Learn how to use the present and conditional tenses to order food and talk about menu items
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Becky: Hi everyone, and welcome back to CzechClass101.com. This is Beginner Season 1 Lesson 10 - Ordering a Delicious Czech Dish. Becky here. |
| Martin: Ahoj! I'm Martin. |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use the present tense and conditional tense to talk to a waitress about a meal order and what it contains. The conversation takes place at a restaurant. |
| Martin: It's between a waitress and Matěj. |
| Becky: The speakers are strangers, so they’ll use formal Czech. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Číšnice: Dobrý den. Co si dáte k jídlu? |
| Matěj: Dobrý den. Dal bych si tatarák. Jaké to je maso, vepřové, nebo hovězí? |
| Číšnice: To je nasekané hovězí, ale přidáváme trochu sardelové pasty a kaviáru. |
| Matěj: Aha, kaviár nejím. Mohl bych si to dát bez kaviáru? |
| Číšnice: Ano, to není problém. |
| Matěj: Děkuju. A jaké je v tom koření? Není to moc ostré? |
| Číšnice: Je to jen lehce ostré. Nejsou tam chilli papričky, ale jen trochu červené papriky, pepře a hořčice. |
| Matěj: Tak to je fajn. |
| Matěj: Ještě si dám malé pivo a hned zaplatím. |
| Číšnice: Dobře. Přinesu vám účet. |
| Matěj: Děkuji. Spropitné už je v ceně? |
| Číšnice: Ne, není. |
| Becky: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Číšnice: Dobrý den. Co si dáte k jídlu? |
| Matěj: Dobrý den. Dal bych si tatarák. Jaké to je maso, vepřové, nebo hovězí? |
| Číšnice: To je nasekané hovězí, ale přidáváme trochu sardelové pasty a kaviáru. |
| Matěj: Aha, kaviár nejím. Mohl bych si to dát bez kaviáru? |
| Číšnice: Ano, to není problém. |
| Matěj: Děkuju. A jaké je v tom koření? Není to moc ostré? |
| Číšnice: Je to jen lehce ostré. Nejsou tam chilli papričky, ale jen trochu červené papriky, pepře a hořčice. |
| Matěj: Tak to je fajn. |
| Matěj: Ještě si dám malé pivo a hned zaplatím. |
| Číšnice: Dobře. Přinesu vám účet. |
| Matěj: Děkuji. Spropitné už je v ceně? |
| Číšnice: Ne, není. |
| Becky: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Waitress: Hello. What would you like to eat? |
| Matěj: Hello. I'd like the tartar steak. What meat is that, pork or beef? |
| Waitress: It’s finely chopped beef, but we add a bit of anchovy paste and caviar. |
| Matěj: Oh, I don't eat caviar. Could I have it without the caviar? |
| Waitress: Yes, that's no problem. |
| Matěj: Thank you. And what type of spices are in it? Isn't it too spicy? |
| Waitress: It's only a little spicy. There are no chilli peppers, only red peppers, black pepper, and mustard. |
| Matěj: That's good. |
| Matěj: I'll have a small beer, too and will pay right away. |
| Waitress: Sure. I'll bring you the bill. |
| Matěj: Thank you. Is the tip included? |
| Waitress: No, it isn't. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky: Martin, let’s talk about Czech food. What’s a typical Czech meal like? |
| Martin:A typical Czech meal starts with a soup, usually with vegetables and noodles. After that comes the main dish, usually some meat with a side dish, such as potatoes. |
| Becky: Potatoes are very important in the Czech diet, and are a basic ingredient in many Czech dishes. |
| Martin: Right, another special side dish are the various types of dumplings. |
| Becky: What about street food? |
| Martin: Besides the typical párek v rohlíku, which resembles a hot dog, another type of street food is polévkárna, which is a "soup buffet." |
| Becky: Are there any famous chain restaurants? |
| Martin: Yes, for example Pasta-Krusta, which offers homemade pasta, or Beas, which is a vegetarian fast-food chain. |
| Becky: Finally, what are some of the most popular supermarkets? |
| Martin: Ahold, Lidl and Macro. When you go to a supermarket, you better remember this expression – Zdravá potravina. |
| Becky: Which means "healthy food," and is a label on food products that distinguishes products of good quality made without unnecessary chemicals, and with information on the country of origin. Martin, are Czech products also labelled? |
| Martin: Yes, as Český výrobek |
| Becky: Which means “Czech product.” Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Becky: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Martin: jídlo [natural native speed] |
| Becky: meal |
| Martin: jídlo[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: jídlo [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Martin: dát si [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to have, to take |
| Martin: dát si[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: dát si [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Martin: maso [natural native speed] |
| Becky: meat |
| Martin: maso[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: maso [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Martin: rád [natural native speed] |
| Becky: like |
| Martin: rád[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: rád [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Martin: bez [natural native speed] |
| Becky: without |
| Martin: bez[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: bez [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Martin: ostrý [natural native speed] |
| Becky: spicy, hot, sharp |
| Martin: ostrý[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: ostrý [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Martin: lehce [natural native speed] |
| Becky: mildly, lightly |
| Martin: lehce[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: lehce [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Martin: vadit [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to bother, to mind |
| Martin: vadit[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: vadit [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Martin: spropitné [natural native speed] |
| Becky: gratuity, tip |
| Martin: spropitné[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: spropitné [natural native speed] |
| Becky: And last.. |
| Martin: cena [natural native speed] |
| Becky: price |
| Martin: cena[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: cena [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Becky: Let's have a closer look at some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is.. |
| Martin: dát si |
| Becky: meaning "to have,” “to order." |
| Martin: The verb dát means "to have," and si is the reflexive pronoun meaning "to oneself." |
| Becky: so the whole phrase literally means "to give to oneself." |
| Martin: The verb, followed by the reflexive pronoun si, is reflexive. |
| Becky: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Martin: Sure. For example, you can say.. Dal bych si vanilkovou zmrzlinu. |
| Becky: ..which means "I'd like vanilla ice-cream .” Okay, what's the next word? |
| Martin: bez |
| Becky: meaning "without." Actually, when translated in English, it’s often replaced by some suffixes like “-less,” or prefixes like “un-,” like in “unarmed.” |
| Martin: For example, káva bez kofeinu |
| Becky: Which means “decaffeinated coffee." Can you give us a sample sentence using this word? |
| Martin: Sure. For example, you can say.. Jednání probíhá bez dvou lidí. |
| Becky: .. which means "The meeting is happening with two people absent." Okay, what's the next word? |
| Martin: účet |
| Becky: meaning "bill" |
| Martin: This is a masculine noun. |
| Becky: It can be used when talking about an actual bill, for example... |
| Martin: tady je váš účet |
| Becky: “here’s your bill.” It can also be used to refer to a bank account or when talking about an expense in general, for example... |
| Martin: bavit se na něčí účet |
| Becky: Which means "have fun at somebody's expense." Can you give us a sample sentence? |
| Martin: Sure. For example, you can say.. Připište to na účet. |
| Becky: .. which means "Add it to my bill,” or colloquially, “Put it on my tab." Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Becky: In this lesson, you'll learn how to use the present tense and conditional tense to talk to a waitress about a meal order. |
| Martin: The conditional tense in Czech corresponds to the English “would” and can be formed from both types of verbs, imperfective and perfective. |
| Becky: The conditional tense is applied in line with the past tense. Let’s see an example with the verb meaning “to eat.” |
| Martin: The present tense is jíst. The past tense is jedl “he ate” or jedla, “she ate.” |
| Becky: And what’s the conditional tense? |
| Martin: That’s jedl bych |
| Becky: meaning “I’d eat” said by a man. |
| Martin: or jedla bych |
| Becky: meaning ”I’d eat” said by a woman. So what’s the pattern for the conditional? |
| Martin: It’s usually the verb in the past tense followed by the conditional form, such as bych |
| Becky: which changes and is conjugated according to the subject. |
| Martin: The same pattern also applies to reflexive verbs with the reflexive pronouns si “to oneself,” or se “oneself.” |
| Becky: We mentioned one earlier. |
| Martin: Yes, that was dát si. Let's consider the phrase Dát si jídlo |
| Becky: meaning “to have a meal.” |
| Martin: The past form would be Dal si jídlo for a man and Dala si jídlo for a woman |
| Becky: Meaning “he” or “she had a meal.” What’s the conditional then? |
| Martin: Dal by si jídlo for a man and Dala by si jídlo for a woman. |
| Becky: As we said, the conditional form has to change according to the subject. |
| Martin: Right, for example, dal by sis, |
| Becky: meaning “you’d have.” |
| Martin: or dali by si, |
| Becky: meaning “they’d have”. Also, the past form of the verb changes whether the subject is singular masculine or feminine or plural. |
| Martin: Right, we saw three different forms, dal for the masculine singular, dala for the feminine singular and dali for the plural. There is also a form for the neuter singular, dalo. |
| Becky: Conjugating the verb makes it possible to leave the subject unspoken in Czech. If it’s spoken, it’s usually for emphasis. |
| Martin: Keep in mind that in such cases, the word order in the Czech sentence changes. |
| Becky: The verb is placed after the conditional form. Let’s give an example. |
| Martin: The normal form is dal bych si, if we state the subject, it becomes Já bych si dal. |
| Becky: “I would like to have.“ or more faithfully, “it is me who would like to have.” Does the conditional change if the verb is imperfective or perfective? |
| Martin: No, the rules are the same. |
| Becky: okay, let’s consider the verb meaning “to pay” in both forms. |
| Martin: The imperfective is Platil bych, and the perfective is Zaplatil bych. |
| Becky: In English they both mean “I’d pay,” but the former refers more to the process, while the latter refers to the complete act. Okay, now go through some adjectives that describe food, can you list some? |
| Martin: celozrný |
| Becky: meaning “wholemeal.” |
| Martin: For example, you can say celozrný chléb |
| Becky: “wholemeal bread.” |
| Martin: Another adjective is syrový |
| Becky: meaning “raw.” |
| Martin: For example, you can say syrová zelenina, |
| Becky: “raw vegetables.” |
| Martin: Another adjective is vařený |
| Becky: meaning “boiled.” |
| Martin: For example, you can say vařené brambory, |
| Becky: “boiled potatoes.” Listeners, you can find more adjectives in the lesson notes, so be sure to check them. Let’s wrap up this lesson with a couple of sample sentences. |
| Martin: Rád bych si objednal křupavá kachna. |
| Becky: "I'd like to order the crispy duck." |
| Martin: Chtěla bych to bez papriky, prosím. |
| Becky: "I'd like it without the peppers, please." |
Outro |
| Becky: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Martin: Čau. |
Comments
Hide