-ovat verbs

As I have mentioned before, one of the hardest things about learning Czech is that, despite having the same Indo-European roots as English, French, Spanish etc, the vocabulary often betrays little to the English learner. However, English is now the world's most dominant language in many fields and one of your few advantages as an Anglophone is the ready adoption of vocabulary from English. In Czech this most helpful when it comes to verbs, a category that often has no similarity to the English equivalent and involving many rules on formation and usage that often make them seem impenetrable. Fortunately, English borrowings provide a shortcut for when you just really haven't learnt the right word. Of course, for many of these, a Czech equivalent exists which is sometimes the more well used, but for others, like fungovat (to function, work) or existovat (to exist) the borrowing is very common and used in many situations. A nice page has already been made that lists many of these words. It is definitely worth a look. The meanings aren't given as they are pretty obvious and they should help you out if you just really can't think of a certain word!

Of course, you can't just use these plain, so here is a quick conjugation overview:

Studovat

Já Stud-uju

Ty Stud-uješ

On,ona Stud-uje

My Stud-ujeme

Vy Stud-ujete

Oni, ony Stud-ují

Stud-oval,a,o,i,y,a

 

Posted with Blogsy

End of degree

I'm a terrible blogger, that much should be evident by the fact I made one post all last year and that was just to announce my return. And then my unannounced disappearance. My only excuse is that I have been busy! Doing things which are actually directly relevant to this blog. After four years, my degree is almost over, just one more exam to go and then that's it. So where does that leave the blog?! Well as now I am in the very real danger of never speaking Czech again and forgetting everything, I am going to make a conscious effort to keep this alive. I have a few ideas of posts for the next few months, so, providing I still have an audience, stay tuned!

 

Posted with Blogsy

Baaaaaaack!!

So I spent 5 months in the Czech Republic and in that time wrote nothing on this blog, but I'm back now and in the next few months I shall post about my travels, what I learnt, what I'm doing now that it back at uni and of course any new resources I find! 

In the meantime, Brno was absolutely amazing. It is so refreshing to find a modern European city that is still so cosmopolitan whilst at the same time not being swamped by international imports such as Starbucks. I met people from all over the world, including, of course, from the Czech Republic as well as France, Hungary, Norway and surprisingly quite a few from the US. There is so much culture in the city and so many great cafes, bars and clubs to explore, some cool shops, so many museums and galleries and some beautiful countryside. And it's pretty much the centre of Europe and whilst I didn't travel as much as I wanted due to my budget, besides Prague I also visited Vienna and Budapest. 

Slovo dne #5

Těhotná (adj.) - pregnant

Ona je těhotná? Is she pregnant?

Czech art on Wikipedia

Started the Czech art article on wikipedia the other day, so if you were ever curious who is the most well known Czech artist, what was the key movement of the 20th century or what was going on in Bohemia in the Middle Ages, head on over! And don't forget, if you know anything on the subject, wikipedia is free for anyone to edit!

Czech Basics 2- Introductions

So more than half a year after the last one, here is Czech Basics 2!

In this lesson we will learn how to introduce ourselves and ask how someone is.

The verb for “to be called” is “jmenovat se”. In case you are a complete beginner, here is a quick grammar explanation. Czech verbs (doing or action words, like “do”, “run” etc) change ending according to who is doing the action. This happens in English as well, where we say “I walk” and “you walk” but “he walks”. It’s a bit more complicated in Czech, there are a lot more endings, but they follow quite simple patterns. Here is the full pattern for “jmenovat se”.

I	Jmen-uju se	We	Jmen-ujete se
You	Jmen-uješ se	You (polite and plural)	Jmen-ujeme se
He, she, it	Jmen-uje se	They	Jmen-ují se

 Note that you don’t include the dash when writing, that’s just to make the endings obvious.

Another important thing about Czech verbs is that, because of the endings, they can stand alone, without the need for words meaning “I”, “you”, “he” etc. But just in case you need them, for emphasis, here they are:

I	Já	We	My
You	Ty	You	Vy
He	On	They	Oni
She	Ona
It	Ono

There are two different “you’s”. One, “ty”, is like French “tu”, it is informal and can be used with friends, family, or those of an equal age to you. “Vy” is either plural, for use with more than one friend, or formal, for use with shop assistants, work superiors, relatives of friends etc.

Here is a little dialogue to show how these work in a (admittedly unrealistic) conversation. Try to guess the meaning of words that you don’t know.

Jan: Dobrý den. Jak se jmenujete?
Josef: Dobré ráno. Jmenuju se Josef. A vy?
Jan: Těší mě Josef. Jmenuju se Jan. Jak se máte?
Josef: Děkuju, dobře. A vy?
Jan: Jde to. Na Shledanou.
Josef: Na Shledanou.

When introduced to someone, it is polite to say “těší mě“, “pleased to meet  you”.

“Jak” is a question word meaning “how”. Here it is used with “jak se jmenujete”, to ask what someone’s name is. It is also part of the set phrase “Jak se máte”. This means “how are you?”, the normal response to which is “dobře“, which means „well/ good“. "Jde to" is similar to French "ca va" when used as a response, it means literraly "that goes", you can think of it as "fine". 

Rediscover your childhood. In a new language

I have read the Harry Potter books, the first one especially, too many times to put a number to it. They took me through my childhood years and they remain something I return to when I am feeling a need for a nostalgia trip. The first line in particular evokes a certain feeling of safety and warmth in me that few other books can, "Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much". So it's only natural that sitting here feeling a little homesick in Paris, I pick up Harry Potter once more. Though this time, with a more practical purpose. You see, I am reading the whole series in French. Along with my other various goals for my year abroad, any spare moment I get, I am re immersing myself in the fantastical world of my childhood favourite. And I really think that it is just as useful as the university lectures I am attending, the classic French literature I have to read for my course and any other contact I have in the language. I know the books so well that it means I don't need to keep on routing through dictionaries for words I don't know because I can just guess, and in this way I have expanded my vocabulary. I also enjoy reading them, so it is making the language immersion a positive experience for me, I don't resent being completely cut off from English because I feel just at home in the French Harry Potter universe as I do the English one. 

All this sounds a bit childish, but I really recommend picking up that book you read countless times and trying it in a new language. Like Czech for example (something I plan to do next semester). Once you have got past the initial hurdles of grammar and vocabulary and decide you want to tackle an actual work in the language, then a children's book is often the best place to start. The Internet has a copy of the Little Prince in Czech you can access from your browser. 

Internet Language Reference Book

This is a great grammar reference site that is incredibly useful to find the correct form of a word, something very difficult in Czech with its myriad verb forms and noun cases. Just type the word you want to look up in the box:

It will then bring up a table with all the correct forms:

A great tool to add to your Czech language kit!

Assimil Czech

I am currently in Paris, France, on my year abroad. Clearly, this means that at the moment, Czech is not my biggest focus. However, in February, I am going to the Czech Republic for five months, so maybe it would be worth making a few efforts to improve my Czech, which, after an entire summer of not speaking it, I have mostly forgotten. With this in mind, I headed over to Gibert Jeune, a perennial favourite of Parisian students. There, I picked up a copy of Assimil "Tcheque sans Peine". Yes, I have decided to brush up on my Czech through French. I'll get onto the whys later, but for now, the book itself. It consists of around 80 lessons that are supposed to take 15 minutes each day. With 2 years of Czech behind me, I am finding that at the moment I am getting through the lessons in about 5 minutes. They consist of a short, rather unnatural sounding conversation that is supposed to introduce basic grammatical constructs through repetition. By lesson three I have supposedly learnt how to conjugate to be and to have in the singular persons, how to negate, ask questions, and a host of vocabulary. I will have to wait until I progress to the further lessons to see just how much I am picking up from the book.

So why use a French book for Czech? Well, firstly, it's a matter of practicality. It is just simply a lot easier to pick up a French guide in Paris than an English one. However, I am also interested to see if letting go of English will help me think more directly in Czech. Using the French will hopefully get me to think more about the underlying meaning and structures of the phrases than a simple direct-to-English translation.

That's the plan anyway.

Slovo Dne #4: Tučňák

Ok, so my first¨”Word of the Day” of the New Year may strike you as pretty irrelevant when it comes to general conversation, being a word you may use at most once every 6 months, but it illustrates a good point. In most languages, names for exotic animals tend to be quite similar, being new additions to the vocabulary. So we have “giraffe” in English, “girafe” in French, “girafa” in Italian and “zhirafa” in Russian. All pretty similar, and here at least, Czech follows suit with “žirafa”. However, this is more the exception. The word “penguin” has its equivalents in most of the worlds languages, “pingvin” in Russian, for example. In Czech, the word is “tučňák”. This clearly bares no relation to the international term. It is one of many words that were coined during the “National Revival” where scholars attempted to create new words from existing stems and affixes, much like in Icelandic. Which all means that Czech has a lot of words bearing no relation to English, making it even more difficult to learn. Thank you, Revivalists!

Speak Czech and help win the Cold War!

So here I am, week 3 of the Christmas vacation, still slogging through Colloquial Czech and I’m starting to… get a little bored. Sooo, after looking through my small portfolio of links and resources I have collected over the previous 2 years, I found: The FSI Czech FAST course, which aims to provide students with enough language to “deal with the most common social and daily life situations they will encounter during their overseas assignments”. Yes, assignments. It’s aimed at “US government personnel” and so teaches language suitable for an ambassador and other diplomats. This all comes with a selection of “cultural highlights”. Bear in mind these are from 1990 so refer to Czechoslovakia. Some of the cultural tips are still relevant and interesting, the old one regarding odd and even numbered flowers, for example, but some are extremely out-dated, referring to the situation under a Communist government. The language however, is well represented and includes lots of vocab and grammar, along with a lot of listening practice. And the best part? It’s in the public domain so can be found for free on the internet!  So whilst you may not want to make it your main course, the amount that is there for free makes it a valuable resource that you should definitely consider checking out. There’s about 10 hours worth of audio and a 242 page textbook, so have a look!

Happy New Year!

Hope everyone has a good new year, I shall be updating in the next few days with more Czech tips!

New Links Added

Just in case you haven't noticed, I've added a couple more Links to the (where else) Links page. These include a site I found that includes online exercises to practise vocab and Grammar. There are also a couple of dictionaries and a few other more general language sites. Remember: keep checking it out as I regularly update it! And of course, if you find something interesting send me a link and I'll stick it up!

Free PDF Textbook

A simple gap fill to expand vocabulary.

I found this ages ago for free on the internet. It’s a 148 page PDF Czech  textbook from varianty.cz. It is entirely in Czech but is meant for foreigners. On your own, it will take a bit of work to get through it as there are no translations. However, vocabulary is introduced through pictures and so is a good way to get used to the language. There is a vocab list at the end of each lesson which you can either have a go at translating before each lesson to prepare, or, possibly more useful and easier, fill in as you go, using the pictures and exercises to help you.  Most of the exercises are also quite self explanatory and involve activities such as gap filling and matching. Grammar is also introduced, starting off with gender in lesson 1, pronouns in lesson 2 and introducing full blown conjugation in lesson 3. If  you can get to grips with it, and don’t mind the prospect of being instantly dropped in the Czech language, it’s a fun course with lots of variety; diagrams, crosswords along with traditional grammar explained in context.

For more information, this is the website. Unfortunately entirely in Czech.

Czech.cz

This is a really good website to keep up to date with life in the Czech Republic. It’s aimed at foreigners who have an interest in the country and is full of facts on history, culture, news and statistics. You can even send cute little e-cards with such puzzling greetings as “liquid plums” and “The Propelled Man”, which if you can decipher, celebrate Czech achievements and sights. It also offers practical advice on travel and finding a job in the CR. I have made regular use of this site in history essay and expect when I’m over there next year. There are so many articles and it’s regularly updated so is a great way to find out more about the country.

Slovo Dne #3 : Však

The most common way to say “but” in Czech is with the word “ale”. However, there are a few alternative, the most used being “však”. It really means “however”, but you’ll see it used more frequently than the English translation, often just being a simple replacement for “ale”. Having a varied vocabulary is a key way of making your writing and speech sound more natural and advanced, so try using it whenever you find yourself repeating “ale” a bit too much.

Slovo Dne #2: Bohemistika

The actual Czech word for “Bohemia” is Čechy, from which comes the word Česko, and the word for the country in many other languages, Czech. However, these originally referred only to the Western half of the country we now call the Czech Republic, Bohemia. This term comes from the Latin term for the tribe that inhabited the area in ancient times, the Boii.

The word Bohemistika is a Czech word that describes the discipline of Czech Studies- the study of the language and the literature of the Czech lands. The discipline has existed from at least the 14th century when the scholar Klaret attempted to create a scientific vocabulary in the language under the rule of Charles IV, but Jan Hus is widely regarded as the founder of the discipline, completely reforming Czech orthography, so that now istead of “Czech”, we see “Čech”.

Inultus

For my Czech Literature course at uni, one of the works that we read was a rather interesting and surreal work by the decadent writer Julius Zeyer. It was called “Inultus”, which means “unavenged” or “unpunished” in Latin and is the first story in his collection Three Legends of the Crucifix. Unfortunately, there I have only found a Czech edition, which you can read for free on the Czech Wikisource. If you’re a beginner it will be a difficult read, but if you’ve studied the language for a year or so, you should be OK.

Synopsis
The story takes place about 20 years after the Battle of White Mountain, a time which the Revivalists looked at as the Czech Dark Ages when German culture dominated in the Czech lands. An Italian sculptress, Dona Flavia, is walking along the Charles Bridge at night with her mute assistant. She comes across a man she takes to be a beggar, who she insults by offering money. He is in fact a poet, one who has written nothing and claims it is all stored in his mind. He calls himself Inultus and is described as having blonde, long hair and watery eyes. In other words, he looks like a Romantic image of Jesus. Flavia, who is sculpting a crucified Jesus, asks him to accompany her to her studio, where she reveals her intentions to sculpt him as the Christ. He is taken aback, believing that this would be blasphemous, but Flavia manages to convince him by claiming that such a great work coming out of the Czech nation would soften the heart of the foreign ruler of Bohemia and so ease the lot of the Czechs. Despite the fact she is only sculpting his face, she ties him to a cross and so begins one of the most surreal episodes in Czech literature. Inultus begins to believe that he is actually Jesus, whilst Flavia becomes overcome by an artistic passion that eventually leads to Inultus’s death and Flavia’s suicide.

Zeyer and the Decadents
An important fact about Zeyer is that he wasn’t strictly Czech, he was the son of a Franco-German noble from Alsace and a Jewish mother. He only learnt Czech from his Nanny. It is possibly this foreign aspect of his character which makes Zeyer such an interesting writer. Though there are clear nationalist elements to the work, Inlutus owes more to French symbolism than the quaint rural nostalgia of Erben or Němcová. Zeyer’s description of Jesus recalls El Greco, a favoured artist of the Decadents and the overlap of art and reality was explored in depth by Huysmanns in his bible of Decadence À Rebours.

SAQs: Seldom Asked Questions

This hasn’t been updated in a while- more than 2 years- but still, it is an interesting diversion and a way to learn more about the less obvious facets of Czech culture. It is a blog by a Professor at Northwestern University and is a compilation of “puzzling aspects of life in the Czech Republic”. Highlights include “Kolová”, or “cycle ball”, a sport he claims was adopted by the Czechs in order to be the best in the world at something! Cynical, but you can’t help but believe it.

Slovo Dne #1

My first "word of the day is: "Ahoj!"
Now, I have already explained that it means "hi" in my last post, a fact that most of you reading this would already have known anyway, if only because it sounds like a pirate greeting. If you think about this, it is quite odd that the Czechs, being a landlocked nation, should have adapted a seafaring term as a greeting! It is true that it is an adoption of the English term, despite some sources claiming the other way around. ( anyone studying Czech is instantly taught that the only Czech words in English is robot, and, possibly, pistol). Apparently it was adapted through the boy scouts and tourists and became popular during the 1930s. Now it is one of the most common greetings in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia.