Learns to speak Czech. Self-study of Czech language

Many people believe that Czech is so similar to Russian that it is very easy to learn. In fact, this language is really quite easy to understand by ear, but if you want to speak it correctly and fluently, you will have to make an effort. Some resort to the help of tutors, others enroll in a language school or even go to the Czech Republic to plunge into the environment. All this requires a lot of money, but we will tell you in more detail about how to learn Czech on your own.

Before you start learning Czech on your own, you should familiarize yourself with the standard recommendations. So, what you should pay attention to if you want to study the language in the comfort of your home:

• learn new language not that difficult, provided enough time is given to it. However, you should adhere to the rule - you need to exercise every day. Even 30 minutes will be enough;
• you need to surround yourself with Czech as much as possible, look interesting videos on it (for starters, you can with subtitles), listen to music, read news and stories;
• find a native speaker for speaking practice - this can be done for free on language exchange sites;
• It is important to immediately learn the rules of reading in order to remember words correctly, otherwise you will not be able to recognize them later by ear.

Selection of textbook

To start learning any language on your own, you need to choose good textbook. It is important that it has an audio application, because without it it will not be possible to understand how certain words are pronounced correctly. On this moment The best two options are:

• ČESTINA EXPRES – contains basic information and will help you reach level A1 quickly enough if you learn words and texts from it. If a student is interested in Czech solely for tourist purposes, then the first textbook will be enough for him. However, for those who want to delve deeper into the language, a small number of exercises and theoretical material will not be enough;
• ČESKY KROK ZA KROKEM – this textbook consists not only of a book for the student, but also workbook, however, in general it is an expanded version of the first one (they have the same authors). It contains more explanations and tasks, more texts and necessary materials. Therefore, if you have time, it is better to start learning Czech nominal with it.

By the way, if you have any doubts regarding pronunciation, it is recommended to use the site forvo.com. There you can listen to how to correctly say any word or phrase. Moreover, they are all voiced by native speakers. You can also enter not a specific word into the search, but simply look at the sections in which everyday phrases, names of body parts, flowers, food, other things and objects.

Developing Important Skills

To achieve success in mastering the Czech language, you need to pay attention to the development of all basic skills: listening, reading, speaking and writing. Of course, it is recommended to focus on whichever one is most needed. So, if a person is primarily interested in communication, then speaking and listening should be developed. In cases where you want to be able to read books in Czech, the main focus is on reading. Let's talk briefly about methods for developing each skill.

Listening

Good material for improving listening comprehension are radio broadcasts, as well as videos on Youtube. You can select videos and podcasts on topics that interest a person so that it is not only educational, but also exciting. Children's songs can also be useful in the early stages: they are easy to learn and then sing along with.

Reading

It is important to know that it is strictly not recommended to start developing this skill with fairy tales. They contain old vocabulary, as well as less commonly used phrases. It is best to choose a collection as your first book adapted stories. Preferably those that have an audio version, this will help train listening comprehension at the same time. You can also pay attention to children's books.

Talk

Even at the very beginning, you can practice conversation skills. To do this, it is advisable to prepare a text about yourself, as well as basic questions (“What is your name?”, “Where are you from?”, “How old are you?”), memorize them so that you can easily recognize them in speech. After this, you can find a conversation partner on language exchange sites. In addition, it is useful to record yourself and your speech on video for later self-monitoring.

Letter

The best way to practice this skill is by answering questions in the textbook in writing. This should be done in detail, trying to use the studied phrases, words and grammatical structures. Written texts can be posted on sites where native speakers check them for free (for example, in a notebook on italki.com). You can also write a blog in the language you are learning, talking daily about events that have happened.

Difficulties of studying

Some people believe that those who speak Russian find it easy to learn Czech. However, this is not quite true. Let's look at the difficulties that beginners will definitely encounter:

• externally identical words that have different meanings. For example, the well-known “pozor” in Czech means “attention”;
• different pronunciation. So, it should be remembered that the stress is always placed on the first syllable, and it is also especially worth emphasizing the length of vowels;
• words that seem similar may be differently cased and have different endings;
• a large number of dialects, that is, the spelling and pronunciation of words in different cities and regions is sometimes not the same.

Moreover, if you put in some effort, Czech is definitely easier than other European languages.

There are many ways to learn Czech: studying with a tutor, attending language schools, but it is faster and cheaper to do it yourself. The main thing is to have motivation and a conscious goal. For example, if a person wants to move to the Czech Republic, then only knowing National language, it will really be possible to integrate into the environment. Therefore, it is important to set a goal, outline a plan to achieve it, select educational materials and begin to act.

Anyone can quickly learn a language from scratch to a basic level. All you need is desire and a little of your time. We are pleased to prepare the first Czech lesson so that you can quickly move towards your goal - to enroll in a Czech university.

How to quickly and independently learn Czech?

Czechs respect people who learn their language. The fact is that several centuries ago Czech almost died: German was spoken in the country. I had to try hard to bring it back into use. Nowadays, if not love, then respect for the language is in the Czechs’ blood.

Foreigners who want to study or work in the Czech Republic need to learn the language. To learn Czech from scratch you need to learn to read and write.

This alphabet is not that complicated

Learn Czech on YouTube

How to write and read words in Czech correctly?

As we hear, so we write! But to follow this rule, you need to know several rules that distinguish Czech from Russian:

1. Before the vowels e, é, y, ý, the consonants d, t, n remain hard: délka [de: lka] - length, tenor [tenor] - tenor, dýha [di: ha] - plywood, typ [type] - type
2. Voiced consonants are deafened at the end of a word and before voiceless consonants: krev - blood, polévka - soup, tužka - pencil
3. Voiceless consonants before voiced ones are pronounced as voiced: prosba [prozba] - request, kdy [where] - when, kde [where] - where
4. The letter ř is a specific sound of the Czech language, which in sound can be compared with the sounds of the Russian language [рж], [рш]. Pronounced as one sound:
   • ř [rzh] - sonorous. Pronounced before vowels and voiced consonants: řeka, říše
   • ř [рш] - deaf. Pronounced at the end of a word and after voiceless consonants: tři, křeslo.
5. Pronunciation of consonants before ĕ:
   • d, t, n before ĕ are pronounced softly: dĕti, tĕlo
   • Between v, f, p, b and ĕ an additional sound [j] appears: vĕž [viesh] - tower obĕd [obete] - lunch
   • Between m and ĕ an additional sound [ň] appears: mĕsto [mnesto] - city mĕsíc [mnesi:ts] - moon; month
6. The consonants [r], [l] form a syllable without a vowel sound. If you pronounce the words mrkev, vlk, krk, an audible sound [s] should appear, and these consonants in the first syllable can also be stressed.
7. The Czech sound [h] is pronounced like the Ukrainian [g]: had, hrad. In Russian, this sound is preserved in the exclamation “Wow!” The sound [g] in Czech appears only in words foreign origin: gymnasium.
8. The combination zc is read “stc”. Examples: zcela [scela] - completely, zcukernatět [stsukernatet] - sugar up

Let's look at the accent

To deal with stress you need to know 2 things:

• Fixed stress. In Czech, the stress is always on the first syllable. For example: kakao, matka.
• Longitude. In some words above the vowels you can see a sign such as ’(čárka). It is placed above long vowels. dobrý den, moderní auto, salám, také, bílý. The sign ˚ (kroužek - [krouzhek]) is used to denote a long ů [ū].

Note that: longitude is more audible in colloquial speech and it can be in any syllable. Because of this, many questions and errors arise. You cannot be guided only by the rule of stress on the first syllable: you need to remember the pronunciation of each individual word. Remember, stress and length can be in one word: stretch out the long vowel and don’t forget about the stress.

Czech grammar for beginners

Nouns, adjectives, verbs, pronouns and numerals are mutable. There are many rules and exceptions. We have collected the main basic rules that will be useful and not difficult for a beginner to understand.

Nouns

A noun in Czech is characterized by:

• Category of gender
• Case
• Number
• Animation/inanimateness, etc.

To determine what gender a word belongs to, you need to look at its ending in the nominative singular case:

• The masculine gender includes words: with a zero ending - with a hard or soft consonant: student, les, pes, muz, otec, -a, -e, -i’ - nouns that denote male persons. You will learn to define this category when you know the meaning of words. For example, řidiče is a driver.
• Feminine gender will be words with: ending -a, -e(ě) - sestra, matka, vesnice (village), zero ending (base consonant): noc, kost, postel, pomoc, tramvaj.
• The neuter gender includes nouns that end in -о, -е(ě), í - kreslo, okno, divadlo (theater), moře, pole, slunce, pracoviště (place of work), čtení.

Personal pronouns in Czech

face singular plural

3 on, ona, ono oni, ony, ona

Já is practically not used in Czech. The pronouns já, ty have short, unstressed date forms. case unit numbers mi, ti (me, you), and vin. case unit numbers - mě, tě (me, you): dá mi, dám ti, zná mě, zná tě.

Cases in Czech

Let's start with the fact that in Czech grammar there are 7 cases, and they are usually designated in two ways - ordinal numbers or Latin names:

První pád/Nominativ kdo? co?

Druhý pád/Genitiv koho? What?

Třetí pád/Dativ komu? What?

Čtvrtý pád/Akkuzativ koho? co?

Patý pád/Vokativ

Šestý pád/Lokál (o) kom? (o) čem?

Sedmý pád/Instrumental kým? What?

All cases are clear and coincide with the Russian language. BUT! Their order is different: after the accusative case comes the vocative, then the prepositional and instrumental. In Czech, the vocative case is used frequently and should not be forgotten.

Never forget verbs

A sentence in Czech cannot exist without a verb. If in Russian we miss the words: there is, to be, to exist, to be, then in Czech this is a mistake. For example: To je obchod. - This is a store.

Conjugation of the verb být

units plural number number

(já) jsem nejsem (my) jsme nejsme

(ty) jsi nejsi (vy) jste nejste

(on/ona/ono) je není (oni/ony/ona) jsou nejsou

For example:

• Jsem Rus – I am Russian
• Jsi Čech? -Are you Czech?
• On je student - He is a student.
• Jsme turisté - We are tourists.
• Holky jsou krásne – The girls are beautiful.

The verb mít (to have) is used much more often in Czech than in Russian. Often constructions with the verb mít are translated into Russian as “I have”, “he has”, etc.

Conjugation of the verb mít

past tense

(já) mám nemám měl/a jsem

(ty) máš nemáš měl/a jsi

(on/ona/ono) má nemá měl/a/o

(my) máme nemáme měli/y jsme

(vy) máte nemáte měli/y jste

(oni/ony/ona) mají nemají měli/y/a

Many verbs that end in -at are also conjugated: znát, dělat, vstávat, dát. Example: dělat - já dělám, ty děláš, on dělá, my děláme, vy děláte, oni dělají.

There are many constructions with the verb mít. The most common are mám rád+noun. in the accusative (4) case: Mám rád květiny. - I love flowers; and rád + verb form in the corresponding person: Rád se učím. — I love to study

Note that: The negative particle ne in Czech is always written together with the verb!

Learning the first Czech words

In addition to the rules, it is important to know the words. You can understand Czech intuitively; some words are similar to Russian. But in order to ask about something, ask or thank you, you need to know the basic words.

Even beginners can remember

• Words of politeness
• Days of the week
• numbers

dobrý den [dobrý den] hello

dobré ráno [good early] good morning

dobrý den [dobri dan] good afternoon

dobrý večer [good evening] good evening

ahoj [agoy] hello

nashledanou [nashledanou] goodbye

děkuji [dekuji] thank you

promiňte [prominte] sorry

dobrou chuť [good-hut] bon appetit

dobrou noc [good night] good night

ano [ano] yes

ne [ne] no

pondělí [pondeli] Monday

úterý [uteri] Tuesday

středa [strsheda] Wednesday

čtvrtek [chtvrtek] Thursday

pátek [patek] Friday

sobota [Saturday] Saturday

neděle [week] Sunday

nula [null] zero

jeden [eden] one

dva [two] two

tři [trzhi] three

čtyři [chtyrzhi] four

pět [drinks] five

šest [six] six

sedm [sedm] seven

osm [osm] eight

devět [devet] nine

deset [deset] ten

Funny words are the easiest to remember

Every language has funny words. But for me personally, the Czech language is a record holder. The main thing is that these words are easy to remember and will definitely come in handy in life. Here is my TOP of such words:

barák [barrack] - house

bydliště [bydlishte] - place of residence

lepidlo [lepidlo] – glue

Důchodci [income] – Pensioners

cerstvé potraviny [stale potraviny] - fresh products

chapat [hapat] - to understand

čichat [sneeze] - sniff

děvka [girl] - prostitute

kalhotky [tights] - panties

letadlo [letadlo] - airplane

matný [matte] - matte

mátový [matte] - mint

mraz [scum] - frost

mýdlo [thought] - soap

mzda [bribe] - fee

nevěstka [daughter-in-law] - prostitute

okurky [cigarette butts] - cucumbers

ovoce [ovoce] - fruit

pádlo [bad] - oar

pitomec [pet] - fool

počítač [pochitach] - computer

pohanka [toadstool] - buckwheat

policie varuje [police varuje] - police warn

pozor [shame] - attention

rychlý [loose] - fast

sklep [crypt] - basement

škoda [Skoda] - loss

bydlo [cattle] - life, living

skot [cattle] - Scotsman

šlapadlo [slapadlo] - catamaran

sleva [left] - discount

sranda [sranda] - joke, joke

strávit [strikes] - to spend

stůl [chair] - table

určitě [rumble] - definitely, definitely

úroda [freak] - harvest

úžasný [terrible] - beautiful, charming

vedro [bucket] - heat

voňavka [stink] - perfume

vozidlo [carried] - car

vůně [vune] - aroma

záchod [entry] - toilet

žádný [greedy] - none

zakázat [order] - prohibit

zápach [smell] - stench

zapomněl [remembered] - forgot

zelenina [green] - vegetables

Is Czech a difficult language?

Yes and no! It’s difficult to answer unequivocally. Even grammar native language school was not easy for everyone. As in any language, there are many rules and exceptions that need to be learned and remembered. Here also. At the everyday level, learning Czech is still easier than German, English or Spanish. But to study and work you need to sweat.

Ready! You have started learning Czech 👍 We wish you success. Na shledanou 😃

Do you still have doubts whether you can learn a language on your own in a year? You will get the answer to this question in the article:

Mar 7, 2019 Tatiana

What prompted me to think about this issue is that it is believed that the Czech language is very easy for students from the countries of the former CIS to learn. In this article I will try to talk about the arguments both for and against. By the way, I have been studying languages ​​for a long time - I studied at a school with in-depth study of English, I even won a couple of Olympiads, I took French and German courses for a couple of years (and I still remember a little of them), I taught at the institute Spanish- in general, you can trust me :)

First, I would like to talk about a couple of myths, where they come from and confirm/refute them.

Myth one. The Czech language is very easy, like Russian, only in Latin letters.

The Czech Republic is a fairly attractive country for tourists. Of course, the main flow of tourists goes to Prague. She is especially popular center. Entrepreneurs are not fools at all, so their services provide on different languages . Russian, English - including. An unprepared person will draw his first conclusions here after hearing Russian speech and seeing many signs. In fact, this is, nevertheless, a purely tourist place, and drawing conclusions here is stupid.

Those who are lucky enough to get outside of Prague will also not experience huge problems. For example, what can be seen in Poděbrady - the words “museum”, “církev”, “ostrov” (see the sign on the right) - are quite clear, and if something is not clear, you can guess it from the pictogram. From this we can also conclude that Czech is very clear language, However, it is not. In fact, all signs are made in order to attract the maximum number of people, so they are written as simply as possible. In such cases, international variants of words are often used.

In fact, the vocabulary hidden from tourist eyes is not as easy as it might seem. For those who want to try their hand at understanding Czech texts right away, you can try reading the news on http://ihned.cz/ - it’s unlikely to be very easy.

Speaking of what language Czech is similar to - it is similar only in Slovak. With the others there is only similarity, which does not always help, and more often it only hinders.

Myth two. You can learn Czech quickly.

This myth is born mainly among those who have already tried to start learning this language. And it’s hard to argue here - the first period of study is quite easy for Russian-speaking students - in the first month of our study, almost everyone had excellent grades.

Then, very often, everything falls into place - the grammar becomes complex. The main problem (for me personally) is the frequent illogicality. If a rule applies in one case, it is not a fact that it can be applied in another. However, this feature is inherent in many Slavic languages, including Russian.

The test results at the end of the year are proof of my words. Rare student more than 90%. As for admission to top universities in Prague, I’m just silent.

Myth four. I am a techie (doctor/lawyer/athlete/idiot), I won’t need Czech in my profession.

(If you want to find out whether a Czech student can work -!).

Everything here is also quite controversial. Firstly, working in the Czech Republic without knowing the Czech language is strange, to say the least. Secondly, you need to be very lucky to immediately get to a foreign country like this. Thirdly, you need to study, and here you can’t go without a language - foreign students have the same rights as Czech students (and, therefore, the same responsibilities), which means their studies will take place in Czech. And in the end, sooner or later you will also want to talk to someone.

One of the subtypes of this myth is the myth that knowing English is enough here. I admit, I thought so too. It seemed to me that if I knew the language, then everyone knew it too. And this is Europe, civilization. Oh, how wrong I was. English language, mostly educated people know, which means they are unlikely to help you in everyday tasks - in shops, banks, at the post office - everything is in Czech. And if suddenly a person knows English, this is also unlikely to help you. Usually, it was taught at school and forgotten without practice, so you won’t be able to show off your knowledge.

It just so happens that I am now (yes, which is the antivirus). The working language is English; you can also speak Czech with colleagues. Do you think there are many techies here who boast that language is just a tool? In a nutshell: if you don’t know the language, well done, go work where you don’t need to communicate.

Well, I guess I talked about myths. Now, I think it’s worth talking about the Czech language and looking at it with my Russian-speaking eyes :)

The Czech language belongs to the Indo-European family (like Hindi, Farsi, Spanish - do you think they are all similar?). This is very large group languages, and they are quite different. Czech belongs to Slavic group languages ​​(i.e., it still has something in common with Russian), and even more precisely, to West Slavic (together with Slovak and Polish, which actually already have a lot in common with Czech).

Czechs write with Latin letters with diacritics. There are 3 diacritics: charka (á), gachek (č) and krouzek (ů). There are 42 letters in the Czech alphabet, it is very easy to begin to understand the Czech letter.

Now - about the difficulties that any Russian-speaking student will most likely encounter.

1) False friends of the translator

This phenomenon has been known for a long time. For example, the word “město” (read as mnesto) is translated as city. Everyone will definitely come across the word “pozor” (read as disgrace) - this is a call to be more attentive. In fact, it happens very often, so it’s a shame!

As you can see in the picture, there are a lot of them. There is no need to learn everything; it comes naturally with the experience of living in a particular place. In Russia the situation is different, on Far East You will most likely be understood just as well as in Moscow (if they still speak Russian in Moscow 🙂).

On the other side, single standard, nevertheless, exists - it is what is studied in schools, universities, and used in official documents.

5) Ignorance of Czech realities and history

From my own experience, knowing these things is very important for learning a language. Sometimes only history helps to understand why a word is called one way and not another. And knowledge of realities recent years In general, it is necessary - in order to understand peers.

So, let's summarize. Czech is a difficult language. Only Slovaks understand it relatively easily; the rest need to work on themselves. Knowledge of the Russian language does not always help, and even more often it confuses. Knowing English helps very little. On the other hand, if you use this knowledge correctly, success in learning Czech is much easier to achieve. It is worth learning a language (any language) in the country in which it is spoken. However, if you need it not for practical use, but as a hobby, you can do it at home. It’s also worth saying that you shouldn’t judge the Czech Republic and the Czech language by the center of Prague - there are a lot of interesting things around, take it at least.

Czech is one of the 24 official languages ​​of the European Union. Distributed both in the Czech Republic itself and in the USA, Canada, Slovakia, Serbia, Austria, etc. The total number of native speakers of this language is 10.6 million people. Learning Czech is not difficult, since it is related to others Slavic languages. Closest to Slovak.

There are many reasons why people learn this language:

• tourism;
• education;
• Job;
• moving to this country;
• interest in culture and history.

It is worth noting that the Czech Republic provides an opportunity to get a well-paid job. Alternatively, you can study at the University of Karlovo, which was founded in 1348 and is one of the oldest universities in Central Europe.

Whatever the reason, you can be sure that knowing a foreign language opens up new boundaries for a person.

Photo of an evening Czech city.

What is important for a beginner to know?

One of distinctive features Czech is phonetics:

• The stress always falls on the first syllable;
• The alphabet uses superscript characters: apostrophe and acute. An apostrophe is placed above consonants to indicate a hard sound. Above vowels - to show the softness of the preceding consonant sound.

From a grammatical point of view, Czech is distinguished by the presence of archaic (old) forms. For example, unlike Russian, there is still a vocative case.

Pronunciation has specific features. The Czech language uses Latin letters, most of which are read as they are written.

However, some sounds require explanation. For example, h is pronounced like Ukrainian, and y is the middle sound between i and ы. It’s interesting that the Czechs themselves cannot pronounce our Russian ы.

It is difficult for both foreigners and Czechs to learn to write correctly - you can hear and understand the meaning of words incorrectly.

Czech is unusual and at the same time interesting language especially for Russian speakers. For example, the inscription in the store POZOR:SLEVA does not at all mean that there is something shameful on the left. It actually translates to "Attention: Discount". Or the word “čerstvý” (stale) does not mean, as in Russian, something spoiled (stale bread), but on the contrary, something new, fresh. Therefore, in order to correctly understand all the intricacies of this language, it is necessary to select the right technique and the way of teaching.

Ways to learn Czech

There are various ways to learn. You can try to master the language yourself. To do this, it is important to purchase a tutorial that is suitable for you. Dictionaries and phrase books are also needed, it is advisable to find films and books in order to get used to speech that is foreign to you from the very beginning. On the other hand, you can find a tutor who will conduct classes with you once a week, and if desired, twice. It is worth noting that if you have a teacher, learning goes faster, as there is an incentive to learn in the form of homework and direct practice with a native speaker. In addition, do not forget that only an experienced teacher can deliver correct pronunciation. In this case The best way for training - these are courses.

If you decide to attend language courses, it is important to find out about the details: what exactly they are ready to offer, what program the training is based on. Is there an original method, how many times a week are classes, the amount of homework and workload in class? Plus, it is important to find out whether you can study individually, at home or via Skype, in the evening or during the day.

Czech language courses in Moscow

Courses foreign languages"Master Class" offers several training programs. The duration of each level of training is 48 academic hours (3 months). Upon completion of the program, a certificate is issued indicating the course and number of hours.

The training is intended both for beginners from scratch and for those who have already studied the Czech language. They will help you update your old knowledge or gain new knowledge, correct your pronunciation and teach you how to speak and write correctly. During individual training, the methodology is built taking into account your wishes. The courses are taught by experienced certified teachers, both Russian-speaking and those for whom Czech is native.

You can choose any of the branches for learning the Czech language in Moscow, which are located next to the metro stations: Belorusskaya, Oktyabrskoye Pole and Kashirskaya.

Price for individual and group Czech language training

The price is per group.

Corporate training price

The price is per group.

Basic Czech language course

Based on rich experience in this field and the best educational materials were created effective programs, which will allow you to develop a strong grammatical base and communication experience. You can learn Czech language basic course which includes training both in small groups and individually. Czech language courses in basic level are aimed at students mastering the necessary aspects of grammar, phonetics, and vocabulary.

The basic Czech language course lasts 4 months. At the end of the course, the student will be able to communicate in Czech on everyday topics, read adapted texts, and conduct simple correspondence.

The full course lasts for a year. Training is based on an individual program, based on the student’s goals (Czech for doing business, studying in higher education educational institution, communication with native speakers, learning the vocabulary of a particular professional field, etc.).

Educational process in the classroom

Native Czech-speaking teacher Teresa

LESSON 1 – LEKCE 1

We start the first lesson with the Czech alphabet and phonetics. Unlike the Russian language, the Czech language uses the Latin alphabet. Many letters have the same pronunciation as the Russian language, for example:

• a = a
• b = b
• c = c
• č = h
• d = d
• e = e
• ě = e
• f = f
• g = g
• ch = x
• i, y = and
• j = th
• k = k
• m = m
• n = n
• o = o
• p = p
• r = r
• s = s
• š = w
• t = t
• u = y
• v = in
• z = z
• ž = w

Some letters are either pronounced slightly differently or do not exist in Russian at all, for example:

• l = l – pronounced like the Central European “l” - neither hard nor soft;
• h = pronounced like the Ukrainian “g”;
• ř = pronounced as ringing sound“rzh”, or like a dull sound “rsh”;
• w = in;
• x = x;
• q = que;

Having studied the alphabet and phonetics, and explained the rules of stress and vowel reduction, we begin to practice reading and learning new words, for example:

Čeština, kavárna, daň, trojúhelník, skříň, praxe, šlehačka, štěstí, žádný, řeka, moucha...

At the end of the first lesson, we will get acquainted with the basic phrases and slowly begin to form simple dialogues.

• Good day.
• Good day. Jak se máte?
• Děkuji, dobře. A vy?
• Take it easy, děkuji.
• Jak se jmenujete?
• Jmenuji se Jana Nováková. A vy?
• Já se jmenuji Karel Slaný.
• Těší mě.
• Take it easy.
• Na shledanou.
• Na shledanou.

Other Czech lessons

At the beginning of each subsequent lesson we review grammar and vocabulary. Then we try to speak more and use phrases that we have already learned and acquire new ones (colloquial and literary).

We are considering a new grammar that concerns verbs (present, future, past tenses), nouns, adjectives, their endings in different cases, pronouns, adverbs, prepositions...

To remember the new grammar better, we put it into practice.

Despite the fact that I am a native speaker, sometimes I need to listen to another Czech voice, because of this we first listen to simple texts, then to Czech radio. You can’t learn all the words from a textbook, so we read different articles from newspapers and magazines on any topic so that everyone can find it interesting.

The first thing your “comrades in misfortune” who are already learning it, and (especially) native speakers of this language, will do is say how difficult it is to learn it. Judge for yourself: Czech has seven cases, many combinations of unpronounceable consonants, irregular shapes plural, words whose meaning is impossible to guess based on knowledge of other languages, the difficult letter ř to pronounce, just a nightmare!

As a generally optimistic person, I try as much as possible to ignore such unhelpful comments from those who are panicked or desperate. None of these “important” messages motivated me to make new progress in my studies, so I decided to look at them from a different perspective.

Just a few hours after I started learning Czech from scratch, I have already found several reasons to say that this is not the most Difficult language. First of all, I was pleased to discover that Czech is a phonetic language (with the difference that it is not at all similar to, for example, French, and certainly fundamentally different from English: just try to pronounce though, through, plow, dough, cough the first time without mistakes and time to think). Moreover, verb conjugation in Czech is similar to Latin languages. Since then I have learned to think differently about the difficulties and quirks of language, and perhaps you will find this way of dealing with obstacles interesting. I’m not trying to prove that Czech is “easy”, I’m trying to make it clear that by “getting hung up” on the complexities of the language, we slow ourselves down and deprive ourselves of faith in our own abilities. Fear of failure, doubt and doom to failure are the main killers of motivation, therefore Learn to learn Czech easily!

• Study Guidelines Based on Personal Experience

An excellent book that has helped me a lot is Czech: An Essential Grammar (by James Naughton, Routledge Essential Grammars). It was recommended to me once, and now I highly recommend it to you (provided, of course, that you speak English). It contains detailed information about word formation (which I will talk about later in this article), Czech grammar is very clearly explained in a direct, without unnecessary “water” form. There is no need to waste time on childish pictures and inappropriate examples; the manual explains the very essence of the language with full translations of all examples used and extensive collections of useful new vocabulary in each chapter. I needed a guide that presents the Czech language in the form of facts that are easy to understand and analyzed in detail, so this book was the best for me, but in case you want material offered in the form of lessons, then this book is not for you.

As I always mention, I always carry a phrase book in my pocket. At any time, while waiting for something, I take it out and repeat some words from the dictionary at the end, it is small enough to be able to go through all the words for a certain letter of the alphabet in 10 minutes, and at the same time, large enough to the most necessary words fit in. Phrasebooks published by Lonely Planet helped me cope with several languages, so the Czech phrasebook was of great use to me.

If you prefer to study in front of the computer, there are a number of sites that can help too! Slovnik.cz has a very detailed dictionary, but sometimes it gives too many translation options for simple words without contextual support, so I personally prefer the good old Wordreference’s Czech dictionary. I also found some excellent blogs, including Czechmatediary, which is written in both Czech and English by native Czechs living in the US.

• Czech vocabulary and its patterns

When you learn French, Spanish, etc., you come across a lot of unfamiliar words. Since Czech belongs to the Slavic group of languages, be prepared to encounter many words similar to those in Russian.

Fortunately for us, Czech does not consist of hundreds of thousands of unique words, each of which will have to be memorized separately. In fact, there are a fairly limited number of basic roots, prefixes and suffixes, most of which are attached to each other according to consistent and logical rules that are easy to remember. Let me show you with an example what I mean.

Let's take 4 prefixes: v, vy, od And za(all except vy, are also prepositions) and add them to the root morpheme chod which comes from the verb chodit, go. The pretext itself v, like the prefix, means "in", so when you come across something that literally means "to go into", "to enter", you get vchod - entrance. Vý/vy means exactly the opposite, so východ - exit. Od, essentially means "from", so odchod - departure, departure, departure, departure.

You will quickly realize with relief that a huge number of Czech words are formed using a small number of prefixes added to the root, and many of them have completely logical meanings. Therefore, learning new words sometimes becomes the study of not new words at all, but ones that are already quite understandable.

Although some examples require a little imagination, they still do not lose their logic if you have developed this same imagination. Let's take the prefix za in combination with chod: za can mean “behind/behind”, that is, for example, going behind the scenes, going out of sight. So, imagine: if you apologize and want to disappear from view for a while, in other words, go away, you go... to the toilet! Although all the signs in Czech say toaleta, in everyday conversation this word sounds strange, since most people, when referring to the toilet, say záchod! Yes, I know I'm going a little overboard! But you have to agree that I’m not just pulling a logical connection by the ears, this is a really interesting and memorable image! This is one of the effective and simple mnemonics that allowed me to learn thousands of Czech words with almost no effort.

In fact, the prefix + root combination is at the heart of language and actually gives you words in geometric progression. So, if you understand the meaning associated with the basic prefixes do, na, nad(e), ne, o(b), od(e), pa, po, popo, pod, pro, pře, před, při, roz, s(e), spolu, u, v( e), vy, vz, z, za, you can combine at least half of them with, say, ten basics. Thus, by learning just 10 new words, you get 10x10=100 words thanks to all the possible combinations!

When you add knowledge of suffixes to roots or prefix + root combinations, it is incredibly helpful in understanding a huge number of words without the headaches of trying to remember each word individually. For example, the suffix ař, meaning a person associated with the meaning of the root, and the word lek - medicine combined give lekař- doctor. "Film" in Czech will sound the same as in English, but filmař means the person making the film, ryba- it's a fish, but rybář- this is already a fisherman, and so on. A vast number of words can be broken down into logical components, so learning prefixes and suffixes provides a wealth of insight into language.

• Czech grammar is not so scary at all

When I was told that every word has 7 cases with different options for singular and plural, I was concerned that I would have to learn 14 “words” for each individual word. But this is not the case. All we have to do is change the ending of the word (in most cases we just need to change one vowel to another, and all other changes follow stable rules, such as "h" changing to "z"). It takes a little getting used to and remembering when you need to change “o” to “a”, and which case to use in which construction. But if you do enough exercises, communicate directly with Czechs, and make mistakes in declension from time to time, they will correct you, and - believe me - you will remember it. You can definitely get used to this!

In fact, after a while it will become very natural! This may be annoying at first, but try to look at it from the language side. I'm so used to using Czech cases that now it even annoys me when people use Czech words Prague in English instead of English Prague without its declension! You can't tell in Praha(in Prague) or to Prague(to Prague); it's obvious that it will be in Praze And to Prahy!

You can object to me that it’s not easy to “fit” all this in your head, but let’s compare it with other languages: Czech did not manage to surprise me with its difficulty regarding many nuances, the inflection of nouns in particular. Irish, for example, has a genitive and a vocative, and when we change a word, we change both its ending and its beginning. In Czech, only the ending changes, but the rules are quite stable.

In French, you simply cannot use a noun without adding an article, which also requires knowledge of the gender of the word. In Czech there is neither a definite nor indefinite article. Moreover, in Czech there is a grammatical gender, but the gender of a particular word is easy to determine: almost always a noun ending in a consonant will be masculine, the ending “a” is inherent feminine, and “o” is a neuter ending.

There are exceptions, but they are fairly obvious and understandable. There are three genders, but remembering which gender of a noun is quite easy, especially compared to languages ​​like French, and, as I recall, German, which has much more complex gender endings, association rules that seem much more disordered.

• The right attitude when studying is the key to success

There are no difficulties in Czech that you cannot overcome. Consonant clusters cause quite a lot of difficulties, but in Czech some consonants can behave like vowels. When you are focused and dedicated enough to the language, these “strange sounds” will very soon turn into words. Children learn this language all the time, so there are no excuses for a smart adult like you!

Of course, this post can be countered with a whole list of why Czech is difficult, but why bother yourself with doubts once again? Besides these useful tips When studying, it is very important to work with and constantly access new sources of information.

Literary Czech can seem expressive, imaginative and difficult to learn at the same time. But if your goal is precisely, then there is nothing that would prevent you from achieving it. I challenge you to find more evidence for yourself that it is simple than to tell me I'm wrong. Give this language a chance and prove to yourself that you can actually speak Czech quite easily and quickly.

Děkuju (Thank you) Czech, it was a real pleasure to teach you!