Hezký víkend.

Have a nice trip.

Šťastnou cestu.

Dobře se bavte. Užijte si to.

Good luck. Fingers crossed.

Hodně štěstí. Držím ti palce.

To je v pořádku.

There's no hurry.

To nespěchá.

I will drop in later.

Stavím se později.

Agreement

Shoda/Dohoda

Assurances That’s OK.

Arranging appointments We’ll meet at…

Sejdeme se v/u…

Agreeing and disagreeing I (don’t) agree.

(Ne)Souhlasím

Funny, happy, lucky vs. veselý, šťastný, směšný funny (laughable) funny (amusing) funny (strange)

směšný zábavný podivný

happy (optimistic) to be lucky happy (cheerful)

šťastný mít štěstí veselý

to know in Czech vědět

+

že ..., co ..., kdo ..., Vím, kdo jsi. kdy …, etc. Víš, kde je Praha? Víš, co to je?

znát

+

Koho? Co?

Znám pana Pavla. Znám Prahu. Znáš Janu? Znám ji.

umět

+

infinitive (noun, adverb)

Umím zpívat. Umíš hrát košíkovou? Umíš česky?

!

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I know who you are. Do you know where Prague is? Do you know what it is? I know Mr. Pavel. I know Prague. Do you know Jana? I know her. I can sing. Can you play basketball? Do you speak Czech?

Sometimes, the infinitive after umět is only assumed, and umět is followed directly by a noun or an adverb. E.g. Umím (vařit) polévku. or Umím (mluvit) česky.

Formation of Czech last names All Czech women's surnames end in –ová and are conjugated as adjectives (with the exception of those ending in -ů). paní pan manželé rodina Novák Nováková Novákovi+ Novákova++ +ová Čapek Čapková* Čapkovi Čapkova +ová Frýba Frýbová Frýbovi Frýbova +ová Novotný** Novotní Novotných ý  á Novotná Janků Janků Janků Janků*** ů * CeC + ová  CCová ** These surnames have the form of an adjective and they are conjugated using the hard adjective model. *** Surnames ending in –ů are rare and are mostly derived from first names like Petrů, Karlů, Janů. They do not change their form. Equivalent surnames without the –ů also exist: Petr-Petrová-Petrovi. + These forms are conjugated according to the hard adjective plural model. ++ These forms are conjugated according to the possessive adjective model.

Kolik (Koho? Čeho?) – Expressing Quantity Standard Measures půl/půlka

-

půl litru mléka

half

čtvrt/čtvrtka

-

čtvrtka másla

quarter

část

-

část programu

part

kilo

2 - 4 kila, 5 - kilo

5 kilo meruněk

kilo

deko

2 - 4 deka, 5 - deka

10 deka salámu

100 grams

litr

2 - 4 litry, 5 - litrů

litr mléka

liter

metr

2 - 4 metry, 5 - metrů

-

meter

kus

2 - 4 kusy, 5 - kusů

kus pizzy

piece

kousek

2 - 4 kousky, 5 - kousků

kousek chleba

a little piece

plátek

2 - 4 plátky, 5 - plátků

plátek salámu

slice

balíček

2 - 4 balíčky, 5 - balíčků

balíček karet

pack

porce

2 - 4 porce, 5 - porcí

2 porce knedlíků

portion

sklenice

2 - 4 sklenice, 5 - sklenic

sklenice piva

glass

lžička

2 - 4 lžičky, 5 - lžiček

lžička čaje

teaspoon

lžíce

2 - 4 lžíce, 5 - lžic

lžíce mouky

spoon

krabice

2 - 4 krabice, 5 - krabice

krabice mléka

box

krabička

2 - 4 krabičky, 5 - krabiček

krabička cigaret

box

láhev

2 - 4 láhve, 5 - láhví

láhev piva

bottle

plechovka

2 - 4 plechovky, 5 - plechovek

plechovka piva

can

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General mnoho

much/many

moc

much/many

hodně

much/many

dost

enough

málo

little, few

trochu

little

několik

several

více

more

méně

less

!

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The measured word is always in the Koho? Čeho? case - málo knih_, rohlíků.

How to like in Czech (Mám rád ... a Líbí se mi ...) Like things and people In Czech, there are two ways of expressing your likes. You can either like the way something looks líbit se or like it for its properties mít rád. The difference is also grammatical. With mít rád the person who likes is the subject and the liked person or thing is the object (Petr má rád Martinu - Petr likes Martina). While with líbit se the liked person or thing is the subject and the person who likes is an indirect object (Komu? Čemu? [dative] case-see below). E.g. Líbí se mi Praha - I like Praha [Praha is pleasing to me-I like the way it looks]. mít rád líbit se komu + Koho? Co? + Kdo? Co? mám rád Janu líbí se mi Jana I love (like) Jana vs. I like the way Jana looks mám rád rohlíky líbí se mi rohlíky because they taste good vs. because they look funky mám rád knihy líbí se mi knihy because they are interesting vs. because they look nice mít rád is more general, and is never used with specific objects mám rád ten rohlík líbí se mi ten rohlík I'm in love with the rohlík vs. I like the way it looks

Like food (chutnat) If you want to say you like the food in front of you, you have to use chutnat; it has the same structure as líbit se ten rohlík mi chutná ten rohlík se mi líbí I like this roll (tastes good) vs. I like it (it looks good)

Like to do Here, you only use the rád and the form of the verb. rád + verb (NOT infinitive) rád čtu

I like to read

rád hraju tenis

I like to play tennis

rád dělám úkoly

I like to do homework

Asking questions with negatives Czechs often ask negative questions to show more politeness! For instance, Nevíte kde je tady nádraží?, Není tady pan Novák?, Nemáte housky? = Do you know where the train station is? Is Mr. Novák here? Do you have housky? Nevíte, kde je nádraží? Where is the train station, please? Nevíte, kolik je hodin? Would you know what time it is? Nemáte rohlíky? Do you have rohlíky? Nechceš jít dnes do kina? Would you like to go to movies?

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Time telling It is about time you learned how Czechs tell time beside the digital time. Everybody understand the digital or military time but there is also another, more devious, way of telling time in Czech. This system shows time in five-minute intervals with respect to fifteen-minute intervals on the dial. That is the top of the hour, quarter of the hour, bottom of the hour, and three quarters of the hour. So the following system is used: 5:55 za pět minut šest six in 5 minutes 6:00 šest six 6:05 šest a pět minut six and 5 minutes 6:10 za pět minut čtvrt na sedm 6:15 čtvrt na sedm 6:20 čtvrt na sedm a pět minut

a quarter of the way to 7 in 5 minutes a quarter of the way to 7 a quarter of the way to 7 and 5 minutes

6:25 za pět minut půl sedmé 6:30 půl sedmé 6:35 půl sedmé a pět minut

half of the 7th in 5 minutes half of the 7th half of the 7th and 5 minutes

6:40 za pět minut tři čtvrtě na sedm 6:45



tři čtvrtě na sedm 6:50 tři čtvrtě na sedm a pět minut

three quarters of the way to 7 in 5 minutes three quarters of the way to 7 three quarters of the way to 7 and 5 minutes

with half, the number of the hour is given in the ordinal form (2nd-12th) in the Koho? Čeho? case form (the exception is 1); the other three points of reference use na + the normal number in Koho? Co? (thus jednu)  this system is used with the 12 hour dial only - za pět minut šestnáct  it is also possible to use 10-minute increments; thus: 5:50 - za deset minut šest, 6:10 - šest a deset minut, 6:20 - za deset minut půl sedmé, 6:35 - za deset minut tři čtvrtě na sedm 00 15 30 45 1: jedna čtvrt na dvě půl druhé tři čtvrtě na dvě 2: dvě čtvrt na tři půl třetí tři čtvrtě na tři 3: tři čtvrt na čtyři půl čtvrté tři čtvrtě na čtyři 4: čtyři čtvrt na pět půl páté tři čtvrtě na pět 5: pět čtvrt na šest půl šesté tři čtvrtě na šest 6: šest čtvrt na sedm půl sedmé tři čtvrtě na sedm 7: sedm čtvrt na osm půl osmé tři čtvrtě na osm 8: osm čtvrt na devět půl deváté tři čtvrtě na devět 9: devět čtvrt na deset půl desáté tři čtvrtě na deset 10: deset čtvrt na jedenáct půl jedenácté tři čtvrtě na jedenáct 11: jedenáct čtvrt na dvanáct půl dvanácté tři čtvrtě na dvanáct 12: dvanáct čtvrt na jednu půl jedné tři čtvrtě na jednu

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Kolik je hodin? vs. V kolik hodin Kolik je hodin? 1 hodina 2, 3, 4 hodiny 5, 6,.... hodin

je jsou je

Jaký vs. Který

v ve v

V kolik hodin? jednu hodinu 2, 3, 4 hodiny 5, 6,.... hodin

/ What vs. Which

This is a very easy distinction which is also infinitely tricky. It corresponds almost exactly to the same thing in English. jaký

Jaký chceš rohlík? Chci dobrý rohlík.

který

Který rohlík chceš? Chci ten nalevo.

What roll do you want. I want a good roll. Which roll do you want? I want the one on the left.

expresses quality independent of surroundings chooses one out of a group of many

Jak vs. Jaký / Adverbs vs. Adjectives This is an important distinction, which is also expressed in English, although not so strictly. Jak se máš? Mám se dobře. Jaký je to banán? To je český banán. How are you? I'm well. What kind of banana It is a Czech banana. is it? Jak pracuješ? Pracuju pomalu. Jaká je tvoje práce. Moje práce je zajímavá. How do you work. I work slowly. What is your work My work is like? interesting.

Seasons and names of the months Co? zima

Kdy? leden únor

jaro

březen duben květen

v zimě

v lednu v únoru

na jaře

v březnu v dubnu v květnu

léto

červen červenec srpen

v létě

v červnu v červenci v srpnu

podzim

září Říjen Listopad

na podzim

v září v říjnu v listopadu

Prosinec v prosinci Note that the names of the months never begin with a capital letter.

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language What do the names of months mean? Now, they mean very little and, for some of them, most Czechs would not know the origin, or would mistake it for something else. Others, however, are very clear. leden

březen

Month of led (ice). Derives clearly from the Czech word led January (ice) since it describes a period when everything is covered with ice. Month of ice breaking and sinking in the water. It comes February from a word nořit (to sink). For most Czechs, this is rather opaque. Month of birch trees (bříza) March

duben

Month of budding oaks (dub)

April

květen

Month of flowers (květy)

May

červen červenec

Month of worms (červy). Worms were used for making red June (červený) dye. The same etymology. July

srpen

Month of harvest with sickle (srp)

August

září

Month of rutting (za říje = at the time of rutting)

September

říjen

Month of rutting (říje = rut)

October

listopad

Month of falling leaves (list = leaf, padat = to fall)

November

prosinec

Month of gray color (from Old Czech – has no present-day December equivalent)

únor

Dates or Kolikátého je? Month is given second with both numeral followed by a period. E.g. 14th of January 1999 – 14. 1. 1999. Both the ordinal number and the name of the month are in Koho? Čeho? case. If the numeral has two parts, such as twenty-two, both parts are changed. The endings used for ordinal numbers are those of adjectives in Koho? Čeho? and the endings used for names of months are those of nouns. The question used for asking for the date is: Kolikátého je? 24th 24. dvacátého čtvrtého genitive of ordinal number

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of January ledna ledna genitive of month

1999 1999 devatenáct set devadesát devět year – number of hundreds

What do the days of the week mean Unlike in English, where the names of the days of the week are mostly derived from the names of Norse gods, the Czech names have mostly easily identifiable meaning which can be useful a useful mnemonic device for the student. Note that the Czech week begins with Monday. It is important to keep in mind when comparing calendars. Note that just like names of the months, names of the day always begin with a small letter. pondělí The day after Sunday (do nothing day), i.e. po neděli. úterý The only obscure one: from the old Slavic vtoroj (second). Compare with Russian for Tuesday vtornik. středa The middle day, from střed (middle). čtvrtek The fourth day, from čtvrtý (the fourth) pátek The fifth day, from pátý (the fifth) sobota Quite obviously derived from the word Sabbath. neděle Do-nothing day, from nedělat (do nothing)

Going on foot and by vehicle

Where English has one word meaning to go, Czech has two. One for going on foot, and second for going by a vehicle (car, bike, train, bus).

jdu jdeš jde

jít jdeme jdete jdou

jet jedu jedeš jede

jedeme jedete jedou

jít jet

pěšky on foot vlakem, autem, autobusem, na kole, na by train, car, bus; on a bike, koni horse The same difference shows up in other verbs of motion as well. For example: nést (carry in hand) vs. vézt (carry by vehicle).

Female forms of occupation names učitel, řidič, fotograf, ředitel,

-ka

učitelka, řidička, fotografka, ředitelka dělník, úředník -ice dělnice, úřednice soudce, důchodce -kyně soudkyně, důchodkyně vrátný, -ý - -á vrátná průvodčí, vrchní -í - -í průvodčí, vrchní In Czech, most nouns for occupations have both a male and a female form. The female form is typically formed from the male form. The vrátný/vrátná and vrchní models are conjugated as adjectives.

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Two professions in particular are so commonly associated with females that they have no easy male equivalent. They are zdravotní sestra (nurse) and sekretářka (secretary). A male secretary could be asistent (although there is asistentka) or tajemník (which would be used for the Secretary of the UN). Sekretář would be used for a piece of furniture. There is no easy way of saying male nurse.

Last in Czech - minulý vs poslední Czech has two words to express the equivalent of the English last. poslední

minulý

last in a series

Byl poslední. - He finished last.

latest event

poslední móda - latest fashion

past event

minulý rok - last year minulý týden - last week minulý čas - past tense

First in Czech The word first has two equivalents in Czech in different contexts. First from a group.

Přišel první.

He arrived first.

First in a sequence of activities.

Nejdříve snídám.

First I have breakfast.

Prosím in Czech Zavři okno, prosím. Close the window, please. Kávu, prosím. / Prosím jednu kávu Coffee, please. / One coffee please. (Děkuju.)  Prosím. (Thank you.)  You're welcome. Prosím. (Tady je ta kniha.) Here you are. (Here's the book.) Prosím Tě. Please. (Informal) Prosím Vás. Please. (Formal) Prosím is either used as a performative or a verb. If used as a verb it is followed by a noun in the Koho? Co? case, e.g. Kávu prosím. It is the I form of the verb prosit (to ask, to beg, to plead).

there is/are in Czech Czech doesn't have the construction there is/there are. Czech speakers have many difficulties mastering this construction in English. You simply use 'je' or 'jsou'. Sometimes it is possible to use 'má' or 'mají' or even ‘existuje’. there is a castle in Prague

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v Praze je hrad

there are problems in the USA

v USA jsou problémy v USA mají problémy USA mají problémy v USA existují problémy

Note that sometimes you must add 'tam' or 'tady', as in: there's a car over there there's a car here

tam je auto tam máme/mají auto tady je auto

Use of je/jsou The Czech je has several uses that require slightly different translations into English. The translation may depend on word order or on the general meaning. je = is, jsou = are Herec je ve filmu. = The actor is in a film. Děti jsou doma. = The children are at home.

je = there is, jsou = there are Ve filmu je herec. = There is an actor in the film. Doma jsou děti. = There are children at home.

Note: The same principle applies in the future (there will be/bude) and past (there was/byl).

Use of to The Czech to can be confusing because it can be translated as two different words: to = this, that To je problém. = This/that is a problem. To je Karel. = This/that is Karel .

to = it Bylo to dobré. = It was good. Kdo je to? = Who is it?.

Sometimes, it is difficult to decide on a good translation.

Modal verbs Unlike English, Czech doesn’t have modal verbs as such that are set apart from other verbs by many formal features. They are often followed by the infinitive. It may be useful however, to list the Czech equivalent expressions to English modal verbs. Note that negating certain modal verbs in Czech produces an unexpected translation in English. must, have to muset (musím, musíš, musí, …, musí) must not, may not nesmět (nesmím, nesmíš, nesmí, nesmíme, nesmíte, nesmí) not have to nemuset (nemusím, …) can moct (můžu, můžeš, může, …, můžou) may smět (smím, smíš, smí, smíme, smíte, smí) need potřebovat (-uju,-uješ,-uje,-ujeme,…,-ujou) should/ ought to měl(a, i) bych, bys, by, bysme, byste, by + infinitive should mám, máš, …, mají + infinitive

Must not and cannot (Negating modal verbs) ANO

NE

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language muset

must

nesmím

I must not

muset

have to

nemusím

I don't have to

smět

may

nesmím

I may not

moct

can

nemůžu

I cannot

potřebovat

I need

nepotřebuju

I don't need

Ještě – Still vs. Už – Already Although relatively simple, these two words can cause quite a few problems. Compare their usage in negative and positive sentences. Notice how the meaning of už changes from past to present. With the future tense ještě and už can substitute for the future perfect in English, as in When you come, it will have been finished. – Až přijdete, už to bude hotové. Unlike their English equivalents, both ještě and už always appear in the beginning of the sentence. Ještě – still Ještě jsem tady. – I’m still here. Ještě jsem tam byl. – I was still there. Ještě tam budu. – I will still be there.

Už – already, finally Už jsem tady. – I’m finally here. Už jsem tam byl. – I was already there. Už tam budu. – I will be there already.

Ještě ne – Not yet vs. Už ne – Not anymore Ještě ne – not yet Ještě to nevím. – I don’t know it yet. Ještě jsem tam nebyl. – I haven’t been there yet. Ještě tam nebudu. – I won’t be there yet.

Už ne – not anymore Už to nevím. – I don’t know it anymore. Už jsem tam nebyl. – I was not there anymore. Už tam nebudu. – I won’t be there anymore.

Expressing Possibility and Necessity Similarly to English, both of these can be expressed through modal verbs. For example, Possibility/Impossibility lze, nelze možno, možné asi

Necessity/Lack of necessity třeba, potřeba, zapotřebí nutno, nutné nezbytné, nevyhnutné, neodvratitelné

Note: možná, třeba are also used as maybe.

na vs. v The prototypical meaning of na is on while the prototypical meaning of v is in. For a variety of places, though, na is used instead of v with the same meaning. countries that are islands or peninsulas selected other countries local places on top of hills some institutions

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Gibraltar, Hawaii, Island, Nový Zéland (but not Australia, Greenland, the UK, Italy or Spain) Morava, Slovensko, Ukrajina, Podkarpatská Rus Vinohrady in Prague, or Kladno near Prague (people from outside the region may use v) pošta, policie, univerzita, fakulta, gymnázium

selected places activities (as destinations)

náměstí, diskotéka, výstava, nádraží výlet, procházka, opera, hra, film

ask: zeptat se vs. požádat There are two very distinct ways of asking. One is asking for information and the other is asking for a favor. This translates into two Czech words: zeptat se Zeptal se kolik je hodin. (He asked what time it was.)

požádat Požádal ho, aby odešel. (He asked him to leave.)

meet: potkat vs. setkat se You can either meet someone by appointment or by accident. Czech has two separate words for this. Potkat means to meet by accident and setkat se means to meet by prior arrangement. Setkat se can also be expressed as mít schůzku (to have a meeting, appointment). potkat Petr potkal Janu na (Petr met Jana in the street.)

setkat se ulici. Setkali se s prezidentem v deset hodin. (They met the president at 10 o’clock.)

Conditional with the infinitive Sometimes in colloquial speech, the first part of a conditional sentence can be expressed through the infinitive. Vědět to, nešel bych tam. If I had known it, I wouldn’t have gone there. Být vámi, nedělal bych to. If I were you, I wouldn’t do it.

a vs. i / and vs. as well There is a significant differrence between i and a. 'i' means basically 'as well as' while 'a' means 'and'. Sometimes their meanings overlap slightly but there's always a subtle change in perspective. a Byl tam Petr a Pavel Petr and Pavel were there.

i Byl tam Petr i Pavel Petr and Pavel were both there.

When i occurs alone, it means even or as well: 'I Petr tam byl' - 'Even Petr showed up'/'Petr was there, as well' You can even have them a and i as part of the same clause in spoken language: 'A i Petr tam byl' - 'And Petr was there, too.'

Narrative progression To tell a story, a lot of connecting words are needed some of them are here: teď

Teď sedím doma a čtu si.

předtím

Předtím jsem se díval na televizi.

Now I’m sitting at home and reading. Before that I was watching TV.

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language potom později

Potom si uvařím večeři. Později půjdu spát.

After that I will cook dinner. Later, I will go to sleep.

prý, prej - I hear, they say There is this little word prý (with its colloquial partner prej) which is used to report on things that you have heard from an unspecified source and may not be sure whether they’re true or not. It may be translated as I hear or They say into English. For example: Prý bude letos drahý benzín. I hear that gas will be expensive this year.

Translating 'no' into Czech The English word no has two different meanings which require two difference words in Czech. no as ne Máte chleba? Ne, nemáme. (Do you have bread? No, we don’t.)

no as žádný Žádný student nenapsal test. (No student wrote the test.)

Going to see someone Czech has two prepositions (similar to the French chez) that are usually translated into English as going to see someone or being at someone’s place. u (being at someone’s) Dnes večer budeme u Katky. (Tonight, we’ll be at Katka’s.) Kde jsi? U zubaře. (Where are you? At the dentists.)

k (going to see someone) Zítra půjdeme k babičce. (Tomorrow, we’ll go to see granny.) Musím jít k doktorovi. (I must go see a doctor.)

All and every All / Všichni Všichni studenti umějí číst. (All students can read.)

Every / Každý Každý člověk má srdce. (Every person has a heart.)

Spelling out Because Czech spelling works by and large on the what you say is what you say principle, Czechs almost always know how a name or a word is spelled. Therefore, if you want to spell out your name to someone, pronounce it as if it were written in Czech. For example, Joan would be yo-ah-n and John something like yo-eh-n both pronounced as single words with three syllables. Because they have no training in it (and need for it), Czechs often have trouble visualizing a word quickly based simply on hearing a sequence of letters so using the English method even with the Czech alphabet can cause problems. Of course, sometimes it is necessary to specify the letter by name but then only that one letter is singled out after the whole word was pronounced.

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make vs. do vs. work Most of the uses of the English make are translated by dělat/udělat into Czech. Only the sense of actually manufacturing something will use the verb vyrábět/vyrobit. dělat/udělat (do, make, work) Udělám dnes večer jídlo. (I will make dinner tonight.)

pracovat (work) Pracuju v kanceláři. (I work in an office.)

vyrábět/vyrobit (make) Petr musel tu součástku vyrobit. (Petr had to make that part.)

function/work To describe something as functioning, Czech uses the metaphor of motion and not of work. Therefore, the word pracovat can never be used in this context. Here are some examples: fungovat Motor funguje. (The engine works.)

jít/chodit Nejde mi počítač. (My computer work.)

běžet Naše televize už zase běží. doesn’t (Out TV works again.)

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Czech Trivia What is the relationship of Czech to English or other languages? Czech (along with English, German, French, Spanish and dozens of other languages) belongs to the Indo-European family of languages. Languages from this family split in about 4,000 BC, so by now they only have a few words in common (bratr - brother frére, matka - mother - mére, and such). The only languages in Europe that don't belong to this family are Basque (which is on its own), and Hungarian and Finnish (Finno-Ugric languages). This large family has many branches, for instance, Germanic (English, German) or Romance (French, Spanish, Italian, Romanian). Czech belongs to the Slavic branch (together with Slovak, Polish, Russian, Bulgarian, Serbochrovatian, Bielorussian, Slovenian, and Ukrainian). Along with Polish and Slovak, Czech is a West-Slavic language. This chart provides a summary of the relationship of Czech to other languages. Circles indicate genealogical closeness of a particular language to Czech. Typefaces differentiate between different types of languages. The typology here is very simplified. Most of the languages are hard to strictly typify. Common textbook classification was used. West-Slavic

Indoeuropean

Finnish Swedish

Lithuanian

Norwegian

Russian

English Polish German

Chinese Slovak Slovenian

Spanish

Bulgarian

Albanian

Romanian

Latin Italian

Turkish

INDONESIAN

Hungarian Swahilli

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Macedonian

Hindi

Serbian French

Non-Indoeuropean

POLYSYNTHETIC

Ukrainian

CZECH

Japanese

Vietnamese

Inflecting Agglutinating Isolating

Arabic Slavic

Typology of languages as presented here is mostly based on morphology with some implications for syntax. Also, no language is strictly limited to one type, usually, the type indicates a general tendency. The four basic types are: Grammatical relationships expressed by: Endings express:

Inflecting

Agglutinating

Isolating

Polysynthetic

endings

endings

word order

combinations of lexical items

combination of many functions

each ending a single function

N/A

N/A

What is the history of Czech? The history of Czech, as it is known now, starts somewhere in the 15th and 16th century when the first Czech grammar and a new translation of the Bible were published. The beginnings of Czech spelling lie in the work of Master Jan Hus in the early 15th century. Of course, the history of Czech goes much further back in the past to the 9th century when the Slavic dialects that later gave birth to Czech were spoken in the area. The first written records come from the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries. The first translation of the Bible into Czech dates somewhere to the 1380s thus being the third in Europe after Italian and French. The use of Czech as a literary and official language receded slowly with the Thirty-Year War (in the 17th century). Czech was then replaced by German as the language used for official purposes in the Czech lands as the Hapsburgs took over. In the following centuries, Czech was mostly spoken by lower classes (especially in the country) although some Baroque literature was also written in Czech. However, compared to German and Latin, there are relatively few literary works in Czech from the Baroque period. That is why by the end of the 18th century Czech was believed to be a dying language by many scholars of Czech origin. The turn of the century, however, witnessed the birth of a cultural and political movement referred to as the National Revival or Awakening (Národní Obrození). A new Czech grammar book and a large dictionary were published. Speaking Czech became fashionable, and many works of literature were published in the language including some high profile faked historical texts. As the century progressed, Czech found its place along with German as the official language, and was beginning to be taught in schools of higher education again. Since 1918 (founding of Czechoslovakia), Czech has been the sole official language in the Czech Republic. You can see some of the most important dates of the development of the language in the chart below.

Some important dates in the history of Czech language 863

Christian Mission of Cyril and Methodius to Great Moravia - liturgy in Old Church Slavonic New Testament translated. Local Slavic tribes spoke a variety of dialects which were similar to Old Church Slavonic.

1000s Beginnings of Czech State. No written Czech documents. Beginnings of western influence. 1100s Latin replaced Old Church Slavonic as liturgical, administrative, and literary language. 1200s First written Czech materials, at first, mostly annotations of Latin works which, towards the end of the century, developed into more extensive works such as legends and chronicles. 1313

Dalimilova Kronika - the first big chronicle written in Czech, based, to a large extent on earlier Latin works of similar content.

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language 1348

Founding of Prague University (today's Charles University) began a period of Czech translations of official and other documents culminating with a Czech translation of the Bible from Latin Vulgata. First Latin/Czech dictionaries/word lists were also compiled at that time.

1412

Master Jan Hus' De Ortographia Bohemica - an influential work codifying Czech writing system which became the basis of the writing system used today.

1499

Viktorín Kornel ze Všehrd wrote first work of scientific rigor in Czech concerned with the contemporary legal system. This work inspired translations of classical works from Greek and Latin.

1533

First Czech grammar by Beneš Optát, Petr Gzel and Václav Filomates.

1571

Czech Grammar by Jan Blahoslav started work which ultimately led to a new translation of the Bible.

1593

Bible Kralická - new translation of the Bible directly from the Greek and Hebrew original. Later during the national revival, it became one of the sources for codification of Czech literary language.

1627

After the lost battle of White Mountain (1620) German was pronounced equal to Czech as the official language of Czech state administration and courts, which, in effect, caused the actual disappearance of Czech from official documents by the end of the century. This was due, mostly, to lack of Czech officials and scribes at the courts of prevailing foreign nobility. Ultimately, this led to the ousting of Czech as the official language from schools and state administration offices.

1600s Baroque period in the Czech lands - formative period for today's Czech colloquial language. Although this period is usually connected with the degeneration of the Czech language, it 1700s witnessed the creation of such works as Czech grammars written in Latin (1672), and the Czech printing manual (1668), and Defenses of the Czech Language which were the overture to the Czech national revival. 1790s Czech National Revival - a cultural and political movement which set out to revive Czech language and culture. Among the names that are usually associated with the movement at its 1860s different stages are: J. K. Tyl, J. Dobrovský, Lad. Čelakovský, J. Jungman, Fr. Palacký, and many others. This period saw founding of the first Czech newspaper, translations of famous literary works as well as active development of original Czech literature, and introduction of Czech to schools (1850). 1809

Dobrovský's Czech grammar Ausführliches Lehrgebäude der böhmischen Sprache.

1835

First volume of Czech dictionary (with German equivalents) by Josef Jungman was published (the last volume came out in 1839). A major lexicographical work, unsurpassed for over a century, which had a great formative influence on the Czech language. Jungman used vocabulary of the Kralická Bible period and of the language used by his contemporaries. He borrowed words not present in Czech from other Slavic languages (e.g., Polish, Russian, Serbian). He also inspired development of Czech scientific terminology, thus, making it possible for original Czech research to develop.

1836

Publication of Máj by Karel Hynek Mácha. This poem not only marked the beginning of Romanticism in Czech literature, but was also the first original poetic work of such magnitude in the Czech language. To this date, it is considered one of the gems of Czech literature.

1918

Founding of Czechoslovakia with Czech and Slovak as the official languages. Especially, the 1930s were a time of very intensive literary and publishing efforts.

1948

Beginning of state intervention into language politics. Only one, state-approved, curriculum, was taught at schools. Although Russian was compulsory at all levels of the education system, there is very little Russian influence on Czech from this period.

1989

Decentralization of language education. Beginning of English influence on Czech with the influx of new technology and business practices. Later in the 1990s, new reference works are published. In 1994, the project of Czech National Corpus is launched (http://ucnk.ff.cuni.cz).

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What type of language is Czech? Inflecting, would be a linguist's answer. This linguistic term means that Czech words have different forms depending on their function. The one consequence of this for learning Czech is that if you learn a new word, you are not necessarily able to use it 'correctly' (i.e. in its right form) in all possible contexts. You also have to learn what its other forms are in order to you use it so that it says what you want it to say. Conversely, working with the dictionary you may not be able to look up words as you see or hear them. You have to know how they changed to their present form. So, for instance, oči (eyes) you won't find in the dictionary under oč (as you would English eyes) but as oko which is the basic dictionary form. In English (an analytic language but none the easier), words are either put in the right order (John loves Mary vs. Mary loves John kind of thing), or helping words such as have, do, of, etc. are used. Hence, instead of different forms and endings, you have to learn all the subtleties of word order to be able to use new words so that they mean what you want them to mean. It is generally easy to look up words in the dictionary as even irregular verbs (go-went-gone) are listed. As an example of how different forms of a word change the meaning of a sentence, let us compare a few sentences in Czech and in English. For instance, in the two following English sentences A. B.

A cruel teacher beats a clever pupil. A clever pupil beats a cruel teacher.

to get the pupil to beat the teacher, all you have to do is swap their positions in the sentence. The words remain the same, their form doesn't change. In Czech, it does not matter who goes first. What is important, though, is the form of the two parties. So in Czech A. and B. would mean the same thing if you didn't change the form of the words, as below. A1. A2.

Krutý učitel bije chytrého žáka. Chytrého žáka bije krutý učitel.

A cruel teacher beats a clever pupil. A cruel teacher beats a clever pupil.

They are not the same if you do change their forms, and don't change the word order. A1. B.

Krutý učitel bije chytrého žáka. Krutého učitele bije chytrý žák

A cruel teacher beats a clever pupil. A clever pupil beats a cruel teacher.

In principle, it is pretty easy to learn how to go back and forth between different forms and their meanings, although, just as for a learner of English it takes time to learn to always use the right word order, it will take time for you to learn to always use the right form, but by then you will be able to communicate freely, and have time to focus on correctness.

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Which words have different forms and when? Most words in Czech do most of the time. All nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and numerals change their forms according to case, gender, and number. Verbs change their forms according to person and tense (like in English). So, for instance, in mluvím (I speak) -ím has the same role as I. The words that don't change their forms are adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions.

Are there polite forms of verbs like in French or German? Yes, there are. They are used similarly to French. We also use the second person plural3 when speaking with someone we respect or don't know very well. Qu'est que tu as? vs Qu'est que Vous avais? (in French) = Co máš? vs Co máte? (in Czech). You can always tell the informal form by the ending -š and the formal by -te. The pronouns used for pointing at people are Ty (you – informal) and Vy (you – formal).

How do you address people? This is an issue of politeness. It is very important to know how to address people.  Rule 1: The ending of a name is changed when addressing the person (Michal Michale).  Rule 2: In polite conversations, it is important to use the title if the person has one. Very much like in German. The name is not used after the title when addressing.

What is the difference between all the academic titles? What do all the acronyms mean? Czechs are proud of their academic achievements and do their utmost to advertise them. For that purpose, Czech uses a variety of acronyms that can precede or be appended to a person’s name. These are the most common titles ranked more or less by importance. Mgr. magistr – MA RNDr doktor – sciences specialization . Ing. inženýr – MSc CSc. kandidát věd –after name, not awarded now PhDr. doktor – PhD, general DrSc. doktor věd –after name, not awarded now JUDr. doktor – legal Doc. docent – associate professor specialization independent of a school MUDr. doktor – medical doctor Prof. profesor - professor independent of a school

3

For which English only has you all, or you guys.

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How many endings does Czech have? Theoretically, for nouns there could be 196 different endings (14 different functions - 6 + 1 cases in the singular and 6 +1 in the plural - times 14 different models). In fact, there are only 24 different endings: -a, -e/ě, -i, -o, -u, -y; -ou; -é, -í, -ů; -ech, -ách, -ích; -em, -ám, -ím, -ům; -mi; -ami, -emi, -ími; -ovi, -ové, and 0 - nothing is also considered an ending. But you will see that they have much in common, for instance, m, ch, v are always used for similar functions. There are some more endings for adjectives but no more than ten. Overall, there are fewer than 40 endings for all nouns, adjectives, pronouns and numerals which is not much at all. There are 4 basic verbal models which gives us 32 options (with sub-models 78) with about 18 ending forms that are actually distinct from one another. Then, there are about a dozen endings used for other purposes, and that's about it. Apparently, Czech, the language of endings, makes do with about 60 different endings altogether. If we consider that there are several hundred irregular words (both verbs and nouns) in English, this is not bad at all. This is not to say that endings is all that there is to learning Czech, just as irregular verbs are not all that there is to learning English.

Are there many dialects of Czech? The question of what is a dialect and what is an accent is a very complicated one. As for many modern languages, differences between dialects are growing less and less pronounced. For Czech, historically prominent dialects are confined to small regions, and are slowly dying out, mostly because of the influence of the media. Traces of historical dialects can be found in the standard language of different regions, but very few people speak something that could be identified as a pure dialect. In the popular perception, there are two widely recognized dialects: Moravian (which is in fact three quite distinct dialects with quite a few different words and expressions), and Bohemian. Most people can identify the difference primarily by accent and some prominent vocabulary differences. Among accents that are readily recognized is the fairly strong Prague accent and the northern Morvian accent with influences from Polish. The Czech Roma minority also speaks Czech with a recognizable accent. The difference between the written standard and colloquial language is often more pronounced than that between different dialects. Some of the Moravian dialects also use some ending that are notably identical to the written standard Czech.

What is the difference between colloquial and literary Czech? As is usual in most languages where this is the issue, the colloquial language has different pronunciation, and specific words and expressions. Unlike most languages, in Czech, the colloquial language also uses consistently different endings. For instance, you learn mladý (young) and hear mladej on the street, or you see Šumavský chléb (Šumava bread) written on a shelf in the bakery but people ask for Šumavskej chleba. As you see the difference is mostly in vowels. It is also noteworthy that the Moravian 'dialect', although by far not homogeneous, uses many of the endings of the written standard leading many Moravians to claim that they speak “better Czech” than Bohemians.

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Which ‘Czech’ is taught to foreigners? As a learner you don't have to worry much about it, but it is important to keep in mind that you may hear some endings pronounced differently than you learned them. It is a hard decision for a teacher to make, however. The literary variant is more regular but also more complex. If you started speaking colloquial Czech with beginners' mistakes it would sound ridiculous. The solution usually is, to use the literary Czech simplified and made more communicative by introducing elements from the colloquial as appropriate. The trick is that the two 'languages' are not always mutually exclusive. For two words in one sentence uttered by a Czech in normal everyday communication, you may find one ending colloquial and one literary, and there are no rules for this. Therefore, teachers cannot simply resolve to teach one or the other because except for in writing they are rarely separated. On top of that, Czechs themselves sometimes quarrel which is which. The hard thing is to tell when to use which ending. The terms colloquial and literary or spoken and written are not very accurate. The colloquial variant is never used in writing (except, paradoxically enough, in literature), or for official purposes on TV, radio announcements, speeches, advertisements etc. You would use it with your friends but it is also used in less formal public situations like lectures, speeches to small audiences, etc.

Some differences between “literary” and “colloquial” Czech

spisovná a nespisovná čeština

This is a very important feature of the Czech language. In reality, there are two language codes that are used for different occasions. 'Literary' and 'colloquial' are not the best terms to distinguish between the two varieties of present-day Czech, but they are the most commonly used ones. Better terms might be Standard Czech and Common Czech (used by H. Kučera in his The Phonology of Czech of 1961). Standard Czech is taught in schools, used in mass media, and most written documents, both official and unofficial. Common Czech is almost exclusively spoken. It is used in all personal communication, and also for semi-official purposes, including public speeches. Although there are many differences in vocabulary, pronunciation, and syntax, the most pronounced disparity is in morphology. For some grammatical models there are two very different sets of endings. A short example is given below.

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The main problem for a foreigner learning the two different codes is that the difference is often a matter of scale. Also, often in the spoken language standard Czech forms are mixed with common Czech ones. Morphology

Vocabulary

Trend

Standard

Common

English

Standard

Common

English

-ý/í  -ej -ý/í  -ej -é  -ý -ý(í)m  y(i)m o-  vo-ami  ama

mladý nosí mladého vidím

mladej nosej mladýho vidim

young they wear of young I see

být chléb mléko méně

bejt chleba mlíko míň

to be bread milk less

okno s ženami

vokno s ženama

window with women

mnoho bysme

moc bychom

many / much we would

The difference originated at the time of the National Revival, when the, then 200 years old, language of Bible Kralická was taken as the basis for standard Czech by the revivalists like Dobrovský. But in fact, even in the time of Blahoslav, many of these morphological forms had been out of common use. Czech was also developing parallel to this, mostly among the common people, and mostly out of the cities. This language was used for writing only by Catholic priests who were striving to be understood by their audience.

Examples of rules for converting from written to spoken Czech Written Standard

Spoken

Deleting dcera šestnáct

cera šesnáct

Contracting or expanding pojď sem nějak osm

pocem ňák osum

Adding ‘v’ before ‘o’ at the beginning of words oba okno otevřít

voba vokno votevřít

Sometimes e is pronounced as í haléř velké velkému

halíř velký velkýmu

ý is pronounced as ej if it's a part of an adjective's ending bílý dobrým těžkých

bílej dobrejm těžkejch

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language -y/mi  -ma studenty banány lidmi vámi nimi těmi

studentama banánama lidma váma nima těma

Is there anything about Czech that is easy? Yes, a number of things. The tenses, for instance. There is no sequence of tenses (a common threat to a learner of English of which you even may not be aware). Also, Czech does not have articles. It is very easy to learn Czech spelling, too. In some respects Czech is more regular than English. It has very few irregular verbs. On the other hand it does abound with exceptions in nouns. The stress is always on the first syllable but there are short and long vowels that are independent on it. All in all, it is almost impossible to say what is easy and what is hard. There are certainly many things in any language which are cursed by its learners but still, countless brave men and women are undertaking the dangerous venture, lured by the promise of acquiring the key which will fling the gates to another culture wide open. Such a prize always makes this adventurous enterprise well worth all the effort.

Common Learner Errors The most visible errors are those of morphology. Czech cases and conjugation of verbs are often the source of mistakes made even by more advanced learners. Inflectional rules, however, are easy to memorize because for the purpose of learning the language they are largely arbitrary. (Only, palatalization of roots with some endings makes this a little more difficult.) Also, native speakers take these errors for what they are, and don't consider them disruptive to communication. On the other hand, learners of non-Slavic languages have grave problems with the Czech verbal aspect. Aspect, like articles and tenses in English, is hard to describe in terms of 'if-then' rules. To learn it properly, one needs to acquire a 'Czech perspective' of time and activity. Moreover, erroneous use of aspect is often detrimental to communication, as native speakers don't recognize them as errors but rather substitute other meanings. Of similar importance to communication is pronunciation. Good pronunciation is regarded as an indicator of good knowledge of the language by the native speakers. Well pronounced, even errors of aspect don't seem so bad. Several phenomena commonly pose difficulties for learners of Czech as a foreign language. Long vowels distinguish meaning in Czech (for instance, být vs. byt – to be vs. apartment). The length of the long vowel is approximately double of the short vowel. Stress in Czech is always on the first syllable. Only some prepositions take on the stress. Long vowels are pronounced long even in unstressed position (e.g. léta vs. létá – summers vs. he flies). Another difficult feature are consonantal clusters. R and l can function as sonant units in Czech syllable. An example can be a popular Czech tongue twister with no vowels Strč prst skrz krk (Put your finger down your throat). Of unique and difficult sounds, Czech boasts ř, basically trilled r which is not in any other language (except for Polish and some dialects of French). Another class of errors altogether are those of idioms and vocabulary. Most of the Top 10 Mistakes are of this origin. Short of listing the most common ones, however, it is impossible to provide an informative classification. Czech syntax is traditionally described as free. It is seen as some compensation for the complex morphology. This apart from being far from the truth, leads to neglecting syntax in Czech textbooks. Among other things, word order in Czech is used to

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differentiate between given and new information. For instance, Petr viděl Janu and Janu viděl Petr, superficially both meaning Petr saw Jana, both imply a different context. They might be paraphrased as It was Petr who saw Jana and It was Jana whom Petr saw. Which, of course, in English would be considered two very different sentences. Part of Czech's reputation as a difficult language also comes from the fact that Czech native speakers don't have so much experience in dealing with people who are learning the language. While we always appreciate the effort, we may not always be ready to overlook errors and focus on communication. This also had to do with how foreign languages are taught in Czech schools where correctness is often put above communication. In his book Chrám i tvrz (A Cathedral And A Fortress), Pavel Eisner a famous Czech writer, translator and an excellent philologist wrote that Czechs are differently sensitive to different kinds of errors. In speaking about the sensitive and vulnerable points of Czech he wrote: “For us mistakes in cases and collocations are very conspicuous but we accept them easily, often laughing, when we realize that the speaker is a foreigner. Mistakes in the complex laws of aspect, however, we feel are very awkward albeit we can admit that it is extremely hard for a non-Czech to master this devilish grammatical complexity of the Czech language. We react most vividly, also, at any deviation from the vowel length and correct placement of stress.”

How do you swear in Czech? The short answer is YOU don’t. In English, the acceptability of the most common swear words has increased greatly in the last few decades. While still considered inappropriate for children and mainstream broadcasting, they are more and more acceptable in many contexts. There no such swearwords in Czech. The most common Czech expletives have relatively little to do with sex. While there are many sex-related taboo words, the common expletives have more to do with excreta. The following brief list gives the most common expletives and related euphemisms. Learners are strongly advised not to use them in any context. Expletive do prdele jdi do prdele je to na hovno stojí to za hovno kurva

čurák píča

Euphemisms do Prčic do prkýnka jdi do Prčic jdi se bodnout je to na houby

kurnik hergot

English explanation Expression of frustration. Literally: “to ass” Expression of frustration directed at another person. Literally: “go to ass” Dismissive expletive indicating low value of an object or idea. Literally: “shit”. Note: this is never used as an expresion of frustration. Stronger expression of frustration. Literally: “whore”. When used as an insult, can be directed at men. Extremely vulgar insult meaning male genitalia directed as a descriptor at men. Extremely vulgar insult meaning female genitalia. Is often directed at men)

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language

Complete Table of Contents Introduction 3 Explanation of symbols used 3 Table of Contents 3 Czech Grammar as Czechs Learn It 4 Word classes (parts of speech) - slovní druhy 4 Nouns 4 Adjectives 5 Pronouns 5 Numerals 6 Verbs 6 Adverbs 6 Prepositions 7 Conjunctions 7 Particles 7 Interjections 8 Word order - Slovosled (Syntax) 8 How and when Czech words change their forms 9 How parts of speech interact when combined in a sentence 10 Nouns 11 Gender 11 What is gender? 11 Summary of agreement rules! 11 How to tell the gender of a noun 12 There are some which are almost exception proof: 12 The rest are shared by two genders about 50/50: 12 Number 12 Case 12 What is case? 12 What are the Czech cases? 13 Summary of Czech cases 14 Kdo? Co? - Nominative - 1. pád - 1st case 14 Function 14 Form 14 Exceptions in plural 15 Koho? Co? - Accusative - 4. pád - 4th case 15 Function 15 Form 15 Most common verbs 15 Most common prepositions 16 Koho? Čeho? - Genitive - 2. pád - 2nd case 16 Function 16 Form 16 Singular 16 Plural 16

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Most common verbs 17 Most common prepositions 17 Komu? Čemu? - Dative - 3. pád - 3rd case 17 Function 17 Form 17 Most common verbs 18 Most common prepositions 18 (o) Kom? Čem? - Locative - 6. pád - 6th case 18 Function 18 Form 18 Singular exceptions 18 Kým? Čím? - Instrumental - 7. pád 7th case 19 Function 19 Form 19 Most common verbs 19 Most common prepositions 19 Rules for changing people's names when addressing them – another case? 20 Men 20 Women 20 How to address people with their full names 20 How to address people with academic titles 21 Model 21 How to figure out what other forms a word has? 21 Irregular plural 21 Irregular plural forms 21 Plural only 22 How to say "a pair of shorts, two pairs of … , ten pairs of …" 22 Softening – Palatalization 23 TEN animate nouns - kamarád, doktor, odborník ... 23 TA nouns - Praha, voda, taška 23 Palatalization of Adjectives 23 All models of czech nouns - Case Endings 24 Lesser and Foreign Models of Czech Nouns 25 Adjectives 26 Hard Adjectives 26 Soft Adjectives 27 Softening – Palatalization 27 Comparisons or More - Most 28 Summary 28 Forming the endings 28

How to Form Adjectives 28 Adjectives not formed from other parts of speech 28 Adjectives derived from nouns 29 Adjectives derived from verbs 29 Compound Adjectives 29 Possessive adjectives 30 Pronouns 31 Personal Pronouns 31 Without a preposition 31 After a preposition 31 In the beginning of a sentence (Strong forms) 31 Possessive Pronouns 32 SVŮJ a tricky possessive pronoun 34 Demonstrative Pronouns 35 Forms of VŠECHNO (every, all) 36 Interrogative (relative), Indefinite and Negative Pronouns and Adverbs 36 Examples of usage: 37 Other prefixes 37 Suffixes 37 Reflexive pronouns 37 Uses of SE 38 Uses of SI 38 Numerals 39 Counting from 1 to 5 billion 39 0 and negative numbers 39 Decimals and Fractions 39 Types of numerals 40 Case and numbers 40 Cardinal numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 40 Cardinal numbers 5 and more 41 Other numbers 41 Number names 41 Verbs 42 Verb to be 42 To be 42 not to be 42 Pronouncing js at the beginning of words 42 I, you, he, she … they - Personal Pronouns and Endings 42 Summary of Conjugation Patterns 43 Infinitive 43 Examples 43 Tense and Aspect (Saying When and How Things Happen) 44 What tenses there are and how to form them 44 What do the tenses express 45 Aspect of verbs 49 Actions and verbs (Meaning of aspect) 50 How to tell the aspect of a verb 51 Endings 51 2. Prefixes 51

How does aspect translate into English? 52 Pairs and Hubs of Verbs 53 Verbs organized in pairs 53 Verbs organized in hubs 53 Verbal Prefixes 54 Differences between pairs of similar prefixes 57 u- vs. do- as prefixes of completion 57 od- vs. roz- vs. u- vs. vy- vs. navs. do- vs. z- as prefixes of destruction 57 vy- vs. roz- vs. od- vs. na- vs. zaas prefixes of beginning 57 po- vs. popo- vs. na- vs. u- as prefixes of degree 57 Forming Tenses 57 Past tenses 57 How to order words in the past tense? 58 Summary of -l forms. 58 Irregular –l forms 58 How to be polite in the past tense? 59 Past tense and verbs with se and si 59 Past tense in Wh- questions 59 Habitual past tense – I used to … (–va– form) 59 Future tenses 60 Perfective future – such as udělat 60 Imperfective and repetitive future – budu + infinitive 60 Irregular future tense with budu 60 Verb být (to be) 60 Verbs of motion 60 Marginal verbs of motion: 60 Verbs of perception 61 Summary of tenses for four most frequent verbs 61 Sequence of Tenses 61 Voice 62 Passive 62 How to form the equivalents of the English –ed and –ing forms (as in planned, planning) 62 How to form equivalent of –ing as in a reading man: 63 Aspect of nouns and adjectives formed from verbs 63 Mood 63 Imperative 63 If you want someone to do something you tell them to do it. 63 To do it with the right forms: 63

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Telling someone to come along, or close to you 64 Summary of Imperative 64 Irregular Imperative Forms 64 Negative commands are almost exclusively formed from imperfective verbs 65 Infinitive as a command 65 Ať as indirect command or telling somebody to do something 65 Subjunctive as indirect command 65 Subjuntive or purpose clauses 65 Conditional 66 I, you, … , they would be 66 the word order for the conditional particle by 66 If . . . 66 English and Czech conditionals compared 67 Verbs of Motion – Their Aspect and Tense 67 Categories of Verbs for Conjugation – Complete Chart 69 Selected (most common) Irregular Verbs 70 Top 150 Czech Verbs 71 How to use the verb chart 80 Verb 80 Present 80 L-form (past) 80 N-form (passive) 80 Imperative 80 Collocation 80 Aspect 81 Pair (same meaning) 81 Prefix Derivates (diff meaning) 81 English Translation 81 Adverbs 82 Manner 82 Grade of Quantity 83 Comparing Adverbs - More and Most 83 Place 83 Time 84 Prepositions 85 Time 85 Space - Kde? nebo Kam? 86 KDE?/KAM?/ODKUD? locational versus directional – summary of cases 87 Usage of v, do, and na 87 Summary of selected prepositions of space 88 Miscellaneous Prepositions 88 Other Uses of o, v, za, z 88 Conjunctions 89 List of Most Common Conjunctions 89 Conjunctives 89

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Causal 89 Disjunctives 89 Relative 89 Time 90 Conditional 90 Concessional 91 Selected Problematic Conjunctions 91 AŽ and KDYŽ 91 KDY and KDYŽ 91 KTERÝ and ŽE 92 AŤ and ABY 92 Word Order 93 Typical Word Order of a Czech Sentence 93 Simple sentence 93 Sentence with adverbials 94 How does se change around in a sentence? 94 Where are auxiliary words placed in the sentence? 95 Questions in Czech 95 co? kdo? kdy? kde? kam? proč? 95 ano nebo ne 95 Negation 95 Double Negatives 96 Reference Pronouns (Anaphors) 96 Relative Clauses and Phrases 97 Který 97 Kdo 97 Co 97 Sentences without Subject 98 Weather - impersonal states 98 je + adverb 98 Feelings - je + Komu? Čemu? + adverb 98 Pronunciation 99 Summary of pronunciation 99 Vowels 99 Consonants 99 Syllables 100 Assimilation 100 Consonant Clusters 100 Contrasts 100 Short and long vowels 101 Soft, hard and neutral consonants 101 Voiced vs unvoiced 101 Comparing Czech Sounds to English 102 Pictorial Guide to Pronouncing Selected Czech Sounds 103 Vowels 105 Intonation 106 Intonation Rules 106 Statement intonation 106 Wh- Question Intonation 106 YES/NO Question Intonation 106

Spelling 107 ABECEDA: Names of the letters in the Czech alphabet 107 Czech accent marks - Diacritics 107 Spelling rules for i and ě 108 Using Capital Letters 108 Use of y vs. i 108 ú vs. ů 108 Basic rules of use of i and y after consonants 108 Punctuation 109 Idioms, Phraseology and Vocabulary 110 How to say Czech in Czech 110 Incorrect idioms resulting from confusion with English 110 Mental and Physical Health/Feelings I am vs. it is vs. I have a 111 I am = mám/nemám 111 I am = je mi 111 I have (a) = mám 111 I have a …ache = bolí mě … 111 it is = je + adverb (weather) 111 I am = jsem 111 I am = a verb 111 Illnesses and treatments that are and that are not 112 Wishing good luck, trip, nice time, etc. 112 Assurances 112 Arranging appointments 112 Agreeing and disagreeing 112 Funny, happy, lucky vs. veselý, šťastný, směšný 112 to know in Czech 113 Formation of Czech last names 113 Kolik (Koho? Čeho?) – Expressing Quantity 114 Standard Measures 114 General 114 How to like in Czech (Mám rád ... a Líbí se mi ...) 115 Like things and people 115 Like food (chutnat) 115 Like to do 115 Asking questions with negatives 115 Time telling 116 Kolik je hodin? vs. V kolik hodin 117 Jaký vs. Který / What vs. Which 117 Jak vs. Jaký / Adverbs vs. Adjectives 117 Seasons and names of the months 118 What do the names of months mean? 119 Dates or Kolikátého je? 119 What do the days of the week mean 120 Going on foot and by vehicle 120

Female forms of occupation names 120 Last in Czech - minulý vs poslední 121 First in Czech 121 Prosím in Czech 121 there is/are in Czech 121 Use of je/jsou 122 Use of to 122 Modal verbs 122 Must not and cannot (Negating modal verbs) 123 Ještě – Still vs. Už – Already 123 Ještě ne – Not yet vs. Už ne – Not anymore 123 Expressing Possibility and Necessity 123 na vs. v 123 ask: zeptat se vs. požádat 124 meet: potkat vs. setkat se 124 Conditional with the infinitive 124 a vs. i / and vs. as well 124 Narrative progression 125 prý, prej - I hear, they say 125 Translating 'no' into Czech 125 Going to see someone 125 All and every 126 Spelling out 126 make vs. do vs. work 126 function/work 126 Czech Trivia 127 What is the relationship of Czech to English or other languages? 127 What is the history of Czech? 128 Some important dates in the history of Czech language 128 What type of language is Czech? 130 Which words have different forms and when? 131 Are there polite forms of verbs like in French or German? 131 How do you address people? 131 What is the difference between all the academic titles? What do all the acronyms mean? 131 How many endings does Czech have? 132 Are there many dialects of Czech? 132 What is the difference between colloquial and literary Czech? 132 Which ‘Czech’ is taught to foreigners? 133 Some differences between “literary” and “colloquial” Czech spisovná a nespisovná čeština 133 Examples of rules for converting from written to spoken Czech 134 Deleting 134 Contracting or expanding 134

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Adding ‘v’ before ‘o’ at the beginning of words 134 Sometimes e is pronounced as í 134 ý is pronounced as ej if it's a part of an adjective's ending 134 -y/mi  -ma 135

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Is there anything about Czech that is easy? 135 Common Learner Errors 135 How do you swear in Czech? 136 Complete Table of Contents 137 Index 141

Index 1st conditional, 67 2nd conditional, 67 3rd conditional, 67 ABECEDA, 107 ABY, 65 academic titles, 131 Accusative, 13, 14, 15 addressing people, 131 Adjectives derived from nouns, 29 Adjectives derived from verbs, 29 Adverbs, 82 Adverbs Grade of Quantity, 83 Adverbs of Manner, 82 Adverbs of Place, 83 Adverbs of Time, 84 Adverbs vs. Adjectives, 117 agreement rules, 11 Already, 123 Anaphors, 96 animate, 11 AŤ, 65 AŤ and ABY, 92 auxiliary words, 95 AŽ and KDYŽ, 91 bát se, 17 Budějovice, 22 BÝT, 42 can, 122 Capital Letters, 108 cardinal numeral, 40 čárka, 109 case, 12 Cases and numbers, 40 částice, 4 Categories of Verbs, 69

Causal Conjunctions, 89 Čech, 110 Češka, 110 česky, 110 český, 110 čeština, 110 chutnat, 115 číslo, 4, 5, 6 číslovky, 4 číst, 15 citoslovce, 4 co, 36 colloquial and literary Czech, 132 Comparing Adverbs, 83 Comparisons, 28 Compound Adjectives, 29 Concessional Conjunctions, 91 Conditional, 66 Conditional Conjunctions, 90 Conjugation (Summary), 43 Conjunctions, 89 Conjunctions of Time, 90 Conjunctives, 89 Consonant Clusters, 100 Consonants, 99 čtvery, 22 Czech cases, 13 Czech language, 110 Dates, 119 Dative, 14, 17, 18 Days of the Week, 120 dělat, 15

Demonstrative Pronouns, 35 děti, 21 Diacritics, 107 dialects of Czech, 132 directionality, 86 Disjunctives, 89 Double Negatives, 96 dvoje, 22 dvojtečka, 109 Expressing Quantity, 114 Feelings, 98 Female forms of occupation names, 120 Feminine, 11, 35 First, 121 gender of a noun, 12 generic numerals, 40 Genitive, 14, 16 Hard Adjectives, 26 have to, 122 history of Czech, 128 hodinky, 22 imperative, 64 Imperative, 63 inanimate, 11 Indirect Command, 65 Infinitive, 43 –ing forms, 62 Instrumental, 14, 19 Intonation, 106 Irregular Past Tense, 58 Irregular Verbs, 70 jak, 36 Jak vs. Jaký, 117 jako, 28 jaký, 36

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language Jaký vs. Který, 117 je + adverb, 98 je/jsou, 122 jedny, 22 Ještě, 123 Ještě ne, 123 jet, 120 jít, 120 kalhoty, 22 kde, 36 Kde? vs. Kam?, 86 kdo, 36 Kdo? Co?, 5, 11, 14, 23, 24, 26, 27, 30, 31, 32, 34, 37, 40, 41, 97 kdy, 36 KDY and KDYŽ, 91 Koho? Čeho?, 5, 14, 16, 24, 26, 27, 30, 31, 32, 34, 37, 38, 40, 41, 85, 86, 87, 88, 97, 114, 116 Koho? Co?, 5, 14, 15, 24, 26, 27, 30, 31, 32, 34, 37, 38, 40, 41, 85, 86, 87, 88, 97, 113, 116, 121 Koho?Čeho?, 7 Koho?Co?, 7 Kom? Čem?, 5, 14, 16, 17, 18, 23, 24, 26, 27, 30, 31, 32, 34, 37, 40, 41, 85, 86, 87, 88, 97 Kom?Čem?, 7, 86 Komu? Čemu?, 5, 14, 17, 18, 23, 24, 26, 27, 30, 31, 32, 34, 37, 38, 40, 41, 85, 86, 87, 97, 98, 115 Komu?Čemu?, 7, 86 který, 36 KTERÝ and ŽE, 92 Kým? Čím?, 5, 14, 19, 24, 26, 27, 30, 31, 32, 34, 37, 40, 41, 85, 86, 88, 97 Last, 121

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last names, 113 Learner Errors, 135 lepší, 28 levnější, 28 líbit se, 115 lidi, 21 locality, 86 Locative, 18 Masculine, 11, 35 may, 122 may not, 122 Measures, 114 menší, 28 minulý vs poslední, 121 Miscellaneous Prepositions, 88 mít rád, 115 moct, 123 Modal verbs, 122 More, 28 Most, 28 Mrzne, 98 multiplication numerals, 40 muset, 123 must not, 122 name for numerals, 40 něco, 36 need, 122 Negation, 95 nějak, 36 nějaký, 36 Nejdříve, 121 nejlepší, 28 nejlevnější, 28 nejmenší, 28 někde, 36 někdo, 36 někdy, 36 některý, 36 Neuter, 11, 35 než, 28 nic, 36 nijak, 36

nikde, 36 nikdo, 36 nikdy, 36 Nominative, 14, 15 Not anymore, 123 not have to, 122 not to be, 42 Not yet, 123 noviny, 22 Numerals, 39 oči, 21 ordinal numerals, 40 otazník, 109 ought to, 122 pád, 4, 5, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 Palatalization, 23 Passive, 62 peníze, 22 Perfective Aspect, 50 Personal Pronouns, 31, 42 Plural, 24 podstatná jména, 4 polite forms, 131 Possessive adjectives, 30 Possessive Pronouns, 32 potraviny, 22 potřebovat, 123 předložky, 4 Prefixes, 51, 54 Prepositions, 85 Prepositions of Space, 86 Prepositions of Time, 85 přídavná jména, 4 příslovce, 4 Pronouns after a preposition, 31 Pronouns at the beginning of a sentence, 31

pronunciation, 99 Prosím, 121 Prší, 98 první, 121 Punctuation, 109 purpose clauses, 65 Questions in Czech, 95 questions with negatives, 115 Ř, 103 Reflexive pronouns, 37 Relative Clauses, 97 Relative Conjunctions, 89 Repetitive Aspect, 50 rod, 4, 5, 6, 11 ruce, 21 se, 37 SE, 38 Sentences without Subject, 98 Sequence of Tenses, 61 Short and long vowels, 101 should, 122 si, 37 SI, 38 Singular, 24 slovesa, 4 smět, 123 Sněží, 98 Soft Adjectives, 27

Soft and Hard Consonants, 101 šortky, 22 spelling, 107 Spelling rules, 108 spisovná a nespisovná čeština, 133 spojky, 4 Statement intonation, 106 Still, 123 středník, 109 Subjuntive, 65 svého, 34 svoje, 34 svoji, 34 svou, 34 svůj, 34 SVŮJ, 34 Syllables, 100 tamta, 35 tamten, 35 tamto, 35 tato, 35 tenhle, 35 Tense, 57 tento, 35 there is/are, 121 Time telling, 116 to, 122 to be, 42

To go, 120 to know, 113 to like, 115 toto, 35 troje, 22 type of language, 130 Typical Word Order, 93 ú vs. ů, 108 umět, 15 uši, 21 Už, 123 Už ne, 123 Verbs of Motion, 67 vidět, 15 Vinohrady, 22 Voice, 62 Voiced vs unvoiced, 101 Vowels, 99, 105 vykřičník, 109 vzor, 4 Wh- Question Intonation, 106 What vs. Which, 117 Word Order, 93 Y vs. I, 108 YES/NO Question Intonation, 106 žádný, 36 zájmena, 4 zeptat, 17 znát, 15

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Yellow Pages of the Czech Language

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