Czech Cheatsheet
- Czech is a West Slavic language
- It is spoken in the Czech Republic and Slovakia
- The Czech alphabet has 42 letters
Pronunciation
- Czech pronunciation is mostly phonetic
- Stress is usually on the first syllable of a word
- The letters “č”, “š”, and “ž” are pronounced as “ch”, “sh”, and “zh” respectively
- The letter “ř” is a unique sound found only in Czech
Examples
- “čokoláda” (chocolate) is pronounced “cho-ko-laa-da”
- “škola” (school) is pronounced “shko-la”
- “žlutý” (yellow) is pronounced “zhloo-tee”
- “řeka” (river) is pronounced like a rolled “r” followed by a “yeh-ka” sound
Vocabulary
- Czech vocabulary is heavily influenced by Latin and German
- Nouns have seven cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, vocative, locative, and instrumental
- Verbs have three aspects: perfective, imperfective, and reflexive
Examples
- “Kniha” (book) in the nominative case becomes “Kniha” (the book) in the accusative case, “Knihy” (of the book) in the genitive case, “Knize” (to the book) in the dative case, “Kniho” (oh book) in the vocative case, “V knize” (in the book) in the locative case, and “S knihou” (with the book) in the instrumental case.
- “Jít” (to go) has two aspects, “jít” for the imperfective aspect and “jít se projít” for the perfective aspect.
- “Dnes” (today) is derived from the German word “heute” and “včera” (yesterday) is derived from the Latin word “heri”.
Grammar
- Word order is relatively flexible, but the verb usually comes second in a sentence
- Adjectives must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun they modify
- Negation is formed by placing “ne” before the verb
Examples
- “Já mám rád českou kuchyni.” (I like Czech cuisine.) and “Českou kuchyni mám rád já.” (Czech cuisine, I like.) are both correct.
- “Modrý dům” (blue house) becomes “Modré domy” (blue houses) in the nominative plural case.
- “Nemluvím česky.” (I don’t speak Czech.)
Resources