Learn the most common way to say "thank you"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Hello! [Hello in Czech]! My name is Martin. and I'll be your language teacher and cultural guide throughout this introductory course. |
| Wherever your destination may be, manners are a must! The Czech Republic is no different. So in our very first lesson, we'll be teaching you simple expressions that are bound to come in handy throughout your trip to the Czech Republic. I can’t stress this enough: A little a bit of language can go a long way! |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| In Czech, the most simple way of saying “Thank you” is |
| Děkuji. |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) Dě-ku-ji. |
| Once more: |
| Děkuji. |
| “Děkuji” is a verb, and the dictionary form is “děkovat” which in English will be translated as “to thank”. So literally translated, the word “děkuji” means “(I) thank”. |
| Another simple and common way of saying “Thank you” is the word Díky. It is a bit similar to the English “thanks”. |
| Let’s break it down |
| ( slow)Dí-ky (the first syllable is longer than the second one) |
| ( once more) |
| Díky |
| There will be occasions when you will want to express your gratitude in a more polite and appreciable manner. When that happens, you should use the expression “Moc děkuji”. |
| Let’s break that down: |
| (slow) Moc dě-ku-ji. |
| Once more: |
| Moc děkuji. |
| The first word “moc” means “a lot” or “much”, so the English equivalent for “Moc děkuji” is “Thank (you) a lot” but the word order is opposite. You can also say “Děkuji moc” and the meaning will stay the same. |
| To show deeper gratitude, especially to a specific person, you can say “Velmi vám děkuji” which in English will be translated as “Thank you very much”. |
| The word “Velmi” literally means “very” and “vám” is translated as “(to) you”. |
| Let’s break that down: |
| (slow) Vel-mi vám dě-ku-ji. |
| Once more: |
| Velmi vám děkuji. |
| In the Czech Republic, you will probably also hear the word Děkuju many times every day. Děkuju has basically the same meaning as děkuji. Děkuju is officially not a correct expression, but it is a kind of accent change. And anyway, people use děkuju very often, especially in daily casual conversation. |
| (slow) Děkuju |
| Děkuju |
| Here is another expression for showing gratitude using the word díky just by replacing děkuji in the expression děkuji moc. And we get: |
| Díky moc |
| (slow) Dí-ky moc |
| Díky moc |
| It means something like “thanks a lot”. Here the position of the word moc is also not strictly fixed. You can say either díky moc or moc díky. |
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