Learn the basic rules of Czech sentence structure
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Intro |
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| Antoni: How are sentences structured in Czech? |
| Veronika: And are the rules rigid? |
| Antoni: At CzechClass101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Ben Lee, a foreign-exchange student, thinks he sees a famous Czech singer as he's walking with a friend, Jozefina Jeřábková, in central Prague. He points her out to Jozefina and says, |
| "I know her, it's Helena Vondráčková!" |
| Ben Lee : Znám ji, je to Helena Vondráčková! |
| Dialogue |
| Ben Lee: Znám ji, je to Helena Vondráčková! |
| Jozefina Jeřábková : Také ji znám! |
| Antoni: Once more with the English translation. |
| Ben Lee: Znám ji, je to Helena Vondráčková! |
| Antoni: "I know her, it's Helena Vondráčková!" |
| Jozefina Jeřábková: Také ji znám! |
| Antoni: "I know her too!" |
Lesson focus |
| Antoni: In the conversation, both Ben and Jozefina use the phrase "I know her," only that, in English, Jozefina adds another word — the word for "too." You will also notice that they use different word orders for the same exact phrase. Ben uses |
| Veronika: Znám ji |
| Antoni: which means "I know her," while Jozefina reverses the order of the words: |
| Veronika: Ji znám |
| Antoni: or "Her I know." Both versions are correct, and this is because word order in Czech grammar is flexible. One might even say that it’s very loose. Generally, however, Czech is classified as an S-V-O language, much like English, only that Czech doesn’t observe the pattern as strictly. |
| [Recall 1] |
| Antoni: Let’s take a closer look at the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Ben Lee says "I know her, it's Helena Vondráčková?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Veronika as Ben Lee: Znám ji, je to Helena Vondráčková! |
| [Recall 2] |
| Antoni: Now, let’s take a look at our second sentence. |
| Do you remember how Jozefína Jeřábková says "I know her too?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Veronika as Jozefina Jeřábková : Také ji znám! |
| Antoni: Note, as mentioned, that both Ben’s and Jozefina’s versions of "I know her'' are correct, which means, in Czech, placing the object before the subject and verb is acceptable. This is as long as you make sure that the subject precedes the verb. |
| [Summary] |
| Antoni: So far, we have learned that, although Czech is primarily an S-V-O language, the words can be moved around rather freely. This is because syntactic relations depend on declension and conjugation. |
| Contrast |
| Antoni: While word order is flexible in Czech, it doesn’t necessarily mean that two similar sentences with different word orders will have the same exact meaning or translation. For instance, you have the sentence: |
| Veronika: John pozval Jane |
| Antoni: which means "John invited Jane." Here’s another one: |
| Veronika: Jane pozval John |
| Antoni: "Jane was invited by John." While the two may convey the same idea, they no longer have the same emphasis when translated to English. In the second example, the emphasis is on "John." That’s because, in Czech, the most important piece of information is often placed at the end of the sentence when using the objective word order. |
| Expansion |
| Antoni: You’ve probably noticed that Czech sometimes drops the subject from a sentence, especially in the case of personal pronouns. For instance, it is perfectly okay to say, |
| Veronika: Miluju čtení. |
| Antoni: This is literally "love to read," in Czech, although it is understood as "I love to read." In Czech, pronouns are not necessary to determine the gender of the speaker. So, don’t be surprised if a sentence is only composed of verbs and a period. |
Outro |
| Antoni: Do you have any more questions? We’re here to answer them! |
| Veronika: Na shledanou! |
| Antoni: See you soon! |
| Credits: Veronika Ageiwa (Czech, Prague), Antoni (English, synthetic voice) |
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