Learn how to introduce one friend to another
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Michael: Hi everyone, and welcome back to CzechClass101.com. This is Absolute Beginner Season 1 Lesson 7 - Introducing Your Friend in Czech. Michael here. |
| Martin: Ahoj. I'm Martin. |
| Michael: In this lesson, you’ll learn about introducing someone and explaining how you know each other. This conversation takes place in Tom's car. They are on the way to Tom's house. |
| Martin: It's between Tom, Tom’s wife Irina and Martin. |
| Michael: Tom and Martin are friends but Tom's wife, Irina, is meeting his friend Martin for the first time, so some of the expressions are formal but the overall tone is informal. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Tomáš: Martine, tohle je moje žena Irena. |
| Martin: Irena? Těší mě, já jsem Martin. |
| Irena: Dobrý den, Martine. Vy jste Tomův kolega a kamarád, že? Ráda Vás poznávám. |
| Martin: Konečně jsme se taky poznali! |
| Michael: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Tomáš: Martine, tohle je moje žena Irena. |
| Martin: Irena? Těší mě, já jsem Martin. |
| Irena: Dobrý den, Martine. Vy jste Tomův kolega a kamarád, že? Ráda Vás poznávám. |
| Martin: Konečně jsme se taky poznali! |
| Michael: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Tomáš: Martin, this is my wife Irina. |
| Martin: Irina? Hello, I'm Martin. |
| Irena: Hello, Martin. You are Tom's colleague and friend, right? Nice to meet you. |
| Martin: Nice to finally meet you too! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Michael: Martin, is it easy to make friends in the Czech Republic? |
| Martin: Yes, definitely. Czech people tend to be quite open even when they’re meeting people the first time. They’re happy to talk about their lives if they feel a new friendship clicks. |
| Michael: Does this mean that we can avoid formal language? |
| Martin: If you really want to be friends with someone, it's good to start openly and to reach the point where you both feel comfortable with dropping formal language. |
| Michael: This can sometimes happen very quickly, and sometimes, as you said, conversation even starts without formal language. It all depends on the situation. Martin, how can we understand when it’s okay to use informal language? |
| Martin: It’s very likely that if you are of a similar age, or if you are introduced through a friend, formalities will be dropped very soon. |
| Michael: What’s a useful sentence for making friends? |
| Martin: When you become friendly with someone, you could try to ask Popovídáme si u kávy? |
| Michael:"Shall we have a chat over coffee?" Good to know, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Michael: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Martin: tohle [natural native speed] |
| Michael: this |
| Martin: tohle[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: tohle [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Martin: moje [natural native speed] |
| Michael: my, mine |
| Martin: moje[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: moje [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Martin: žena [natural native speed] |
| Michael: woman |
| Martin: žena[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: žena [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Martin: kolega [natural native speed] |
| Michael: colleague |
| Martin: kolega[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: kolega [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Martin: kamarád [natural native speed] |
| Michael: friend, mate |
| Martin: kamarád[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: kamarád [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Martin: rád [natural native speed] |
| Michael: glad, pleased, delighted, happy |
| Martin: rád [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: rád [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Martin: Vy [natural native speed] |
| Michael: you (formal) |
| Martin: Vy [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: Vy [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Martin: poznávat [natural native speed] |
| Michael: get to know, to explore, become aware, to recognize |
| Martin: poznávat[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: poznávat [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Martin: konečně [natural native speed] |
| Michael: finally, at last, in the end |
| Martin: konečně[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: konečně [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Martin: setkat se [natural native speed] |
| Michael: to meet, to meet up |
| Martin: setkat se[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: setkat se [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 word is.. |
| Martin: kamarád |
| Michael: meaning "friend, mate." |
| Martin: Listeners, please be careful because when you’re talking about a female friend, the word changes and it becomes kamarádka. On the other hand kamarádit s means “to be friends with.” |
| Michael:These terms are used only to describe friendship with somebody, not for an intimate relationship with a girlfriend or a boyfriend. |
| Martin: Czech people don't say “this is my girlfriend,” or “boyfriend,” instead, they say tohle je moje holka |
| Michael: Literally, “This is my girl,” |
| Martin: or tohle je muj kluk |
| Michael: “This is my boy.” Can you give us an example using the word “friend”? |
| Martin: Sure. For example, you can say.. Zuzka je moje věrná kamarádka. |
| Michael: ..which means "Zuzka is my loyal friend." Okay, what's the next word? |
| Martin: konečně |
| Michael: meaning "finally, at least, after all." |
| Martin: This is derived from the word konec which means “end.” Konečně means “finally” or “at last.” A similar word is konečný, meaning "final." |
| Michael: Is the use of this adverb the same as in English? For example, is it something you can use when you’re talking about something that happened after a certain time of waiting, or in the same sense as the English "after all," for example “After all, he's not alone”? |
| Martin: Yes, it is. Konečně is often used as an exclamation too, as in No konečně! |
| Michael: “Well, at last!” People would say this after having been made to wait for some time. Martin, can you give us an example using this word? |
| Martin: Sure. For example, you can say.. Konečně přijeli! |
| Michael: .. which means "They finally arrived!" Okay, what's the next word? |
| Martin: ...že? |
| Michael: meaning "...isn't it?" This word corresponds to various questions that are asked at the end of a sentence, such as "aren't you?", "isn't he?", "Isn't it?", "won't we?", "can't they?" and so on. Like in English, in this form you only use it at the end of a sentence when you’re seeking confirmation from another person. |
| Martin: Yes, for example Mohli by vyhrát, že? |
| Michael: “They could win, couldn't they?” |
| Martin: Or Dnes je pěkná zima, že? |
| Michael: .. which means "Today is really cold, isn't it?" Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Michael: In this lesson you'll learn how to answer the question “Can you tell me who this is?” in Czech. We will focus on introducing someone and explaining how you know each other. |
| Martin: When you are going to introduce somebody you can start with the phrase Tohle je….. |
| Michael:meaning “this is…” |
| Martin: or alternatively, to je… also meaning “this is” or Tohle je můj or moje... |
| Michael: meaning “this is my…” After this phrase you can add any name or title to start the introduction of a person. |
| Martin: Right. Moje, meaning “my,” refers to a female subject. Tohle je moje...could be followed by something like kolegyně |
| Michael: “female colleague” |
| Martin: maminka |
| Michael: “mom” |
| Martin: sestra |
| Michael: “sister” |
| Martin: dcera |
| Michael: “daughter.” And what if it’s a male subject? |
| Martin: Tohle je můj will be followed by something like kolega |
| Michael: “colleague” |
| Martin: bratr |
| Michael: “brother” |
| Martin: tatínek |
| Michael: “dad” |
| Martin: kamarád |
| Michael: “male friend.” Let’s take a look at the most important vocabulary for family members. |
| Martin: Please keep in mind that some of the words have both formal and informal versions. |
| Michael: Ok, I will give the English word and Martin will give the Czech version. Let’s start with “Parents” |
| Martin: Rodiče |
| Michael: “Mother” |
| Martin:Matka, or we can also use the informal Maminka, meaning “Mom.” |
| Michael: “Father” |
| Martin: Otec or we can also use the informal Tatínek, meaning “Dad.” |
| Michael: “Sister” |
| Martin: The formal form is Sestra, the informal is Ségra. |
| Michael: “Brother” |
| Martin: The formal form is Bratr, the informal is Brácha. |
| Michael: Listeners, you’ll find a complete list in the lesson notes. Make sure to check them out! Now let’s go ahead with the possessive pronouns. Let’s start with the first person, “I” |
| Martin: Já. This “I” can be translated in different ways, according to the gender of the following noun. |
| Michael: Let’s see in the order of masculine, feminine and neutral. |
| Martin: Můj pes |
| Michael: “my dog” |
| Martin: Moje kočka |
| Michael: “my cat” |
| Martin: Moje morče |
| Michael: “my guinea pig.” And how do you say “this is mine”? |
| Martin: Tohle je moje |
| Michael: Ok, now let’s see the second person singular “you.” |
| Martin: Ty. Using the same order, we would have Tvůj pes |
| Michael: Meaning “your dog” |
| Martin: Tvoje or tvá kočka |
| Michael: “your cat” |
| Martin: Tvoje or tvé morče |
| Michael: “your guinea pig.” What about the third person? |
| Martin: We have to distinguish between On meaning “he,” and Ona meaning “she.” |
| Michael: Ok, let’s see the same examples for “he” and “his.” |
| Martin: Actually, it’s always the same. Jeho pes, Jeho kočka, Jeho morče. |
| Michael: and for “she” and “her?” |
| Martin: That’s also always the same. Její pes, Její kočka, Její morče. |
| Michael: Ok. Let’s also quickly review the plural forms. How about “We” and “ours?” |
| Martin: “we” is My. Use Náš for masculine and Naše for both feminine and neutral forms. |
| Michael: How about “you” and “your” in the plural? |
| Martin: “You” is Vy and “your” is Váš for masculine and Vaše for feminine and neutral. |
| Michael: And “they” and “their?” |
| Martin: “They” is Oni. “Their” in this case is also always the same, Jejich. |
| Michael: Ok, let’s wrap up with some sample sentences. |
| Martin: Sure thing! Firstly, Tohle je náš dům. |
| Michael: "This is our house." |
| Martin: Tady je jeho maminka. |
| Michael: "Here is his mom." |
| Martin: Radka je moje spolužačka. |
| Michael: "Radka is my classmate." |
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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