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| INTRODUCTION |
| Michael: Hi everyone, and welcome back to CzechClass101.com. This is Absolute Beginner, Season 1 Lesson 5 - Making Czech Requests. Michael here. |
| Martin: Ahoj. I'm Martin. |
| Michael: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask for something. This conversation takes place in a restaurant, where a customer is asking for a few things. |
| Martin: It's between Tom, a customer, and a waitress. |
| Michael: The speakers do not know each other, so they use formal speech. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Číšnice: Dobrý večer. |
| Tomáš: Promiňte, můžete mi dát jídelní lístek? |
| Číšnice: Ano, chvilinku prosím. |
| Tomáš: Promiňte, můžete mi také dát vodu? |
| Číšnice: Jistě. |
| Tomáš: Promiňte, už bych si chtěl objednat. |
| Číšnice: Dobře. |
| Michael: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Číšnice: Dobrý večer. |
| Tomáš: Promiňte, můžete mi dát jídelní lístek? |
| Číšnice: Ano, chvilinku prosím. |
| Tomáš: Promiňte, můžete mi také dát vodu? |
| Číšnice: Jistě. |
| Tomáš: Promiňte, už bych si chtěl objednat. |
| Číšnice: Dobře. |
| Michael: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Waitress: Good evening. |
| Tomáš: Excuse me, can I get a menu? |
| Waitress: Okay, just a moment please. |
| Tomáš: Excuse me, can I also get some water? |
| Waitress: Sure. |
| Tomáš: Excuse me, I'd like to order. |
| Waitress: Okay. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Michael: Martin, what are some tips you can give us for Czech restaurants? For example, what should we do when we arrive? |
| Martin: The menus in Czech restaurants are sometimes already on the table, but sometimes you need to request it. You can then order and eat your food, but please know that Czech people don’t usually share their food, and everybody orders their own food. |
| Michael: I see. And is smoking allowed? |
| Martin: There are still many restaurants where smoking is allowed, although some might have a non-smoking policy at lunch time. |
| Michael: And should we always be ready to pay a tip? |
| Martin: Well, tips are usually not included in the total of the bill and Czech people tend to leave a 10% tip, especially if they were happy with the service. This is more true of dinner time than of the discounted lunch menu. It's also perfectly fine not to leave a tip if you considered the service to be very bad ... |
| Michael: ...or a better tip if you were very happy. |
| Martin: Right! |
| Michael: Are there any expressions we should know? |
| Martin: Prosím Vás, máte obědovou nabídku? |
| Michael: Which means "Excuse me, do you have a special lunch menu?". |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Michael: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Martin: večer [natural native speed] |
| Michael: evening |
| Martin: večer[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: večer [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Martin: moci [natural native speed] |
| Michael: can |
| Martin: moci[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: moci [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Martin: dát [natural native speed] |
| Michael: to give, to put in |
| Martin: dát[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: dát [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Martin: ano [natural native speed] |
| Michael: yes |
| Martin: ano[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: ano [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Martin: jídelní lístek [natural native speed] |
| Michael: menu |
| Martin: jídelní lístek[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: jídelní lístek [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Martin: chvilinka [natural native speed] |
| Michael: moment |
| Martin: chvilinka[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: chvilinka [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Martin: chtít [natural native speed] |
| Michael: to want |
| Martin: chtít [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: chtít [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Martin: objednat si [natural native speed] |
| Michael: to order |
| Martin: objednat si [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: objednat si [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Martin: jistě [natural native speed] |
| Michael: surely, certainly |
| Martin: jistě[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: jistě [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Martin: dobře [natural native speed] |
| Michael: well, all right, OK, fine |
| Martin: dobře[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: dobře [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Michael: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is.. |
| Martin: jídelní lístek |
| Michael: Which means "dining list, menu." |
| Martin: Literally, jídelní means “eating” and lístek “list” or “menu.” Jídelní derives from the word jídlo which means “food.” A similar word is jídelna, a noun meaning “dining room.” |
| Michael: When can you use this phrase? |
| Martin: This is used mainly to request a restaurant or pub menu. |
| Michael: You’ll find this word at dining establishments, especially in rural areas of the Czech Republic. |
| Martin: Jídelní lístek is still widely used in many Czech restaurants, although at tourist places and in bigger cities the English loanword "menu" is used a lot, and often a translation of the menu is available to make it easily accessible to international guests. |
| Michael: Can you give us an example using the Czech version? |
| Martin: Sure. For example, you can say.. Tady je nový jídelní lístek. |
| Michael: ..which means "Here is a new menu. " Okay, what's the next word? |
| Martin: objednat |
| Michael: meaning "to order." |
| Martin: objednat can have two meanings. On its own, it means "to order." For example, objednat kávu |
| Michael: meaning “to order a coffee.” |
| Martin: If we add the dative form of the reflexive pronoun si, meaning “to or for oneself,” then objednat si literally means "to order for oneself.” For example, objednám si kafe, |
| Michael: meaning “I will order coffee for myself.” Depending on context, you use this word either when you’re ordering something somewhere, or ordering for somebody else, or ordering for yourself. |
| Martin: If it’s for somebody else, you need to add the preposition pro, meaning “for.” |
| Michael: Can we hear an example? |
| Martin: Sure! For example, Objednat pro Hanu. |
| Michael: Which means “to order for Hana.” Okay, what's the next word? |
| Martin: Next is Chvilinka. |
| Michael: Which means "a moment." This is a diminutive form of another word, |
| Martin: chvíle, |
| Michael: meaning “a while.” |
| Martin: Czech people often use the expression dlouhá chvíle, which means “a long while,” to mean “a boring time.” For example, Měl jsem dlouhou chvíli. |
| Michael: Literally this translates to "I had a long while," but the meaning is "I was bored." |
| Martin: Depending on context, chvilinka can be used to ask somebody to wait for a moment before they can be given attention. You may hear Počkejte chvilinku, prosím, |
| Michael: “Just a moment, please.” |
| Martin: You can also use it to say something lasted just a little while, as in čekal jsem jen chvilinku, |
| Michael: “I was waiting just a little while,” |
| Martin: or that something will only be for a short time, as in jenom na chvilinku, |
| Michael: “Only for a moment.” Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Martin: Sure. For example, you can say.. Půjdu na chvilinku ven. |
| Michael: .. which means "I will go out for a little while. " |
| Michael: Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Michael: In this lesson you'll learn how to make requests in Czech. While living or travelling in the Czech Republic, you’ll need to know how to ask for things. There will be moments when you need somebody to get you something, to pass you something, or to assist you with something. |
| Martin: The best way is to start with the phrase moct which translates as "can." Moct is an infinitive that conjugates according to the person. |
| Michael: Ok, let’s see the entire conjugation. Martin will say the Czech and I will give you the English translation. |
| Martin: já můžu |
| Michael:“I can” |
| Martin: ty můžeš or vy můžete |
| Michael: Both mean “you can,” but the second one is the formal version. |
| Martin: on, ona, ono může |
| Michael:“he, she, it can” |
| Martin: my můžem |
| Michael: “we can” |
| Martin: vy můžete |
| Michael:“you can,” in the plural. |
| Martin: oni můžou |
| Michael:“they can.” Now let’s see an example. |
| Martin: For example, Můžete mi dát kafe prosím? |
| Michael: “Can you get me coffee, please?”. Can you please break down the sentence? |
| Martin: Sure! Můžete is the formal polite form used when speaking with strangers and people in public. It translates as “can you?” Mi simply means "to me" and dát is an infinitive meaning ''to give.'' |
| Michael: So the Czech for “Can you give me...?” is... |
| Martin: Můžete mi dát….? After saying můžete mi you can add any verb in its infinitive form plus a noun, which is placed last. |
| Michael: Let’s see a few examples. What would “Can you give me water?” sound like? |
| Martin: Můžete mi dát vodu. |
| Michael: And “Can you pass the salt?” |
| Martin: Můžete mi podat sůl. |
| Michael: And if you want to ask for help? |
| Martin: Můžete mi poradit? |
| Michael: “Can you help me?” or “Can you advise me?” |
| Martin: As we've already said, the Czech language distinguishes between formal speech called vykání and informal speech called tykání. In the formal speech politeness is expressed by te at the end of the verb, as in můžete. In informal speech, te is replaced by š. So Můžete? becomes Můžeš? in an informal context. |
| Michael: Are there any other ways to express wishes in a polite way when you’re asking for something? |
| Martin: One is by using the conditional tense byste for formal speech, or bys for informal speech. |
| Michael: These correspond to the English “would” and “could.” Let’s see the complete conjugation. |
| Martin: já mohl bych? |
| Michael: “Could I?” |
| Martin: ty mohl bys? or Vy mohl byste? |
| Michael: Both mean “could you,” but the second one is the formal version. |
| Martin: on mohl or ona mohla or ono mohlo by? |
| Michael: Respectively meaning “could he, she, it?” |
| Martin: my mohli bychom? or in spoken Czech, mohli bysme. |
| Michael: “could we?” |
| Martin: vy mohli byste? |
| Michael: “could you?” in the plural. |
| Martin: oni mohli by? |
| Michael: “could they?” |
| Martin: Finally, please remember politeness in Czech language is very often expressed by using negative verbs plus the conditional tense. |
| Michael: Please give us some examples. |
| Martin: Nemohla by to napsat? |
| Michael: “Couldn't she write it?” |
| Martin: Nemohli by to potvrdit? |
| Michael: “Couldn't they confirm it?” |
| Martin: Now let’s say you’re at the theater and you want to sit next to someone. You could say Promiňte, můžu si tu sednout? |
| Michael: "Excuse me, may I sit here?" |
| Martin: The answer could be positive, as in Ano, můžete. Prosím sedněte si. |
| Michael: "Yes, you can. Please sit down." |
| Martin: or negative, as in Ne, je tu obsazeno. Promiňte. |
| Michael: "No, this space is occupied. I'm sorry. " |
Outro |
| Michael: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Martin: Děkuji. |
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