Colloquial Czech

The Complete Course for Beginners

James Naughton

• Verlag: Routledge
• Jahr: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781317306061
• Auflage: 3
• Thema: Filología
• Thema: Idiomas

Colloquial Czech provides a step-by-step course in Czech as it is written and spoken today. Combining a user-friendly approach with a thorough treatment of the language, it equips learners with the essential skills needed to communicate confidently and effectively in Czech in a broad range of situations. No prior knowledge of the language is required.

Key features include:

• progressive coverage of speaking, listening, reading and writing skills

• structured, jargon-free explanations of grammar

• an extensive range of focused and stimulating exercises

• realistic and entertaining dialogues covering a broad variety of scenarios

• useful vocabulary lists throughout the text

• additional resources available at the back of the book, including a full answer key, a grammar summary and bilingual glossaries

Balanced, comprehensive and rewarding, Colloquial Czech will be an indispensable resource both for independent learners and students taking courses in Czech.

Audio material to accompany the course is available to download free in MP3 format from www.routledge.com/cw/colloquials. Recorded by native speakers, the audio material features the dialogues and texts from the book and will help develop your listening and pronunciation skills.

Unit One

Vítám vás v Praze!

Welcome to Prague!

In this unit you will learn about:

greetings and basic phrases that/this questions ‘yes’ and ‘no’ gender and adjectives some basic verbs in the present addressing people the vocative

Dialogue 1

Letiště The airport (Audio 1:15)

Neil Parker arrives in Praha ‘Prague’. Notice how the word Praha changes in the phrase v Praze, meaning ‘in Prague’. For ‘Welcome to Prague’ you say Vítám vás v Praze, literally ‘I welcome you in Prague.’

NEIL	Dobrý den. Vy jste Věra Benešová?
VĚRA	Ano. To jsem já.
NEIL	Těší mě. Já jsem Neil Parker.
VĚRA	Vítám vás v Praze! Vy jste Američan?
NEIL	Ne, já jsem Angličan. Moje manželka je Američanka.
VĚRA	Ale mluvíte dobře česky!
NEIL	Učím se jen rok. Trochu rozumím, ale mluvím špatně.
VĚRA	Ale ne! Mluvíte pěkně! Máte kufr?
NEIL	Ano, mám. Samozřejmě. Tady je.
VĚRA	Tak dobře. Pojďme. Auto čeká venku.

NEIL	Hello. Are you Věra Benešová?
VĚRA	Yes. That's me.
NEIL	Pleased to meet you. I'm Neil Parker.
VĚRA	Welcome to Prague! You're American, aren't you?
NEIL	No, I'm English. My wife is American.
VĚRA	But you speak Czech (very) well!
NEIL	I've only been learning for a year. I understand a bit, but I speak badly.
VĚRA	No! You speak (really) nicely/well! Have you got a suitcase?
NEIL	Yes I have. Of course. Here it is.
VĚRA	Okay then. Let's go. The car's waiting outside.

Vocabulary

dobrý den	hello (lit. ‘good day’)
(já) jsem	I am
(vy) jste	you are
těší mě	pleased to meet you (lit. ‘It pleases me’)
vítám vás	welcome (lit. ‘I welcome you’)
Praha, v Praze	Prague, in Prague
ano — ne	yes — no
(pan) Beneš, (paní) Benešová	(Mr) Beneš, (Mrs) Benešová (female form adds -ová)
Američan II Američanka	(an) American man, woman (female adds -ka)
Angličan II Angličanka	(an) Englishman, woman
Čech II Češka	(a) Czech man, woman
můj manžel II moje manželka	my husband, my wife
mám, máte	I have, you have
mluvím, mluvíte	I speak, you speak
rozumím, rozumíte	I understand, you understand
učím se, učíte se	I am learning, you are learning (lit. ‘teaching yourself)
dobře/pěkně — špatně	well (fine, good, o...