#czech grammar

[kutyozh]

another thing I learnt is that Czech gives ALL numbers that are 5 or more the genitive plural treatment and I could be relieved but in reality it's more of a

kind of feeling yk

[zimena]

Czech grammar: “svůj” or “jeho”

Both of these words - or variations of them, because they change according to grammatical gender, number or case - are very common in Czech. If you look at almost any text, you will see them all the time. The difference can be confusing, so let’s have a look:

“Jeho” means “his”, and is a possessive pronoun. Possessive pronouns are words like “my” or “his”, and they are used to indicate ownership. “My house”, “his car”, etc.

“Svůj” is a reflexive pronoun. Typically, if you look for a translation, it can also end up translated as “his”, just like above. However, it only refers to something that belongs to oneself, so the more correct translation would be “his own”. 

Let’s look at this some more.

In English you can say this:

He is driving his car. 

This may either mean that he is driving his own car, or a car belonging to another guy. To avoid the ambiguity, you’d have to reword the sentence, or at least insert the word “own” if you mean that. 

In Czech, this difference is expressed by a change of pronoun:

Řídí jeho auto - He is driving his (=someone else’s) car. Řídí svoje auto = He is driving his own car.  

Also, if you are talking about yourself, it seems logical that you should be able to say both “Řídím moje auto” and “Řídím svoje auto”, because there’s no ambiguity as long as there’s no possible second person involved. 

BUT: Watch out! There is a rule that says reflexive pronouns are to be used if it’s possible to use them, so the correct solution is only Řídím svoje auto. However, Czechs still use the other solution with moje as well, but it seems to be a more colloquial form. 

[nevercatchmewithoutabook]

Winter Break Language Challenge

Hello! Every year, over winter break I have such big plans for what I want to accomplish, but I end up just watching Netflix and eating all the cookies. This year, I wanted to do a challenge to keep me accountable, but all the ones I could find were for one month or the three months of summer, so I decided to make my own. I will be completing this challenge with Czech, and updating this on my account starting on December 20 and ending January 2. I will tag things with #winterbreaklanguagechallenge. Good luck!!

Day 1: Write about why you started learning this language in your TL (or in a language you are more comfortable with if you can’t). 

Day 2: Find a vocabulary list on Tumblr or make your own and learn it. 

Day 3: Write about your family’s winter holidays traditions and favorite memories.

Day 4: Listen to 3 songs and translate the lyrics. Learn the new vocab.

Day 5: Pick a city in which your TL is spoken. Plan a trip to that city completely in your TL.

Day 6: Pick a room and name each of the items in it. Describe the relationship between each item if you can. Learn the words for each item you could not name. 

Day 7: Learn one new grammar topic. If you have mastered every topic, write a story using an advanced grammar point. 

Day 8: Make a vocab list about your favorite movie or book. Bonus points if the movie/book is in your TL!! For each word you translate, look up images of the word in your TL to make sure it is the word that you want. 

Day 9: Write about your goals for the language in the new year. This can be in your TL, if you can, or it can be in a language you are more comfortable with.

Day 10: Watch a video in your language and learn new words. The video can be at every level. If you are a low level, I recommend Peppa Pig.  

Day 11: Go for a run, or do some other athletic thing that doesn’t take up all of your concentration. Describe the scenery. If it’s too cold to do this outside, you can totally do it at the gym. Describe the people there.

Day 12: Listen to 2 new songs and translate the lyrics. Learn the new vocab.

Day 13: Find a recipe in your TL for a common dish in (one of) the country(ies) that your target language is spoken. Make that dish with the recipe and learn the new words.

Day 14: Make a vocab list about your favorite holiday movies. Bonus points if you post it to tumblr.

Day 15: Look back at your progress from when you first picked up this language. If you are a beginner, think about your goals. Write about how far you have come, how you got to here, your future plans, and how you plan to achieve that level. This can be in your TL or a language you are more comfortable with.

[mylangbox]

Cases in Czech

Cases are something a lot of Czech learners have difficulties with. They can be really tricky to start with but taking the time with each one can really help. Here’s a little about cases, and some tips I picked up for learning them. 

Overview

Czech has 7 (SEVEN) cases. This is one more than Latin and three more than German. And unlike German, nouns can appear quite differently from one case to the next. Taking into account the 2 numbers, singular and plural, a noun has up to 14 potential forms. Except, no noun has 14 different forms. In reality, one form normally appears in a couple of different cases.

Cases tell us about the noun’s role in the sentence. The nominative case, for example, tells us that the noun is the subject of the sentence: it is the person or thing doing the action described by the verb. In the sentence: Mark studuje, “Mark” is the subject. Another case, the accusative, tells us the object of a sentence, or the person or thing directly affected by the verb. In the sentence Alena zabila Marka, “Mark” is now the object, as shown by how it now takes the accusative (and genitive) ending -a.

Meet the cases

So, what are these cases? Well, as I said, there are seven of them. Students in the Czech Republic learn the seven cases in a particular order and their common names in Czech are simply their position in this order; the nominative is referred to as 1. pád. They do also have names similar to the English:

1. nominativ- nominative

2. genitiv- genitive

3. dativ- dative

4. akuzativ- accusative

5. vokativ- vocative

6. lokál- locative

7. instrumentál- instrumental

As a learner, this order isn’t that useful to you. Most textbooks and courses will teach you the cases in the order: nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, locative, instrumental, with the vocative flung in wherever it’s needed. The main reasons for this are that the nominative and the accusative often have a lot of overlap, as do the dative and the locative, so this keeps the most similar cases together and makes patterns obvious. Secondly, when you’re learning, the accusative is simply going to be more useful to you than the dative and probably more so than the genitive. The “proper”, Czech, order, is something to keep in mind, though, when using monolingual dictionaries or looking up grammar explanations in Czech.

What do they do?

There isn’t enough time here to give a complete overview of all the cases, but I’ll point out the main uses.

Nominative: the subject of the sentence. It is also used with být, “to be”. This is the form you will find in a dictionary.

Accusative: the direct object. It is also used with many prepositions often showing direction.

Genitive: shows possession. It is also used with a lot of prepositions that show movement away from something and some that show position.

Dative: the indirect object. This is what has the verb done to it. “I give you the book”, Dávám ti knihu, you/ti is the direct object. It is used with a few prepositions, most importantly k which shows movement towards a person.

Locative: this can only be used with prepositions. Despite what the name suggests, these do not always show location, and not all prepositions that show location are used with the locative. The prepositions that are used with it can often be used with other cases to show direction.

Instrumental: this shows the instrument, or means, by which something is done. It is used with a few prepositions, most importantly s, “with”. It is also used after být, especially with professions.

Vocative: when addressing something or getting their attention, you use the vocative, “Jano!” would get Jana’s attention, “Marko!” would do the same for Mark.

Agreement

If it was just changing nouns then cases would be as easy as 1. 4. 2. Unfortunately, everything that goes with the noun needs to agree with it in case, gender, and number. Fortunately, adjectives are very regular, and you only need to learn two patterns: hard and soft.

Other words that agree are ten,ta,to (that), jeden, jedna, jedno (one), numbers 2-5, and possessive pronouns and adjectives.

Some tips

·         Don’t attempt to learn all the forms and all the uses of the cases all at once. Instead, take your time. Focus on one case, learn its forms and learn some rules about how to use it. Learnt the prepositions which govern that case, if any. Spend time making example sentences, force yourself to use the case. Drilling is your friend here.

·         Look for patterns. A lot of cases have the same form as another. A lot of masculine inanimate and neuter nouns are the same in the nominative and the accusative, for example.

·         I’ll say it again, drilling is your friend! Learn lots of example sentences for each case, especially for prepositions. You are aiming for the cases to come naturally, so get used to saying and writing v Rusku, v Česku, v Polsku etc. The more you practice, the easier it will come.

·         When making your sentences, stick adjectives and determiners in there. Get used to sticking -ých/-ích on adjectives in the genitive plural and sticking tomu with nouns in the dative.

·         Don’t forget the little words that go with each case. Make sure you learn the correct forms with each one.

·         If you find yourself making the same mistakes, spend time gong over it. Don’t be scared to redo a whole lesson on a certain aspect that is giving you difficulties. It is very easy to get a rule mixed up in your head.

·         When you come across words you don’t know and can’t find in the dictionary, think about what the case the noun is in. The dictionary will list nouns by the nominative. You will need to look at endings and context to determine this. This will get easier as you get used to the system.

·         If you are looking for something to do with a spare five minutes, drill nouns. Drill adjectives. Drill ten, ta, to. You can do it with a pen and paper, but you can also do it in your head waiting in line for the toilet.

I hope this helps anyone who may be unsure how to start tackling Czech cases! I’ve tried to keep typos to a minimum, apologies if anything slipped by.

[thebenika]

Augmentatives and diminutives in Czech

What the hell is their usage?

1. Indicating the size of an object.

The object you're talking about can seem smaller/bigger when you use aug. or dim. version of the word.

e.g. dům (a house) - d. domeček (a small/er house), a. barák (a big house)

2. Indicating the object's personality/cuteness/kindness etc.

It may seem confusing from the first sentence, but it is not. Diminutive versions make the object seem more 'positive' - more cute, nicer (basically as we say - what's small, that's nice) while augmentatives make the thing look harder, rougher, less nice.

Basically diminutives are the Czech linguistic version of aegyo (애교.)

e.g. pes (a dog) - d. pejsek (a smaller/cute/nice dog, used also when you want to calm down some dog), a. psisko (an angry dog that's always barking)

3. Indicating your relationship with the object.

The thing you're talking about seems closer to you when you use a diminutive, therefore logically you can express hate with diminutives.

e.g. pes is a neutral expression. If you love the dog, you can use psík, pejsek, čumáček (I'd consider this expresaion kinda cringy), if you hate it, use rafan, psisko (although you'll be probably seen as a dog-hater if you're talking about a nice dog). Did you work hard on building your house and you're proud of it? Domeček. Do you hate the house you live in or is it almost falling down? Barabizna.

4. Sarcasm.

Oh boi, my favourite one. Although not that many people in the Czech Republic use it often, when they do it's GOLD. We can be sassy as hell, and you can almost taste the bitterness in our voices.

[nevercatchmewithoutabook]

Sleep Vocab in Czech

This vocab list is loosely based on a German one from @talen-en-regendagen​. You can find it here. 

Czech English (POS/Gender)

spánek sleep (N/M) spát to sleep (V) ospalý sleepy (ADJ)

únava tiredness (N/F) unavený tired (ADJ) zívat to yawn (V) vyčerpaný exhausted (ADJ)

Dobrou noc! Good night!

zdřímnout si nap (V) lehnout si to lie down (V) sen dream (N/M) mít sny to dream (V) noční můra nightmare (N/F) chrápat to snore (V) zaspat to oversleep (V) probudit se - to wake up (Perfective V) vstávat - to get up (V) probuzený - awake (ADJ)

ložnice bedroom (N/F) postel bed (N/F) gauč couch, sofa (N/M) deka blanket (N/F) polštář pillow (N/M) noční stolek nightstand (N/M) budík alarm clock (N/M)

spánková deprivace sleep deprivation (N/F) porucha spánku sleep disorder nespavost insomnia (N/F) být náměsíčný to sleepwalk (V)

[nevercatchmewithoutabook]

I’m sorry for the long break between posts. I’m really flaky. I’m studying for a massive Spanish exam coming up soon. Does anyone have some advice for language exams?

[nevercatchmewithoutabook]

I know I’ve already posted this spread, but it’s finally all filled in. I decided to write the summaries in my TLs this month, and I think it went well.

I’ve been mostly doing Spanish grammar and reading (El Prisionario de Azkaban), and, as you can see above, I’ve been really slacking off Czech. Hopefully that will change in May!