L1: Seznamujeme se

Site: Moodle UK pro výuku 1
Course: HAS: CZECH LANGUAGE I. + II. - PRODUCTIVE LANGUAGE SKILLS - RECEPTIVE LANGUAGE SKILLS
Book: L1: Seznamujeme se
Printed by: Guest user
Date: Wednesday, 11 December 2024, 11:19 PM

1. Abeceda

Czech AlphabetEnglish SoundPronunciation Example
A a u u like in the word fun
Á á a a like in the word father
B b b b like in the word bat
C c ts ts like in the word bits
Č č ch ch like in the word chat
D d d d like in the word dog
Ď ď dy dy sound like 'du' in duel
E e e e like in the word red
É é ai ai like in the word pair
Ě ě ye ye like in the word yes
F f f f like in the word far
G g g g like in the word gap
H h h h like in the word hot
CH ch ch ch like in the word loch
I i i i like in the word fit
Í í ee ee like in the word bee
J j y y like in the word yes
K k k k like in the word kit
L l l l like in the word lip
M m m m like in the word mat
N n n n like in the word nut
Ň ň ny ny sound like  'n' in onion
O o o o like in the word hot
Ó ó oo oo like in the word door
P p p p like in the word pin
R r r r like in the word rat
Ř ř rž sound like  'rg' in bourgois
S s s s like in the word sun
Š š sh sh like in the word ship
T t t t like in the word top
Ť ť ty ty sound like  'tu' in tune
U u u u like in the word push
Ú ú oo oo like in the word fool
Ů ů oo oo like in the word fool
V v v v like in the word vat
Y y i i like in the word bit
Ý ý ee ee like in the word bee
Z z z z like in the word zip
Ž ž zh zh sound like  's' in treasure
Qq, Ww, Xx in foreign words only

2. ŘŘŘŘ

qey5lk3pmmn21.jpg

The articulation for Ř derives from the palatal R (not the French one). When you want to pronounce ř place your top and bottom teeth slightly together, purse your lips and whisper the following words: tri, tri, tri...(without even trying to say ř - it will come out by itself).

3. Why does Czech have cases? How are the cases used?

Czech declension is a complex system of grammatically determined modifications of nounsadjectivespronouns and numerals in the Czech language. As with many other Slavic languages, Czech has seven casesnominativegenitivedativeaccusativevocativelocative and instrumental inherited from Proto-Indo-European and Proto-Slavic. This essentially means that a word can have 14 possible forms in singular and plural. Some forms match in more than one place in each paradigm.

Each noun has 7 different cases it can be refered to by. These cases are so standardized that they are often refered to by their ordinal number:

I grabbed WikiPedias descriptions until I write my own summaries.

It helps to understand exactly what subjects, direct objects, and other parts of the language are... Because the noun cases use the different nouns to distinguish exactly the noun as that part of the grammar.

In other words, you can pretty much scramble the order of words in a Czech sentence, and decode what each part is from the case it is written in.
  1. Nominative -- who/what (Person as a Direct Object??): the dictionary form of nou/ adj., pronouns, some nunerals. It expresses the subject of a sentence. (STUDENT je ve škole - The student is at school.)

  2. Genitive -- without whom/what: possesive or partitive meaning ( Kniha STUDENTA - The book of a student)
  3. Dative -- to whom/what: the indirect object in a sentence (Dám dárek STUDENTOVI - I will give a present to the student.)
  4. Accusative -- I see whom/what: the direct object in a sentence (Vidím STUDENTA - I see a student.)
  5. Vocative -- I call (Addressing a person directly): the addressing form (Adame! - Adam!)
  6. Locative -- about whom/what: location (Jsem ve škole - I am at school.)
  7. Instrumental -- with whom/what: the means or instruments by or with which an action is carried out. (Jedu autem - I go by car.)
Case Prepositions used with this case (more on prepositions)
1. nominative no preposition
2. genitive bez - without
blízko - near
do - to, into, until
od - from
okolo / kolem - around, about
u - at, by (location)
vedle - next to
z / ze - from
3. dative k / ke - to, towards
kvůli - because of, due to
navzdor(y) - in spite of, despite
proti / naproti- against
vůči - towards, to, against
4. accusative na - on, onto (direction)
o - for
pro - for
přes - in spite of
za - for, on behalf of, in the course of
5. vocative no preposition
6. locative na - on (location)
o - about
po - after
v / ve - in
7. instrumental mezi - between
nad - above, over
pod - below, under
před - in front of, before
s / se
 - with
za - behind

4. Interesting Czech Language Facts

1. Czech is one of the West Slavic languages

Not only does the Czech language share similarities with other Slavic languages such as Polish and Russian, but it was also influenced by Latin and German.

2. There are around 10 million Czech speakers in the world

The Czech speakers are primarily in Czech Republic where it is an official language. A benefit of learning Czech is that it is also mutually intelligible with the Slovak language.

3. Czech used to be known as Bohemian

Bohemian is language of Bohemia, a region of today’s Czech Republic.

4. Several Czech words have made it into English

Some of these words include dollar, pistol, polka and robot.

5. Some Czech words don’t have any vowels

This is because in Czech, consonants can act as vowels. For example, the tongue twister “Strč prst skrz krk“, meaning “put your finger through your throat”, is made only of consonants.