The official language of the Czech Republic, spoken by about 95% of the population, is Czech. Czech is Western Slavic group Indo-European language family. In some regions there are also speakers of other languages:
- German (most widespread in the Sudetenland, where many ethnic Germans lived, however, recently it has been replaced by Czech);
- Slovak, who took root here after the formation of Czechoslovakia,
- Russian, which was especially widespread here during the existence of the USSR.
In total, there are about 12 million people in the world who consider Czech their native language.
History of the formation of the Czech language and its dialects
Czech, like many other Eastern European languages, arose from the ancient Proto-Slavic language. That is why in Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, Serbian and Czech you can find similar words and general rules of morphology. Around the 11th-10th centuries, three groups emerged from a single Proto-Slavic language:
- southern,
- eastern,
- western.
It was then that the Czech language itself was formalized. Soon the first records in this language appeared. In the 12th century written sources on the territory of modern Czech Republic were created only by monks. When preparing liturgical books, they used Latin, but sometimes allowed themselves to insert individual sentences in Czech into the text. The Latin alphabet was also used to write Czech words.
The impetus for the development of the Czech language was the spread of literacy and the emergence of a developed bureaucratic system at the court of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI, who was an ethnic Czech. Thanks to the efforts of the emperor, in 1360 the first translation of the New Testament into Czech appeared. The peculiarities of Czech pronunciation in this text have so far been conveyed not by special letters, but by digraphs and trigraphs (chz, rz, ye).
A century later, the leaders of the Czech Reformation set themselves the task of making the text of the Bible understandable and accessible to the common people. Jan Hus, who was engaged in research into the Czech language and spelling, handled this task brilliantly. He is responsible for the creation of the letters: ů, á, é, í, ř, š, ž. Jan Hus completed the translation of the New Testament in 1412. However, the first complete translation of the Bible did not appear until 1488. This text became the standard of the literary Czech language.
In the middle of the 16th century, the Czech Republic became part of the Habsburg Empire, which fought in every possible way against Czech nationalism. Settled on the territory of the Czech Republic a large number of Germans, which led to the emergence of Czech language many Germanisms. After 1620, when Czech fighters for independence were defeated by the Habsburg army in the Battle of the White Mountain, persecution of everything Czech from the outside supreme power only intensified. German has become the official language in the Czech Republic. It was used to compile government documents, books were created and educated citizens communicated. Czech was considered the language of common people.
IN XVIII-XIX centuries The process of national revival began in the Czech Republic. Representatives of the intelligentsia and politicians popularized folk culture and Czech language. The most radical of them believed that Czech should be cleared of the impurities of the German language. Active development of rules for spelling, pronunciation and morphology of the Czech language also began. This process lasted almost two centuries. Latest reforms, aimed at improving Czech, took place in the 1990s.
Today in the Czech Republic there are four groups of dialects spoken by residents of different regions of the country. These adverbs include:
- a classic version of the Czech language, based on the dialects of the inhabitants of Bohemia,
- Ghanaian dialects,
- Silesian dialects,
- East Moravian dialects.
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WERE THERE NASAL VOWELS IN THE PROTO-SLAVIC LANGUAGE? (NOT REALLY)
DEPENDING ON THE OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH, LINGUISTICS IS DIVIDED INTO THE FOLLOWING SECTIONS:
applied
fundamental
IN WHICH LANGUAGES DID THE PREVIOUS LATIN SYSTEM OF INFLECTIONAL MORPHOLOGY GAVE PLACE TO ANALYTICAL FORMS OF EXPRESSION THROUGH SERVICE WORDS AND WORD ORDER?
in Romanesque
IN WHAT PERIOD ARE THE MOST SHARP DISTINGUISHING FEATURES CHARACTERIZED BY DIALECTS?
during the period of feudal fragmentation
IN WHAT FORM DID LANGUAGE ORIGINALLY EXIST?
tribal dialects
WHICH SCIENTIFIC WORK IS THE FIRST SCIENTIFIC DESCRIPTION OF LANGUAGE GIVEN?
"ashtadhyaya" panini
WHAT IS THE ESSENCE OF THE LINGUISTIC RELATIVITY HYPOTHESIS?
language determines the way of thinking of the people speaking it
DEFINE LANGUAGE INTERFERENCE?
penetration of knowledge of the native language or one of the studied foreign languages into the knowledge obtained by studying a new foreign language
FOR WHAT PURPOSES IS THE STATISTICAL METHOD USED IN APPLIED LINGUISTICS?
for compiling dictionaries, for machine translation
UNITY OF HOMOGENEOUS INTERCONDITIONAL ELEMENTS, INVENTORY OF LANGUAGE UNITS?
UNITY OF HETEROGENEOUS ELEMENTS WITHIN THE WHOLE, CONNECTION AND RELATIONSHIP OF LANGUAGE UNITS?
structure
WHAT WORDS DOES THE PASSIVE VOCABULARY FUND CONSISTE OF?
historicisms
archaisms
WHAT LEVELS DOES THE BENVENISTA MODEL OF LANGUAGE CONSISTE OF?
merismatic
phonetic
morphological
lexical
syntactic
FROM WHAT PAST TENSES IN PROSLAVIAN DID THE PAST TENSES IN MODERN RUSSIAN LANGUAGE APPEAR?
WHAT LINGUISTICS DEALS WITH AUTOMATIC SPEECH RECOGNITION AND SYNTHESIS, PROBLEMS OF TEACHING NATIVE LANGUAGES, TRANSLATION?
applied
WHAT LINGUISTICS DEALS WITH THE PROBLEM OF COMMUNICATIONS OF SOCIETY, THE FUNCTIONS OF LANGUAGE IN SOCIETY, THE TERRITORIAL DISTRIBUTION OF LANGUAGES, THE RELATIONSHIP OF LANGUAGE, HISTORY AND CULTURE OF THE PEOPLE?
external linguistics
WHAT LINGUISTICS DEALS WITH SOLVING PRACTICAL PROBLEMS RELATED TO THE USE OF LANGUAGE?
applied applied linguistics (applied)
WHAT LIQUISTIC DISCIPLINE STUDIES THE PHYSIOLOGICAL AND ACOUSTIC ASPECTS OF SOUND?
phonetics
WHAT SCIENCE IS CLOSELY CONNECTED WITH LINGUISTICS IN STUDYING THE QUESTION OF THE ORIGIN OF SPEECH IN PRIMITIVE PEOPLE, AND ALSO TO DECIDE HOW THE CHARACTERISTICS OF LANGUAGE AND RACE ARE CONNECTED OR NOT CONNECTED?
anthropology
WHAT THEORETICAL DISCIPLINE STUDIES THE FUNCTIONAL ROLE OF SOUND IN THE LANGUAGE SYSTEM?
phonology
WHAT THEORY BELIEVES THAT PRIMITIVE PEOPLE, INSTINCTIVE ANIMALS, TRANSFORMED SCREAMS INTO “NATURAL SOUNDS” - WHERE DID ALL OTHER WORDS COME FROM?
interjection theory
WHAT ASPECTS ARE DISCOVERED IN THE CONCEPT OF “CULTURE” AS SECOND NATURE?
material
spiritual
interactional
WHAT TWO POINTS OF VIEW ARE SET FORTH IN THE BIBLE ON THE ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE?
language is not of man
tongue from man
WHAT CHANGES IN THE GRAMMAR STRUCTURE ARE POSSIBLE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES?
transfer of grammatical category
borrowing affixes
borrowing inflectional forms
WHAT PICTURES OF THE WORLD DO SCIENTISTS DISCOVER AT THE CURRENT STAGE OF SCIENCE DEVELOPMENT?
naive picture of the world
scientific picture of the world
conceptual picture of the world
linguistic picture of the world
WHAT LINGUISTIC DISCIPLINES ARE ASSOCIATED WITH THE STUDY OF HIGHER NERVOUS ACTIVITY, ITS NORMAL FUNCTION AND PATHOLOGY?
speech therapy
neurolinguistics
psycholinguistics
WHAT PROCESSES INVOLVE LANGUAGE NORMATION?
selection of model language
codification
development of rules for various types of communication
WHAT SECTIONS OF GRAMMAR ARE STUDYING THE GRAMMARICAL STRUCTURE OF A LANGUAGE?
syntax
morphology
WHAT FOUNDATIONS ARE DISCOVERED IN THE VOCABULARY OF A LANGUAGE?
active
passive
WHAT PHONETIC LAWS SHOULD BE DISTINCTED?
living phonetic laws
historical
WHAT FORMS OF THE PAST TENSE EXISTED IN THE PROTO-SLAVIC LANGUAGE?
imperfect
plusquaperfect
WHAT LANGUAGES DO GERMANISTS STUDY?
Germanic
BY WHAT MEANS CAN THE VALUE AND EVALUATION ASPECT OF THE WORLD PICTURE BE EXPRESSED IN LANGUAGE?
evaluative epithets
evaluative connotations of lexemes
WHAT IS IT CALLED TO IDENTIFY LANGUAGE PROVISIONS THAT ARE VALID FOR ALL LANGUAGES OF THE WORLD?
language universals
WHAT IS THE CALL OF THE DISCIPLINE THAT USES MATHEMATICAL METHODS TO STUDY LANGUAGE PHENOMENA?
mathematical linguistics
WHAT IS THE SCIENCE OF LANGUAGE, ITS ORIGIN, PROPERTIES AND FUNCTIONS CALLED, AND ABOUT THE GENERAL LAWS OF THE STRUCTURE AND DEVELOPMENT OF ALL LANGUAGES OF THE WORLD?
linguistics
WHAT IS THE CALL OF THE SCIENCE ABOUT THE LAWS OF THINKING AND ABOUT FORMS OF THOUGHT, APPLYING THE LOGICAL APPARATUS FOR THE STUDY OF LANGUAGE?
WHAT IS THE "MEDIATED" PICTURE OF THE WORLD FORMED USING A SECONDARY SIGN SYSTEM CALLED?
linguistic picture of the world
WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE SECTION OF LINGUISTICS THAT STUDIES FRENCH, ITALIAN, ROMANIAN, PORTUGUESE, MOLDAVAN, SPANISH LANGUAGES?
novelism
WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE SECTION OF LINGUISTICS THAT STUDIES CROATIAN, CZECH, SLOVENIC, RUSSIAN, UKRAINIAN LANGUAGES?
Slavic studies
WHAT IS THIS PHENOMENON CALLED IN THE LANGUAGE: “KOO-KOO”, “OONK-OONK, WOOF-WOOF”?
onomatopoeia
WHAT IS THE CALLED PHENOMENON IN TURKIC LANGUAGES WHEN WITHIN A GIVEN WORD ALL SOUNDS ARE SUBJECT TO “HARMONY”?
synharmonism
WHAT ARE NEW WORDS CALLED IN THE LANGUAGE?
neologisms
WHAT ARE THE WORDS CALLED THAT ARE OBSOLETE, BUT THE REALITIES THEY DESIGNATE ARE CALLED DIFFERENTLY?
archaisms
WHAT ARE THE MAIN SPECIFIC FEATURES OF THE LANGUAGE PICTURE OF THE WORLD?
separation of core and periphery
integrity
subjectivity
WHAT ARE THE MAIN WAYS OF NEOLOGISMS APPEARING IN A LANGUAGE?
invention of new words
creation of new words according to existing models in the language
borrowing
WHAT ARE THE DISTINGUISHING FEATURES OF LITERARY LANGUAGES OF THE NATIONAL PERIOD?
processed
codification
traditionalism
normalization
WHAT LINGUISTICS STUDIES EACH INDIVIDUAL LANGUAGE AS A SPECIAL, UNIQUE PHENOMENON?
WHICH BRANCH OF LEXICOLOGY STUDIES THE MEANING OF WORDS AND THE LAWS OF CHANGING MEANINGS?
semasiology
WHICH BRANCH OF PHYSICS STUDIES SOUND PHENOMENA IN LANGUAGE?
acoustics
WHAT SECTION OF LINGUISTICS STUDIES LANGUAGE UNIVERSALS, VALID FOR ALL LANGUAGES OF THE WORLD, GENERAL PROPERTIES, SIGNS AND QUALITIES OF THE HUMAN LANGUAGE IN GENERAL OR A NUMBER OF LANGUAGES?
general linguistics
WHICH VOCABULARY CHANGES SLOWER THAN OTHERS?
basic
WHAT LANGUAGE HAS DOMINATED IN THE PRACTICE OF DIPLOMACY AND POLITICS SINCE THE END OF THE 18th century?
French
WHICH TIER OF THE LANGUAGE IS THE MOST RESISTANT TO CHANGES?
grammatical
WHICH TIER OF THE LANGUAGE SYSTEM CHANGES FASTER THAN OTHERS?
vocabulary
WHAT FUNCTION DOES A WORD PERFORM IN A LANGUAGE?
nominative
VERTICAL DIFFERENTIATION INCLUDES:
professional jargon
WHAT LAWS IN THE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE ARE THE COMBINATORY REGULARITIES OF PROGRESSIVE ACCOMMODATION, WHEN THE PRECEDING VOWELS [E], [A], [O], [U] ACCOMMODATE WITH THE FOLLOWING SOFT CONSONANT?
living phonetic laws
WHAT SIGNS, ACCORDING TO ELMSLEV, ARE GRAPHEMES AND PHONEMS?
WHAT WORDS RELATE TO: ATMOSPHERE, HORIZON, DIAMETER, MICROSCOPE, LIEUTENANT, BARN, HAREM?
borrowing
THE BASIC UNITS OF LANGUAGE INCLUDE:
WHO IN ANTIQUE PROMOTED THE THEORY OF THE SOCIAL CONTRACT IN THE QUESTION OF THE ORIGIN OF LANGUAGE?
Democritus
WHO INTRODUCED THE TERM “LANGUAGE MAP OF THE WORLD” INTO SCIENTIFIC USE?
Weisgraeber
WHICH OF THE LINGUISTS AND PHILOSOPHERS BELIEVED THAT VERBAL LANGUAGE CAME FROM SIGN LANGUAGE?
WHO PROPOSED A MODEL OF A LEVEL SYSTEM OF LANGUAGE?
benveniste
WHO DEVELOPES THE CONCEPT OF UNIVERSAL SEMANTIC PRIMITIVES?
Wierzbicka
WHO DEVELOPED THE LINGUISTIC RELATIVITY HYPOTHESIS?
Sapir, Whorf
METHOD USED TO STUDY RELATED LANGUAGES, THEIR COMMONALITY AND DIFFERENCES, AND THEIR HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT?
comparative-historical
CAN A CONCEPT NOT BE REPRESENTED IN THE LANGUAGE SYSTEM?
NAME THE MAIN WAYS OF BORROWING IN THE LANGUAGE?
tracing
borrowings within one language
borrowing through an intermediary language
through word formation
through different languages intermediaries
NAME SYNONYMS FOR THE TERM LINGUISTICS:
linguistics
linguistics
WHAT ARE 2 SECTIONS IS SPEECH PHYSIOLOGY DIVIDED INTO?
physiology of hearing
articulatory physiology
MAIN FEATURE OF PROFESSIONAL VOCABULARY?
unambiguity
lack of expressiveness
BASIC FUNCTION OF A SENTENCE/ STATEMENT?
communicative
THE ALGORITHM PLAYS A PARTICULAR IMPORTANT ROLE:
in machine translation
THE FIRST SCIENTIFIC DESCRIPTION OF A LANGUAGE DISCOVERED BY EUROPEANS IS:
grammar of panini "octateuch"
PROFESSIONAL VOCABULARY INCLUDED IN DICTIONARIES?
terminology
WHAT SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINES IS LINGUISTICS CLOSELY RELATED TO?
history
ethnography
psychology
sociology
biology
anthropology
acoustics
mathematics
HOW MANY CASES ARE THERE IN ARABIC? (INSERT BY NUMBER!)
HOW MANY CASES ARE THERE IN THE ESTONIAN LANGUAGE? (INSERT BY NUMBER)
HOW MANY PAST TENSES WERE IN THE PROTO-SLAVIC LANGUAGE? (INSERT BY NUMBER!)
HOW MANY LANGUAGES IN THE WORLD HAVE BEEN STUDYED COMPLETELY AND WELL? (INSERT BY NUMBER)
A COLLECTION OF COMMONLY ACCEPTED LANGUAGE MEANS THAT ARE CHARACTERIZED AS CORRECT, EXEMPLARY, OBLIGATORY?
THE SET OF DIFFERENT FORMS OF RELATIONS AND COMMUNICATION BETWEEN INDIVIDUALS AND GROUPS BELONGING TO DIFFERENT CULTURES?
intercultural communication
A SET OF EXACT RULES FOR DESCRIBING, CODING OR TRANSCODING OF ANY INFORMATION SYSTEM?
algorithm
A SET OF VALUES AND NORMS CHARACTERISTIC TO A LARGE SOCIAL GROUP OR NATION?
culture
COMPARE PRIVATE LINGUISTICS AND THE STUDY LANGUAGE:
1.1 FRENCH
2.2 ENGLISH
3.3 SERBIAN
1.1 GERMANISTICS
2.2 SLASISTIKA
3.3 NOVELISTS
COMPARE LANGUAGE AND NUMBER OF CASES? (1.1 SANSKRIT 2.2 LATIN 3.3 GREEK 1.1 5 2.2 4 3.3 7)
THEORY THAT BELIEVES THAT LANGUAGE ARISED FROM CRYING OUT OF COLLECTIVE WORK?
labor cry theory
WHAT IS DIALECT CONTRADED?
normative language
WHAT DOES SEMIOTICS STUDY?
sign systems
WHAT SHOULD BE UNDERSTANDED BY A SIGN?
the sign must be material
the sign must be perceptible
the sign is directed towards the meaning
a sign and its content are determined by the place and role of the sign in a given system of a similar order of signs
WHAT CONDITIONS THE WAY OF THINKING OF A PEOPLE, THEIR WORLD PERCEPTION ACCORDING TO SEPIR AND WHORF?
WHAT, ACCORDING TO ENGELS, WAS A PREREQUISITE FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND A PREREQUISITE FOR THE ARISE OF SPEECH, EXPANSION AND DEVELOPMENT OF CONSCIOUSNESS?
upright gait
WHAT IS CULTURE ACCORDING TO THE DESCRIPTIVE APPROACH?
the sum of everything created by human society
WHAT IS MATERIAL CULTURE?
the totality of the results of human material activity
WHAT IS THE PHENOMENON WHEN MORPHEMES THAT DIVERSE DUE TO PHONETIC CHANGES IN THEIR SOUND DESIGN “ARE ALIGNED,” “UNIFIED” INTO ONE GENERAL APPEARANCE?
change by analogy
WHAT IS SPEECH?
psychophysiological process
WHAT IS LANGUAGE?
systemic-structural education
WHAT IS THE LANGUAGE PICTURE OF THE WORLD?
the totality of knowledge about the world that is reflected in language, as well as ways of obtaining and interpreting new knowledge
WHAT ARE THE ONE MEANING, BUT DIFFERENT OBJECTS: DOG, THING?
universal
WHAT DO THE FOLLOWING ROWS REPRESENT: “EYES-EYES-ZENKI-BURKALS”?
synonyms
WHAT HAPPENS TO THE MEANING OF A WORD WHEN THE TRANSITION FROM A LITERARY LANGUAGE TO A SPECIAL TYPE OF SPEECH, FOR EXAMPLE: BEER, KVASS, PARTIZAN, OFFICER?
narrowing of meaning
WHAT IS CHARACTERISTIC FOR PHONETIC LAWS?
they operate within a given dialect, a specific language or a group of related languages
they operate within a certain time frame
WHAT IS ONE OF THE MOST PRODUCTIVE MEANS OF FORMING SECONDARY NAMES IN THE CREATION OF A LANGUAGE PICTURE OF THE WORLD?
metaphor
THE LANGUAGE HAS THE FOLLOWING CHARACTERISTICS:
multi-tier system
semiotic system
potential system
A LINGUISTIC DISCIPLINE THAT STUDIES LIVING SPEAKS, ADVERBS, DIALECTS, FOLKLORE OF PEOPLES, THEIR LIFE AND CULTURE?
ethnolinguistics
THE LINGUISTIC TRADITION COUNT ABOUT:
LINGUISTICS CAME FROM THE BOWELS.
The Czech language is the sixty-sixth most spoken language in the world. Twelve million people consider it their native language, and hundreds of thousands of students study it as a second foreign language. Czech is part of the group of Slavic languages - conversations in Czech become understandable to a Russian-speaking tourist almost immediately after arriving in the country. Despite its overall clarity, the Czech language has grammatical subtleties, complexities and exceptions that are worth knowing in order to master it perfectly.
How the Czech language developed
Before traveling to the Czech Republic, most tourists are interested in what language the citizens of this country speak. From the Middle Ages until now state language The Czech Republic is officially considered Czech.
There are three periods of formation of the Czech language: ancient, old and modern Czech.
Until the beginning of the 10th century, there was no written language in the Czech language. For the first time, Czech words and phrases begin to appear in German literary works and books in Latin at the beginning of the 13th century.
Full-fledged books in Czech appeared in the first half of the 15th century, when a Czech grammar was published in Prague. During the same period, a proposal appeared to introduce foreign diacritics into the writing of Czech words, which would convey sounds in writing that have no analogues in Latin alphabet. This prescription was accepted, but only in the 16th century was it possible to forever supplant digraphic letter combinations that convey sound by writing several letters.
Czech writing served as the basis for Slovak, which was formed much later. The Czech alphabet was also used to try to latinize some Slavic languages: Russian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Belarusian.
There are four dialects in the official language:
- Czech dialects;
- Central Moravian dialects;
- North Moravian dialects (also known as Silesian);
- Slovak dialects.
The Latin alphabet is used to express in writing the features of all four dialects of Czech.
The Czech language is also divided into literary, bookish, spoken and general Czech. Most local residents use the common Czech language. basis literary language is considered a colloquial Central Czech dialect, which belongs to the interdialects of the central part of the country.
The main rules of Czech grammar and syntax
The rules defining this national language are highlighted, which distinguish it from other representatives of the Slavic group.
- The language includes ten phonemes, differing in length, consonants are divided into voiceless and voiced.
- The stress always falls on the first syllable of a word, this also applies to combinations of nouns with prepositions (for example, “ˈdo Prahy” - “to Prague”, “ˈdo nás” - “to us”).
- There are only two numbers - singular and plural, and seven cases, which coincide with Russian cases.
- Nouns are declined according to gender, adjectives - according to hard and soft types.
- Numerals are assigned five main categories according to their lexical meaning.
- There are ten types of pronouns, and their short forms are often used in colloquial speech.
- As for verbs, there are perfect and imperfect forms, which form four tenses - present, past, future and infinitive.
- Regular verbs are declined according to the general rules of five separate classes, while irregular verbs belong to the group of exceptions and require memorization.
- The order of words in sentences is determined by meaning. At the end of the sentence is placed the noun or verb that is worth emphasizing. For example, the sentence: “Danylo miluje Anju” (Danilo loves Anya) conveys who Danilo loves, and the sentence: “Anju miluje Danylo” (Anya loves Danilo) conveys who loves Anya.
Despite the similar phonetics of the Russian and Czech languages, some phrases in Czech sound incredibly comical to Russian speakers. For example, “shark” will sound like “zhrapok”, “theater” - “divadlo”, “bachelor” - “baby”. The Czechs will call an airplane “letadlo”, a persimmon – “kaki”, and a cucumber – “butt”.
There are also false friends translator - words that, although sounding the same, have antonymic meanings. These include the word “čerstvý”, which means “fresh” in Czech, “ovoce”, which translates to fruit, and “úžasný”, which conveys strong admiration.
Also, for the Russian ear, Czech is unusual in words with big amount consonants in one word or at the junction of words. For example, the word "čtvrthrst", meaning "quarter of a handful", consists of ten consonant letters.
One of the most famous "consonant" sentences in Czech is "Strč prst skrz krk", which translates to "put your finger down your throat". This sentence is included in all textbooks and tutorials as a textbook example of the phonetic rigidity of the Czech language. This is one of the few languages in the world that uses such sound combinations.
Basics of the Czech language for tourists
Despite belonging to the same Slavic language group, Russian and Czech differ significantly. Before coming to this country, it is recommended to master a minimum number of everyday phrases. This will make you feel more comfortable when communicating with Czechs and get help if necessary.
If the language is not your thing, don’t worry: most Czechs communicate with tourists in Russian.
| Phrase | Translation |
|---|---|
| Everyday: | |
| Good afternoon | Good day! |
| How are you doing? | Yak sya mash? |
| OK, thank you. | Dobzhe, dyakui. |
| Please. | Please |
| Goodbye! | Na shledanou. |
| Do you speak Russian (English, German)? | Mlyuvite Rushtina (English, German)? |
| Can you help me? | Can you help me? |
| Not really. | Ano/not. |
| Sorry. | Prominte. |
| Tourist: | |
| Do they provide information to tourists here? | Is that tourist information? |
| I need a city map. | Mate plan minesta. |
| When does the exhibition/museum open? | Where are the exhibitions/museums? |
| In the shop: | |
| What is the price? | How long are you standing? |
| It is very expensive. | That is mots drage. |
| I do not like. | Don't libi. |
| I'll take it. | Let's take this. |
| Give me 1 kg of cheese. | Give me one kilo of sire. |
| In the restaurant: | |
| Give me the menu, please. | Yidelni leaf, please. |
| Bread/tea/coffee with milk. | Bread/tea/kava with milk. |
| Wine red/white. | Wine cervene/bile. |
| Soup/fish/meat/salad/dessert. | Vole / fish / maso / salad / dessert. |
| Breakfast lunch dinner. | Snidane/offense/evening. |
| At the hotel: | |
| I made a reservation with you. | Mom, you have a reserve. |
| Do you have a double room? | Are Mate free of peace? |
| With balcony/shower/toilet. | With balcony / sprhou / vätse. |
| How much is the room per night? | Kolic stand still for a moment? |
| Can I see the room? | Can I rest in peace? |
| Where can I park my car? | Where should moss park? |
| IN different situations: | |
| Where is the bank/exchanger? | Where is the bank/change point? |
| Where's the phone? | Where can I call? |
| I need a doctor. | Ask a doctor. |
| Call the police/ambulance. | We ask you to please the police/protect the service. |
| Where is the police station? | Where is the police station of the commissarship? |
Basics of learning Czech
Language perception and knowledge - different concepts. Interlingual homonyms, dialects, the presence of diacritics and peculiarities of sentence construction hinder the majority of Russian-speaking students in learning Czech.
To learn Czech, you need to abstract from the grammatical rules, phonetics and syntax of the Russian language.
The main rule for successful learning is to always know and remember that the Czech language is complex and independent.
If you plan to learn this language on your own, start by listening to songs and films in Czech, then connect to a simple tutorial, and, if possible, communicate with native Czech speakers in special applications.
The best results in learning Czech are achieved by students who attend special courses. These language schools pay more attention dialects, which represent independent units of the Czech language, are taught correct pronunciation. Only here you will be able to perfectly understand the intricacies of grammar and learn the language faster, since you will have to speak Czech all the time.
Conclusion
The Czech language, being the official language of the Czech Republic, is also found in the Czech diaspora in the territory neighboring countries. This language has gone through a long historical path of formation, therefore it includes four different dialects and special grammatical rules.
If you are planning a trip to the Czech Republic, learn everyday phrases in this language in advance to feel comfortable speaking with native speakers.
Czech language | A short excursion for beginners: Video
Today, learning the Czech language is gradually becoming fashionable among our compatriots. And the reason for this, not least of all, is the fact that Czech belongs to the Western Slavic language group, which means it has a lot in common with Russian. Literally after a few minutes of being in the Czech Republic you will begin to understand the meaning of many signs, the meaning individual words and expressions, and after a few days you will probably be able to exchange a few phrases with the locals.
Those who also know another Slavic language, such as Ukrainian, will be especially lucky: these travelers will be able to almost freely understand most conversations on everyday topics.
And yet, before diving into language environment, let's take a closer look at its features.
All Slavic languages have one common source - the Old Church Slavonic language, which was spread by the well-known Cyril and Methodius. However, if the Russian alphabet inherited the so-called Cyrillic writing of letters, then in the Czech Republic, as a European country, they began to use the Latin alphabet, adapting it to the peculiarities of the local pre-existing language using superscripts - apostrophes and acutes. Apostrophes were placed above consonants to indicate their hardness (for example, the word lekař (doctor) sounds like “doctor”) and above the vowel “e” to indicate the softness of the preceding consonant. Acutes, which look like an accent mark, to denote long vowels (á, é, í, ó, ý). To indicate a long “u”, a small circle (ů) was placed above it. These rules exist in the Czech language to this day.
Unlike Russian, the Czech language has retained a large number of archaic forms. For example, in addition to the six main cases of nouns, it also has the so-called vocative case form, the analogue of which in Russian is appeal.
A few words about the peculiarities of pronunciation in the Czech language. First of all, it should be noted that, unlike Russian, the stress here always falls on the first syllable (in polysyllabic words there is an additional stress). Now about what sounds correspond to individual letters: 
the letter “c” corresponds to the sound [ts],
č is pronounced like [h],
the combination of letters ch means one sound [x],
the sound of the letter “h” resembles the Ukrainian [g], which in Russian is preserved in the exclamation “Wow!”
“ř” denotes either the sound [рж] or [рш], depending on its position in the word,
“š” sounds like [sh],
“ž” sounds like [zh],
"j" sounds like [th],
the letter “ň” corresponds to the sound [н].
In addition, there are a huge number of nuances associated with pronunciation, which are simply not possible to talk about in one article.
It would be nice, of course, to know a few words and expressions that can be useful in different situations when communicating with the staff of a hotel, restaurant, store and others.
Here's a small one phrasebook, containing the most common of them:
Everyday
Good morning! Good morning! [Good early!]
Good afternoon Good day! [Goodbye Dan!]
How are/are you doing? Jak se mate/maš? [Yak se mate/mash?]
Thank you, good Děkuji, dobře [Děkuji, kinder]
My name is... Jmenuji se... [Ymenui se...]
Goodbye! Na shledanou! [Na shladanou!]
Morning Ráno [Early]
Afternoon Odpoledne [Odpoledne]
Evening Večer [Evening]
Night Noc [Noc]
Today Dnes [Dnes]
Yesterday Včera [Yesterday]
Tomorrow Zitra [Zitra]
Do you speak Russian (English, German)? Mluvíte ruština (anglicky, německy?) [Mluvite ruština (English, German)?]
I don’t understand Nerozumím [Ne rosumim]
Please repeat again Řekněte to ještě jadnou, prosim [Rzhekněte to ishte ednou we ask]
Thank you Děkuji
Please Prosim [We ask]
Who/what Kdo/co [Gdo/co]
Which Jaký [Yaki]
Where/where Kde/kam [Where/kam]
How/how much Jak/kolik [Yak/kolik]
How long/when? Jak dlouho / kdy? [Yak dlougo/gdy]
Why? Proč? [Other?]
How is this in Czech? Jak ten to česky? [Yak ten to cheski?]
Can you help me? Můžete mi pomoci? [Muzhete mi pomotsi?]
Yes/no Ano/ne [Ano/not]
Sorry Promiňte [Prominte]
Tourist
Do they provide information to tourists here? Je tu turistiká informace? [Ie tu tourist information?]
I need a city plan / list of hotels Máte plan města / seznam hotelů? [Mate plan for the place / I wanted to]
When does the museum/church/exhibition open? Kdy je otevřeny museum/kostel/výstava? [Where are the museum/church/exhibitions?]
In the shop
Where can I find… ? Kde dostanu… ? [Where can I get it...?]
What is the price? Kolik to stoji? [How long are you standing?]
It's too expensive To je moc drahé [To je moc drahé]
Don't/like Ne/libi [Ne/libi]
Do you have this item in a different color/size? Máte to ještě v jiné barvě/velikosti? [Mate to yestje in ine barvier/greatness?]
I take it Vezmu si to [Vezmu si to]
Give me 100 g of cheese / 1 kg of oranges Dejte mi deset deka sýra / jadno kilo pomerančů [Dejte mi deset deka sýra / jadno kilo pomerančů]
Do you have newspapers? Máte noviny? [Mate new?]
At the restaurant
Menu please Jidelní listek, prosím [Jdelní listek we ask]
Bread Chléb [Bread]
Tea Čaj [Tea]
Coffee Káva [Kava]
With milk/sugar S mlékem/cukrem [With mlek/cukrem]
Orange juice Pomerančova št’áva [Pomerančova shtiava]
Wine white/red/rosé Vino bile/Červené/Růžové [Wine bile/Červené/Růžové]
Lemonade Limonada [Lemonade]
Beer Pivo [Beer]
Water Voda [Water]
Mineral water Mineralní voda [Minerania water]
Soup Polevka [Polevka]
Fish Ryba [Fish]
Meat Maso [Maso]
Salad Salát [Salad]
Dessert Dezert [Dezert]
Fruit Ovoce [Ovoce]
Ice cream Zmrzlina [Zmrzlina]
Breakfast Snidaně [Snidaně]
Lunch Oběd [Lunch]
Dinner Večeře [Večerzhe]
Invoice, please Účet prosím [Account, please]
At the hotel
I booked a room with you Mám u vás reservaci [Mam you have reserve]
Is there a double room? Máte volný dvoulůžkovy pokoj? [Mate are free to peace of mind?]
With a balcony S balkónem? [With balcony]
With shower and toilet Se sprchou a WC [Se sprchou a vetse]
What is the room rate per night? Kolik stojí pokoj na noc? [Kolik stand still at night?]
With breakfast? Se snidani? [Se nidanim?]
Can I have a look around the room? Mohu se podívat na pokoj? [Can I go to rest?]
Is there another room? Máte ještě jiný pokoj? [Mate is still in peace?]
Where can I park? Kde mohu parkovat? [Where can I park?]
Bring my luggage please Můžete donést moje zavazadlo na pokoj prosím? [Muzhete mi donest moi zavazadlo ask for peace?]
Different situations
Where is the bank? exchange office? Kde je tady bank / vyméný punkt? [Where is the bank/exchange point?]
Where's the phone? Kdye mogu telefonovat? [Where can I phone?]
Where can I buy a calling card? Kde mohu dostat telefonni kartu? [Where can I get a phone card?]
I need a doctor/dentist Potřebuji lékaře/zubaře [Potrřebuji lékaře/zubaře]
Call the ambulance/police Zavolejte prosím zachrannu službu/policii [Zavolejte ask zachrannu službu/policii]
Where is the police station? Kde je policejní komisařství? [Where are the police officers of the Commissariat?]
They stole from me... Ukradli mně... [Stole my mne...]
Download and print the phrasebook (.doc format), which will be useful to you on your trip.
A little history
Each national language is directly connected both with the individual person who speaks it, and with the entire people as a whole. And, like people, it tends to change over time - to develop or, conversely, to fade, to be influenced by other languages, to transform its own rules in every possible way, and so on.
Before acquiring its current form, the Czech language underwent many different reforms and improvements. However, the most interesting fact From its history is, perhaps, that it became the official state language twice. First in the 15th century, after the basic literary norms and rules were formed, and then at the beginning of the twentieth century. Why did this happen, you ask. The thing is that at the beginning of the 17th century, after the fatal battle at the White Mountain, the Czech Republic for three whole centuries was part of the powerful Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was ruled by representatives of the German House of Habsburg. In order to strengthen their power in the occupied states, the Habsburgs tried to strengthen the influence of the German language in these territories. Despite the fact that the members of the government were chosen from the circles of the German nobility, the main population of the Czech Republic still spoke native language Moreover, it continued to develop: books and treatises were published in Czech, grammatical rules were formed, and at the end of the 19th century the first Czech encyclopedia was published.
By the way, traces of the historical past are noticeable in the Czech Republic to this day: there are still tourists here who speak German, understand better than those who speak English. In 1918, the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed, the independent Republic of Czechoslovakia was founded, and two years later the Czech language (more precisely, Czechoslovak) again acquired official status.
Deceptive words
Despite the fact that the Russian and Czech languages have very strong similarities in vocabulary and the meaning of most words can be determined simply by inspiration, in Czech there are many so-called deceiver words. Such words sound or are written almost the same as in Russian, but have a completely different meaning. For example, the word “stůl” means table, “čerstvý” means fresh, and “smetana” means cream. Most often, the difference in values causes only slight bewilderment, but there are times when it causes wild merriment among our fellow citizens. This is not surprising, because when you find out what to buy in a store fashionable dress, you need to ask for a robe (Czech “roba”), the phrase “pleasant smell” does not exist in principle, because the word “zapach” means stench (at the same time, perfume in Czech sounds like “stink”), and “pitomec” does not at all not a pet, but a fool; it’s simply impossible to hold back a smile.
Interesting statistics
Many linguists argue that language statistics is not such a useless exercise as it might seem at first glance. In particular, based on ratings of the frequency of use of certain parts of speech or even their percentage, one can get some (albeit incomplete) idea of the psychology of people speaking a particular language.
What is he like? national character Czech people, we will leave the right to judge to you. We have selected here the results of some statistical research Czech language and spiced them up with some interesting language facts.
The most frequently used words in Czech are:
a (conjunctions “and”, “a” and “but”), být (to be, to be), ten (that, this), v (prepositions “on”, “by”, “in”), on (pronoun “ he"), na (prepositions “to”, “in”, “for”, “from”), že (prepositions “from”, “from”), s (se) (preposition “with”), z (ze ) (preposition “from”), který (which, which).
The most common nouns in the Czech language are:
pan (pán) (mister (before the surname)), život (life), člověk (person), práce (work, business), ruka (hand), den (day, date), zem (země) (country), lidé (people), doba (period, century, time), hlava (head).
The most common verbs in the Czech language are:
být (to be), mít (to have, to possess), moci (to be able to, to be able to), muset (to be obliged to do something, to have to), vědět (to know, to be able to), chtít (to want, to desire), jít (to go ), říci (to say), vidět (to see), dát se (to start, for example, dat se do pláče start crying).
The most common adjectives in the Czech language are:
celý (whole, whole, complete), velký (veliký) (big), nový (new), starý (old), český (Czech, in Czech), dobrý (good, kind), malý (small), možný ( possible, feasible, probable), živý (živ) (alive, vigorous, temperamental).
If we talk about the frequency of use
Most synonyms describe character hardness: pevný, trvanlivý, odolný, solidní, bytelný, nezdolný, nezmarný, silný, tuhý, kompaktní, hutný, nehybný, nepohyblivý, stanovený, nezměnitelný, neměnný, stálý, ustá lený, fixní, stabilní, trvalý, zajištěný, jistý, bezpečný, nepoddajný , nezlomný, nezdolný, neoblomný, nesmlouvavý, houževnatý, sukovitý, neochvějný, rázný, rozhodný, důrazný, odhodlaný, energický, průbojný, průrazný, tvrdý, hluboky.
Longest word without vowels: scvrnklý (withered, wrinkled).
Longest word that can be read from right to left: nepochoopen (misunderstanding).
Regarding the frequency of use different parts speech in the Czech language, the popularity rating here is as follows: the first place was taken by nouns (38.93%), the second place was taken by verbs (27.05%), the third place went to adjectives (20.98%), the fourth place went to adverbs (9 ,04%), the remaining places with a small gap from each other were divided into pronouns, numerals, conjunctions and prepositions. And Czechs use interjections least of all - only 0.36%. These are some interesting statistics!
The Czech language belongs to the Slavic group, although many identical constructions with German vocabulary can be found in it. Many people think that it is similar to Russian and Ukrainian, but the greatest similarities can be identified with Slovak. The state official language of the Czech Republic is actively used in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Despite the single alphabet, 4 dialectical groups are distinguished: Czech, Silesian, Ghanaian and Moravian-Slovak. Since 2004 it has been one of official languages European Union (24 in total).
On the territory of Canada and Australia, groups of Czechs of different sizes live. Therefore, the translation of many words and set expressions know local residents never left hometown and those who have not studied Czech specifically.
How to learn Czech on your own?
The Czech language is simple for tourists only in appearance. Good knowledge Ukrainian, Russian or English can not only help, but also confuse. Czechs use a large number of synonyms. There are several forms of stress, but more often the words are pronounced into a chant.
If grammar can be learned independently at home or in online courses, then to master oral speech communication with native speakers is required. You can listen to audio recordings and watch videos of various teachers; national films, where speech is heard in all its diversity, will be useful.
The similarity between Russian and Czech helps in the development of passive speech skills. It is easier for students to understand than to speak on their own. To make the learning process faster, you should not draw parallels between identical-sounding words in Russian. Many words will be familiar, but some words may have completely different meanings. There are not many of them, but confusion may arise. So, for example, the translation of the word: “pozor” - carefully, “varuje” - warn, “frajer” - suitor, “vonavka” - perfume, “zapach” - stench, “pitomec” - fool, “čerstvý” - fresh, “ pohanka" - buckwheat, etc.
It is better to find out in advance what the names and spellings of your preferred dishes are, so as not to order something unexpected in a restaurant or cafe. Using general phrases in the capital will be quite enough. In the center of Prague there are many Russian-speaking staff who will help solve everyday problems, provide assistance in calling a taxi, or buying movie tickets.
Basic rules of the Czech language
Spoken and written form are very different from each other. Special meaning has the duration of vowels during pronunciation, which can also be reflected in the meaning of the word itself. If native English speakers can understand a foreigner even with a very strong accent, then when studying Czech phonetics you should pay increased attention. Difficulties are also caused by syllabic consonants, when the word is completely written without vowels. Pronunciation of such sentences requires some training. It is recommended to listen to the audio and at the same time read the same words and entire stories written on paper.
In the rules, names in different cases can be used without prepositions in cases where a preposition is required in Russian. It is better not to guess a complex transcription, making many systematic errors, but to simply memorize it. And at the same time, in 1 year it is quite possible to prepare for successful completion exam B2 and enter a university in the Czech Republic.
If so in-depth study is not required, then in 2-3 months it is quite possible to train in understanding foreign speech, master the basics of phonetics and vocabulary. Grammar is not so important for tourists, so you can stay at the level of a phrasebook. From it it is easy to learn simple designs that are often required on vacation.