Learn how to use the phrase "Do you speak English?"
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| Ahoj, já jsem Veronika. Hi everybody! I am Veronika. |
| Welcome to CzechClass101.com’s “Česky za 3 minuty”. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Czech. |
| In the last lesson, we learned the most common forms of greetings in Czech. Do you remember them? |
| In this lesson you’re going to learn a very useful phrase: “Do you speak English?” |
| If you find yourself in a situation where you need assistance in English, this phrase can be a lifesaver. And because you’re asking it in Czech, you can be sure that everyone will understand what you’re saying, even if their answer is no. |
| Here's the informal way to say it. |
| Mluvíš anglicky? |
| [slowly] Mluvíš anglicky? |
| In Czech, verbs change depending on the person that they refer to. The first word is the verb, mluvíš, which means “to speak”. Because it is referring to the second person “you”, it is conjugated to mluvíš. |
| And you probably recognize “anglicky” to be “English,” though anglicky is not a noun but an adverb. |
| Mluvíš anglicky? |
| We’re now going to make this sentence formal. The person, which the verb refers to, is going to change to the formal version of “you”. Because of this, the verb will be conjugated differently. It becomes mluvíte instead of mluvíš like in the informal version. |
| Everything else stays the same: |
| Mluvíte anglicky? |
| [slowly] Mluvíte anglicky? |
| If you add Promiňte, "excuse me", the sentence becomes even more polite: |
| Promiňte, mluvíte anglicky? |
| [slowly] Promiňte, mluvíte anglicky? |
| The responses you will receive could be one of these three: |
| Ano. "Yes." |
| [slowly] Ano. |
| Trochu. "A little." |
| [slowly] Trochu. |
| Ne, nemluvím anglicky. "No, I don’t speak English." |
| [slowly] Ne, nemluvím anglicky. |
| Since this last one is a negative statement, we need to attach ne to the verb mluvit. Notice also that the form, mluvím, is slightly different than mluvit. Remember, the verb changes depending on the person it refers to. We are now talking about ourselves. Thus “I do not speak” is: |
| Nemluvím. |
| Now it’s time for Veronika’s Insights. |
| For those of you who are not only English speakers, you can obviously use this question with any language you need. Czech people study other European languages at school, so maybe you will get lucky! Just substitute anglicky with... |
| Italsky for ”Italian.” |
| Rusky for “Russian.” |
| Španělsky for “Spanish.” |
| Francouzsky for “French.” |
| In this lesson we mentioned the expression Promiňte. But did you know that this could also be used as an apology? In the next lesson we will learn this and other ways to apologize in Czech. It’s never too late to show your good manners with Czech people! |
| I'll see you in our next Česky za 3 minuty lesson. |
| Ahoj! |
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