Learn how to use simple present tense to describe an event and ask for advice
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Becky: Hi everyone, and welcome back to CzechClass101.com. This is Beginner Season 1 Lesson 4 - Getting Your Address Wrong in the Czech Republic. Becky here. |
| Martin: Ahoj! I'm Martin. |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use the simple present tense to describe an event and ask for advice. The conversation takes place on the phone. |
| Martin: It's between Helena and Matěj. |
| Becky: The speakers are family members, so they’ll use informal Czech. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Helena: Ahoj, je tady dodávka nábytku. Ty jsi něco objednal? |
| Matěj: To je ten mělký, dřevěný šuplík pod postel, co jsi chtěla. |
| Helena: To ne, tohle vypadá jako obrovská komoda. Tak dvacet kilo. |
| Matěj: Aha, to se sem k nám nevejde. |
| Helena: Co s tím? |
| Matěj: Řekni jim, že to musí být omyl. |
| Helena: No jo, asi mají špatný objednávkový číslo. |
| Matěj: Asi. Nebo špatnou adresu. |
| Helena: Řeknu jim to. Zatim čau. |
| Becky: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Helena: Ahoj, je tady dodávka nábytku. Ty jsi něco objednal? |
| Matěj: To je ten mělký, dřevěný šuplík pod postel, co jsi chtěla. |
| Helena: To ne, tohle vypadá jako obrovská komoda. Tak dvacet kilo. |
| Matěj: Aha, to se sem k nám nevejde. |
| Helena: Co s tím? |
| Matěj: Řekni jim, že to musí být omyl. |
| Helena: No jo, asi mají špatný objednávkový číslo. |
| Matěj: Asi. Nebo špatnou adresu. |
| Helena: Řeknu jim to. Zatim čau. |
| Becky: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Helena: Hi, there’s a furniture delivery here. Did you order something? |
| Matěj: It's the shallow wooden drawer you wanted for under the bed. |
| Helena: It's not. This looks like a massive chest of drawers. It’s around twenty kilograms. |
| Matěj: Oh, it won't fit into our place. |
| Helena: What should we do with it? |
| Matěj: Tell them it must be a mistake. |
| Helena: Right, they must have the wrong order number. |
| Matěj: Maybe. Or the wrong address. |
| Helena: I'll tell them. Bye for now. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky: Martin, could you tell us something about delivery services in the Czech Republic? |
| Martin: There are several types of services available. The biggest is Česká pošta, |
| Becky: which is the “Czech Post Office.” |
| Martin: The Czech post can deliver anything from letters to big parcels, both within and outside the country. |
| Becky: Are there different companies? |
| Martin: Yes, for example Kurýr, which is more flexible, or MESSENGER, which works within the city of Prague and also delivers to Slovakia and other cities in Europe. |
| Becky: I suppose that’s more for small parcels though, right? |
| Martin: Right. |
| Becky: What’s the Czech for "post and delivery services"? |
| Martin: Poštovní a doručovatelské služby. |
| Becky: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Becky: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Martin: dodávat [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to deliver |
| Martin: dodávat[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: dodávat [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Martin: objednat [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to order |
| Martin: objednat[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: objednat [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Martin: mělký [natural native speed] |
| Becky: shallow |
| Martin: mělký[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: mělký [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Martin: dřevěný [natural native speed] |
| Becky: wooden |
| Martin: dřevěný[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: dřevěný [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Martin: obrovský [natural native speed] |
| Becky: massive |
| Martin: obrovský[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: obrovský [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Martin: komoda [natural native speed] |
| Becky: chest of drawers |
| Martin: komoda[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: komoda [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Martin: vejít se [natural native speed] |
| Becky: to fit in |
| Martin: vejít se[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: vejít se [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Martin: omyl [natural native speed] |
| Becky: mistake |
| Martin: omyl[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: omyl [natural native speed] |
| Becky: And lastly.. |
| Martin: špatný [natural native speed] |
| Becky: wrong, incorrect |
| Martin: špatný[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Martin: špatný [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: něco objednat |
| Becky: meaning "to order something." |
| Martin: Objednat is a perfective verb with several meanings in English. Něco means “something.” |
| Becky: One of the main meanings of this verb is "to order" something, in terms of products, a meal, and so on. Another meaning is "to commission" something to be done, or "to reserve" something. And lastly, the verb can also mean "to make an appointment." Can you give us an example using this verb? |
| Martin: Sure. For example, you can say.. Objednám se k zubaři. |
| Becky: ..which means "I'll make a dentist appointment. " |
| Becky: Okay, what's the next phrase? |
| Martin: To musí být |
| Becky: meaning "It must be..." |
| Martin: To- means "it, this," musí is "must, have to," and být is a verb meaning "to be." |
| Becky: It can be used to introduce a guess, or to express necessity. This phrase can also stand on its own when the meaning is "this has to be done, there is no other way." Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Martin: Sure. For example, you can say.. Ten schematický nákres musí být realný. |
| Becky: .. which means "The schematic drawing must be realistic." Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Becky: In this lesson, you'll learn how to use the simple present tense to describe an event and ask for advice. Let’s start with the simple present tense. In English, we use different tenses in the present depending on whether it's an action that happens regularly or is happening now, and they are either the simple present or the present continuous. |
| Martin: But in Czech, we have verbs that can express both using just one tense. For example, let’s look at the verb that means “to move,” which is stěhovat. Using the same tense, we can say Stěhujem se každý rok. |
| Becky: which means “We move every year.” |
| Martin: but we can also say Stěhujem se teď. |
| Becky: "We are moving now.’’ |
| Martin: In Czech, you use just one tense in the present, no matter whether the action happens regularly or is happening now. |
| Becky: The personal forms of the present tense are expressed by the endings attached to the root of the verb. When we need to distinguish whether we are talking about a general activity or a current activity, which is expressed by the present continuous in English, Czech people use time nouns. Martin, could you tell us some of these? |
| Martin: For example teď meaning “now,” or každý den meaning “every day.” |
| Becky: Sometimes the difference depends on the verb itself. |
| Martin: Right, for example, let’s consider the two verbs jít and chodit |
| Becky: They both mean “to go.” |
| Martin: While jít is mostly used for something happening now, for example, you can say jdu domů |
| Becky: meaning “I am going home”... |
| Martin: ...chodit is used to express a regular activity, for example, you can say chodím do školy |
| Becky: meaning “I go to school” on a regular basis. Since we were talking about deliveries, let’s look at the verb “to deliver.” |
| Martin: In Czech, that’s Dodávat. |
| Becky: It’s an imperfective verb and just like the examples we mentioned, this verb can also express the simple present tense or present continuous. Let’s hear a sentence with a simple present action. |
| Martin: Dodáváme čerstvé pečivo po celém městě. |
| Becky: “We deliver fresh bakery products all over town.” And now let’s hear a sentence with a present continuous action. |
| Martin: Právě dodáváme poslední dvě objednavky. |
| Becky: “Right now we are delivering the last two orders.” Notice how here, the time expression “right now” is used to distinguish the simple present and present continuous. |
| Martin: In the dialogue there’s another verb in the present tense, vypadat, |
| Becky: which means “to look like.” |
| Martin: Helena says Tohle vypadá jako obrovská komoda. |
| Becky: Which means “This looks like a massive chest of drawers,” or it could also be “This is looking like a massive chest of drawers.” |
Outro |
| Becky: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Martin: Čau. |
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