INTRODUCTION |
In this lesson, we’re going to cover counting zero through ten. When it comes to numbers, the Czech language has some peculiarities, but there is nothing difficult about them. |
GRAMMAR POINT |
Let’s see what it’s all about. |
0 Nula. |
(slow) Nu-la. |
Nula. |
1 Jedna. |
(slow) Jed-na. |
Jedna. |
If the thing you’re counting is masculine, you should say: |
Jeden. |
(slow) Je-den. |
Jeden. |
2 Dva. |
(slow) Dva. |
Dva. |
And if the thing you’re count is feminine, you should say: |
Dvě |
(slow) Dvě. |
Dvě. |
3 Tři. |
(slow) Tři. |
Tři. |
4 Čtyři. |
(slow) Čty-ři. |
Čty-ři. |
5 Pět. |
(slow) Pět. |
Pět. |
6 Šest. |
(slow) Šest. |
Šest. |
7 Sedm. |
(slow) Se-dm. |
Sedm. |
8 Osm. |
(slow) Osm. |
Osm. |
9 Devět. |
(slow) De-vět. |
Devět. |
10 Deset. |
(slow) De-set. |
Deset. |
As you heard, the words for the numbers one and two have two versions: one if the thing you’re counting is masculine and another if the thing you’re counting is feminine. |
So, if you want to say “one woman” you should say |
Jedna žena. |
(slow) Jed-na že-na. |
And if you want to say “one man”, you should say |
Jeden muž. |
(slow) Je-den muž. |
Now let’s hear the translation for “two women”. Because the word “women” is feminine, you will use dvě to count. |
Dvě ženy. |
(slow) Dvě že-ny. |
“Two men” would be: |
Dva muži. |
(slow) Dva mu-ži. |
Now let’s hear an example with the number three. |
“Three women” is: |
Tři ženy. |
Let’s break it down: |
(slow) Tři že-ny. |
Once more: |
Tři ženy. |
“Three men” will be: |
Tři muži. |
(slow) Tři mu-ži. |
The gender changes only when the numbers one or two are used. |
Let’s hear the counting for feminine words again. |
Jedna žena. “one woman.” |
Dvě ženy. “two women.” |
Tři ženy. “three women.” |
Now for masculine: |
Jeden muž. “one man.” |
Dva muži.“two men.” |
Tři muži.“three men.” |
Numbers are extremely useful, especially when you’re shopping. |
Now let’s imagine you buy two bottles of wine. You will wish to say... |
“Two bottles of wine, please.” |
Dvě lahve vína, prosím. |
Let’s break it down: |
(slow) Dvě lah-ve ví-na, pro-sím. |
Once more: |
Dvě lahve vína, prosím. |
Dvě, as you already know, is the feminine form for the number “two.” |
Lahve means “bottles.” |
(slow) Lah-ve. |
Lahve. |
Víno as you may remember from our previous lessons, means “wine.” |
(slow) Ví-no. |
Víno. |
Of course we have prosím at the end translated as “please”. |
The whole request, then, is |
Dvě lahve víno, prosím. |
・ |
Now let’s imagine you buy one loaf of bread. The bread is called in Czech chleba. The phrase will sound like this: |
Jeden chleba, prosím. The English translation will literally be: |
“One bread, please.” |
Let’s break that down: |
(slow) Je-den chle-ba, pro-sím. |
Once again: |
Jeden chleba, prosím. |
Jeden means “one.” |
Chleba as was mentioned before means “bread.” |
(slow) Chle-ba. |
Chleba. |
At the end there is prosím which means “please”. |
All together, it’s |
Jeden chleba, prosím. |
Comments
Hide