speaking czech
- Czech Language Hp- - (22 June 2003/14 July 2014)
1. In Czech, the accent is invariably on the first syllable:
      PRÁ-ce, SKÁ-kat, ŠKO-la.

2. In the case of three or more syllables, there is a secondary accent on the third syllable:
      PRÁ-co-VÁ-ti [PRÁ-co-VÁT], VZDÌ-la-VÁ-ti,

3. One syllable prepositions form one single unit with the word following, and are always accented:
      Do Prahy (doprahy), po válce (poválce)

4. If the preposition consists of only one consonant -- v, z, s, k -- it must be joined in a single sound with the word following.
      k vám - kvám, not ke vám. V Novém Yorku - vnovém Yorku, not ve Novém Yorku.

5. Before other groups of consonabts these prepositions are said in full and accented:
      VE støedu, KE mnì, SE mnou, ZE skoly.

6. Prepositions are pronounced in full if the word following begins with the same sound:
      VE Vídni, KE kostelu, SE sestrou, ZE zemì.
The reason for this is because double consonants are pronounced as single consonants in Czech: (Anna, cenný). A double vv or double kk zre not pronounceable. Hives later.owever, in a word like nejjemnìjší, the two j's are separated because nej is a superlative prefix. More on superlatives later.

7. Although the accent is always on the first syllable, it does not lengthen a short vowel following it, and we must not yield to the tempetation to stress long vowels outside the first syllable. The length or shortness of a vowel has no bearing on the stress.



8. Stress is not as strongly marked in Czech as in English, German, or Russian. The intonation (melody of the speech - its "musicalness"), that is, the rise and fall in the pitch of the voice, is not made up from as many tunes and patterns as in the above three languages. The voice does not rise to as high a pitch, nor does it fall as low as readily as in the above languages, In these respects, the Czech language, may be said to be rather "flat" and monotone in character.

9. The outstanding feature of Czech speech is the contrast between long and short vowels, alternating in succession, giving it rather staccato character.

Examples:
ÈES ko slo ven ská RE pub li ka.
Mate dnes MNO ho PRÁce?
POT-kal jste pana DOKtora?
A-no, pot-ká-vám ho VEL-mi ÈAS-to.

10. If you're not sure which syllable is to be accented, don't accent any; this will be better than stressing the wrong one.



bì - pronounced as bje - obìd
pì - pronounced as pje - pìt
vì- pronounced as vje - vìc
General Infornation

The most useful term is dobrý den. Its common usage is relatively new, but it has almost replaced dobré odpoledne meaning good afternoon and has been making inroads in replacing even dobré ráno or dobré jitro [morning]. Dobrý den has replaced also quite a few overly polite greetings such as poklona, má úcta, rukulíbám, etc.

Dobré ráno is used more in the country, while dobré jitro is more common in the cities. Dobré jitro is becomming more and more common. Since jitro is a poetic word and not otherwise commonly used, you may run across an abbreviation dobrýtro, which is strictly colloquial.

Sbohem has a religious origin. Literal translation is "with God" and traces apparently to the phrase jdi (or jdìte) s Bohem. Jdi is singular, while jdìte is plural imperative meaning "Go with God". The religious meaning has been slowly lost in the common usage, therefore, it is written now as one word, sbohem, of s Bohem.

Dobrý veèer and dobrou noc are used similarly as in this country. The same is true of na shledanou.

Nazdar [hi, hello, so long, cheers] was made popular by the Sokols, and in this country, it was regarded as a special Sokol greeting. This is no longer so. Nazdar is very common, and no longer connected with Sokol use exclusively.

When you meet someone who is older or whom you do not know closely, then the greeting of dobry den would come to your lips, while a close friend or contemporary you would greet with nazdar. From the point of view of an English-speaking person, the usage of nazdar is peculiar in the sense that it could and actually is commonly used, not only when meeting a person like the Ameican "hello", but also in parting, instead of na shledanou or sbohem.

Mum is playing with her children in the park.
- - - - Czech Language Hp