Vocabulary (Review)

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Lesson Transcript

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 phrase Promiňte, mluvíte anglicky? which means "Excuse me, do you speak English?" We mentioned the word Promiňte, which means "excuse me" in formal Czech.
In this lesson you’re going to learn how to use Promiňte and other words when apologizing in Czech.
We should use Promiňte in formal situations, such as when asking for a seat on a train. For example:
Promiňte, je tady volno? which means "Excuse me, is this seat free?"
We can also use it when asking another question:
Promiňte, kde je tady východ? which means "Excuse me, where is the exit, please?"
Sometimes we also hear people say Prosím vás, which means the same thing when you want to draw somebody's attention. We use this phrase in formal speech.
[slowly] Prosím vás.
The informal way to say "excuse me" is Prosím tě
[slowly] Prosím tě.
Just like Prosím vás, we can use Prosím tě when asking a question.
Maybe you already remember from lesson one that Tě and vás mean “you” in the accusative case. Tě is the informal version and vás is formal.
If you really want to apologize for something, it might be better to use a different phrase.
That phrase is Omlouvám se. It means “I am sorry.” and can be used in both formal and informal situations.
[slowly] Omlouvám se.
First we have omlouvám, from the Czech verb for “to apologize”, omlouvat. When this is conjugated for “I” in Czech, it is omlouvám. Se is used in the reflexive form of the verb omlouvat.
Now it’s time for Veronika’s Insights.
Please remember that in the Czech Republic if you accidentally bump into someone, we don’t say “I am sorry,” which is Omlouvám se; instead we say Promiňte or Promiň.
Are you able to count in Czech? In the next lesson we will learn the numbers in Czech from one to ten!
I'll be waiting for you in our next Česky za 3 minuty lesson.
Ahoj příště!!

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