Learn how to ask what something is
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Michael: Hi everyone, and welcome back to CzechClass101.com. This is Absolute Beginner Season 1 Lesson 9 - Unidentified Czech Objects. Michael here. |
| Martin: Ahoj. I'm Martin. |
| Michael: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to identify something and to figure out whether it is what you think it is. This conversation takes place at Tom and Irina's house. |
| Martin: It's between Irina and Martin. |
| Michael: The speakers know each other, so they’ll be using informal Czech. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Irena: Tohle je džem? |
| Martin: Jo, správně. To je sklenice japonskýho džemu. Jmenuje se "růže". |
| Irena: Růže? To je dobrý název. |
| Michael: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Irena: Tohle je džem? |
| Martin: Jo, správně. To je sklenice japonskýho džemu. Jmenuje se "růže". |
| Irena: Růže? To je dobrý název. |
| Michael: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Irena: Is this a jam? |
| Martin: Yes, that's right. This is jar of Japanese jam. It's called "rose" jam. |
| Irena: Rose jam? That's a good name. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Michael: Martin, what are the most traditional and common things you’ll find in a Czech kitchen? |
| Martin: Something you’ll typically find in Czech kitchens are small assortments of herbal teas. |
| Michael: Do Czechs often drink infusions? |
| Martin: Yes, we like to drink herbal tea with lemon and honey. Because of that, Czech women tend to be keen on having nice mugs to drink from, and will often collect mugs of different varieties. Honey is another must-have in any kitchen. |
| Michael: Are there any other special foods? |
| Martin: Bread isn’t that special, but it’s indispensable in all households because it's eaten on a daily basis, especially for breakfast. People eat it with jam and butter, or cheese and raw vegetables. |
| Michael: And what are the most common electrical kitchen appliances? |
| Martin: Czech kitchens most often have an oven and a pressure cooker, which is colloquially called a papiňák. |
| Michael: Ok. Finally, are there any useful expressions we can learn to use in the kitchen? |
| Martin: You may find this useful -Tohle je tvá sbírka hrníčků? |
| Michael: meaning "Is this your collection of mugs?" A good starter for small talk! Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Michael: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Martin: džem [natural native speed] |
| Michael: jam |
| Martin: džem[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: džem [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Martin: jo [natural native speed] |
| Michael: yeah, yup |
| Martin: jo[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: jo [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Martin: správně [natural native speed] |
| Michael: correct, correctly, right, rightly |
| Martin: správně[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: správně [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Martin: sklenice [natural native speed] |
| Michael: drinking glass |
| Martin: sklenice[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: sklenice [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Martin: japonský [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Japanese |
| Martin: japonský[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: japonský [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Martin: růže [natural native speed] |
| Michael: rose |
| Martin: růže[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: růže [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Martin: dobrý [natural native speed] |
| Michael: good |
| Martin: dobrý[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: dobrý [natural native speed] |
| Michael: Next we have.. |
| Martin: název [natural native speed] |
| Michael: name, title, designation, heading |
| Martin: název[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: název [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Michael: Let's have a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Martin: růže |
| Michael: meaning "rose." |
| Martin: This is a flower, but interestingly, because of its various shades of red and pink, in Czech the word is often used in reference to women's blush, the cosmetic product. |
| Martin: You’ll hear this used when talking about real rose flowers too; either the blossoms or the entire plant. A woman might also be described as the poetic phrase jako růže, |
| Michael: literally “like a rose blossom,” but is understood to mean "beautiful." |
| Martin: There are also idiomatic phrases such as trpělivost růže přináší |
| Michael: literally “patience brings roses” but actually used to mean "good things come to those who wait." |
| Martin: Another common idiom is Není růže bez trní. |
| Michael: ..which means "There is no rose without a thorn." Okay, what's next? |
| Martin: Jo, správně. |
| Michael: meaning "Yeah, that's right." |
| Martin: Jo is a colloquial expression for ano, “yes,” which is similar to ”yeah” in English, while správně means ”right,” or “correct.” |
| Michael: So jo is only used in informal situations, like when you’re with friends, family, children or people you are familiar with. |
| Martin: That’s right. Jo is used to give approval, as in jo, můžeš, |
| Michael: “Yes, you can,” |
| Martin: or to show agreement on something, as in tak jo |
| Michael: “Yes, agreed.” |
| Martin: It can also be used to ask a question in various contexts, as in jo? |
| Michael: meaning “all right?,” “really?,” or “no kidding?” |
| Martin: And to show understanding, A jo! |
| Michael: meaning “Oh, yeah!,” “I see.” Is there a word you can use in more formal situations? |
| Martin: Správně, meaning “right,” “correct,” is another common word and it can be used both formally and informally. |
| Michael: Can you give us an example using jo? |
| Martin: Sure! For example, you can say.. A jo! Já zapomněl! |
| Michael: .. which means "Oh yeah! I completely forgot!" Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Michael: In this lesson, you'll learn how to ask a question about unknown items in Czech. |
| Martin: Specifically, we’re going to learn how to ask if A is B. |
| Michael: When sightseeing in the Czech Republic or talking to Czech people, you’re sure to come across things, buildings, and names that you’ve never heard of before. This lesson's questions are designed to help you fill in these cultural gaps! |
| Martin: When you need to know what something is, you can ask co to je? meaning ‘’What is this?’’ An answer to this question starts with to je… followed by the answer... |
| Michael: meaning “This is…” For example, say you see a colorful box, but you don’t know what it is. You can ask... |
| Martin: co to je? |
| Michael: And the answer might be |
| Martin: To je čaj |
| Michael: “This is tea.” You can also guess what something is, in which case you can start the question by saying |
| Martin: Tohle je… meaning “This is…,” and then add a noun or an adjective and use inflection to make it a question. Tohle means ''this.'' |
| Michael: Could you give us an example? |
| Martin: Tohle je mýdlo? |
| Michael:“This is soap?” |
| Martin: Please notice that in Czech, the word to, meaning “it,” and tohle, meaning “this,” both correspond to the English ‘’this” or “that.” |
| Michael: They are both demonstrative pronouns indicating that the nouns in question are not far away from the speakers. Also note that in Czech, questions are indicated mainly through intonation, and the word order doesn't necessarily stay the same. |
| Martin: Right. For example, both Tohle je mýdlo? |
| Michael: literally “This is soap?” |
| Martin: and Je tohle mýdlo?, literally translating to “Is this soap?” are equally correct. |
| Michael: With the question mark at the end, voice intonation goes up, which means the sentence expresses the same type of question regardless of the word order. Now let’s see how to ask who somebody is. |
| Martin: When you need to ask who a person is, you simply swap the word co, meaning “what,” of co to je? for kdo meaning “who,” Kdo to je? or Kdo je to? |
| Michael: both meaning “Who is it?” or “Who is that?” |
| Martin: In this case the answer also starts with.. To je… or Tohle je... |
| Michael: Meaning “This is…” While in English, using the word ‘’that’’ in a question puts much more emphasis on the word itself, in Czech that emphasis is achieved by stress. Martin, could you let us hear how “What is that?!” would sound in Czech? |
| Martin: Sure! [PLEASE STRESS “TO”] Co to je?! |
| Michael: Now let’s look in more detail at how to ask what something is for. |
| Martin: In Czech, you say… Na co to je? |
| Michael: This is literally “What for is this?” or “What is this for?” |
| Martin: Na co means ''what for.'' |
| Michael: How does the answer to this question start? |
| Martin: It starts with To je na….meaning “This is for…” |
| Michael: Let’s give an example of a question and answer. |
| Martin: Na co to je? |
| Michael: “What is this for?” |
| Martin: To je na ruce. |
| Michael: “This is for hands.” Ok, to wrap up this lesson, let’s give some other sentences using the grammar that we’ve just heard. |
| Martin: Sure. Tohle je k jídlu? |
| Michael: "Is this to be eaten?" |
| Martin: Tohle je nějaký krém, ne? |
| Michael: "This is some cream, isn't it?" |
| Martin: Je tohle pravé zlato? |
| Michael: "Is this real gold?" |
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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