Congratulations! You’ve worked your way up to an advanced level of the beautiful Czech language.  You've mastered the past, present, and future tenses. You can have a pretty comprehensive conversation about almost anything and write long paragraphs. You can probably watch some movies and TV shows in Czech, and talk about various topics without getting sweaty. Your level is somewhere around B1, and your vocabulary comes up to a whopping 2500 words or so.  In this article, you'll expand your vocab even more with advanced Czech words. Beware though. It is very easy (and common) to get complacent, think you've “seen it all,” and stop working on your skills. I am a living example of how fast laziness can throw you back to “square... Show more

Saying NO is important in many situations: No, I don't eat mussels. No, I can't help you. No, I won't marry you. It’s equally important in Czech, of course. Czech grammar is quite simple and straightforward, and negatives are no exception. If Czech negation were a guy/girl, you'd get slightly bored of them in the middle of your first date, and later you would describe them to your friend as simple, predictable, linear, and straightforward. It will take you 15 seconds to master this topic, so go ahead and make plans for tonight. I'm not going to keep you for long. Let's learn about negation in the Czech language! Just…no. Table of Contents How to Make a Statement Negative in Czech Giving a Negative Answer ... Show more

Everybody gets a little tense when it comes to tenses. However, I have GREAT news for you. If you're a native English speaker (or a native speaker of any Germanic language), you'll find Czech tenses super-easy to learn and understand. The (otherwise complicated) Czech language uses only three tenses: past, present, and future. That's it. You still have to be aware of grammatical gender, declension, and conjugation of course, but applying the tenses correctly is actually a breeze. This is going to be short and sweet. Let's learn about Czech verb tenses! Table of Contents The Present Tense in Czech The Past Tense in Czech The Future Tense in Czech Verb Conjugation and Auxiliary Verbs How CzechClass101.com Helps... Show more

Learning a new language is kind of like losing or gaining weight: we want to see results ASAP. Even better—we want to see results now. Yesterday was too late. That, my dear friend, won't happen. Not even if you pull three all-nighters in a row in an attempt to learn 1000 new words in three days. Not even if you refuse to speak other languages and expose yourself to an ungodly amount of Czech TV and YouTube videos. So how long does it take to learn Czech? Let me put it this way: It depends on what your goal is. Duh, obvi, right? Do you want to be able to order the right food on the menu or ask about specific ingredients? (Very important if you have food allergies or an intolerance...or if you really, REALLY can't stand... Show more

Ahhh, proverbs...those charming pieces of wisdom that add a nice ring (or a pitch of pathos) to any speech or article, and make you ultimately irritated in certain situations. Like right after you failed your adventurous challenge.  However, they’re also comforting. Knowing that people in the past have gone through the same stuff we're dealing with now is encouraging. And that's exactly how we should see proverbs: as little "hellos" from our ancestors, who created them as reflections of who we are and how we see the world, life, love, success...you name it. This article about Czech proverbs and sayings will give you insight into not only the Czech language, but also the culture and mindset behind it. You might be surprised at how... Show more

What comes to your mind when you think about learning another language?  Casually chatting with locals while drinking delicious Czech beer? Enjoying Forman's early movies? Writing a secret diary that nobody in your family could read? You can certainly do all of those things.  Are you expecting a big fat BUT? You're correct! BUT first you have to learn Czech grammar and understand how it works. I'm not gonna sugarcoat it: It's completely different from English grammar and the rules might not make much sense to you.  Yes, there is the dreaded declension (each noun and adjective has fourteen different forms) and verb conjugation. In the end, though, you’ll find out that learning Czech is quite easy, as long as you don't... Show more

Let's debunk this myth about Slavic languages being incredibly hard and almost impossible for English-speakers to learn. Oh, please.  How hard is it to learn Czech? Not at all. Sure, there's going to be a lot of new things—things that seemingly make no sense, things you'll hate, and things that will make your tongue twist. However, Czech isn't that hard, complicated, or nasty. It's just different from English. Learning another language is always an exciting process. Yup, it’s hard at the beginning (beginnings are hard whether you're learning Czech, training for your first half-marathon, or learning how to produce an edible dinner without setting your kitchen on fire). But once you turn the corner, things get easier and you start... Show more

Mistakes are annoying, and no matter how often you tell yourself that it's okay to make them, they still suck. I get it, friend, I've been there. I'm a professional translator, and after years of living in a bilingual environment, I still have to pause from time to time and make sure I really want to say "kitchen," not "chicken." I ask my American boyfriend for help and clarification all the time. Also, just this morning, I read a Facebook post from Czech Television about a commemorative PLAGUE (instead of "plaque"). In this article, we’ll be covering typical Czech mistakes that English-speakers make. The Czech language, like all other languages, has its quirks and surprises that might catch you off-guard or flat out confuse the... Show more

Hello there, friend! How are you today? How has your day been? How long have you been studying Czech? Do you speak other languages? Do you speak English?  You can probably tell that this article is all about the most common Czech questions and answers. I'm going to teach you some basic questions in Czech that may come up in pretty much any conversation, and how to answer them. Why is this important? Well, learning these common phrases and questions will create a great base for your vocabulary and make any interaction in Czech a lot easier for you. There’s more to it, of course. Asking the right question is an awesome way to start a conversation, learn new things, get where you want to be (geographically and spiritually), and learn... Show more

Have you ever wondered how some people speak like seven languages? Maybe you even have a friend who starts ordering food in the local language within three days of your vacation.  Yep, people like that exist—and you could be one of them. In this guide, we’ll introduce and explain the most common Czech sentence patterns. Learning Czech has never been this easy! You probably know that Czech might be a little tricky to learn (All the conjugation and declension! Lawd!) and that sentence patterns in English and Czech have pretty much nothing in common. Let's make things easy and forget about lengthy grammar explanations. By simply memorizing the most common Czech sentence structures and patterns, you’ll be able to create dozens of... Show more