Learn how to ask where you can buy something
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Have you ever been in a city you didn’t know at all, desperately searching for something you couldn’t find? I certainly have! I wandered around without knowing where to find a bus ticket, a phone, or even a restroom! But don’t worry—with our Survival Phrases, you’ll always be able to get the information or help in the Czech Republic. |
| In this lesson we’ll introduce you to some phrases that will help you track down whatever you need. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| “Where do I find [something]?” in Czech is |
| Kde najdu? |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) Kde naj-du? |
| One more time: |
| Kde najdu? |
| The first word kde means “where.” |
| (slow) Kde. |
| Kde. |
| Next we have najdu, a form of the verb translated in English as “to find”. |
| (slow) Naj-du. |
| Najdu. |
| Then you add the item or place you are looking for. |
| All together that’s |
| (slow) Kde naj-du? |
| Once more: |
| Kde najdu? |
| ・ |
| Let’s look for some things you might need to find when traveling abroad. Imagine you’re walking around in Prague and you need a bus ticket. In this case all you have to do is to add after Kde najdu the item you are searching for. |
| “Where can I find bus tickets?” in Czech is |
| Kde najdu jízdenky na autobus? |
| (slow) Kde najdu jízdenky na autobus? |
| Kde najdu jízdenky na autobus? |
| Jízdenky is the plural form of jízdenka and means “tickets”. |
| (slow) Jízdenky |
| Jízdenky |
| ・ |
| Let’s say you are in a supermarket and you cannot find water. In this case ask: |
| Kde najdu vodu? “Where do I find water?” |
| (slow) Kde naj-du vo-du? |
| Kde najdu vodu? |
| With this structure, you can find anything you are looking for. |
| ・ |
| Another phrase that will be helpful for you is: |
| Kde je...? which is translated as “Where is...?”. Use this phrase when asking for the things you are looking for and also for finding a location. Imagine you’re looking for the subway station. “Where is a subway station?” would be Kde je stanice metra? |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) Kde je sta-ni-ce met-ra? |
| Again at natural speed: |
| Kde je stanice metra? |
| The first word is kde meaning “where”. |
| The next word, je is a form of the verb which means “to be”. |
| Next we have stanice meaning “a station”. |
| (slow) Sta-ni-ce. |
| Stanice. |
| At the end, there is metra which is literally translated as “of subway”. |
| (slow) Met-ra. |
| Metra. |
| The whole phrase is literally translated |
| “Where is a subway station?” |
| Kde je stanice metra? |
| ・ |
| To ask about another thing, just replace stanice metra with the item you are looking for, and people will understand you perfectly. For example, you can ask |
| “Where is a movie theater?” In Czech, this is.. |
| Kde je kino? |
| (slow) Kde je ki-no? |
| Kde je kino? |
| The word kino means “a movie theater”, or “cinema”. |
| (slow) Ki-no. |
| Kino. |
| Replace the word kino with any other location and the little question will definitely help you to find what you want. |
| Lastly, remember that you can add the phrase for “excuse me”, promiňte, before the question to make it more polite: |
| “Excuse me, where is a movie theater?” |
| Promiňte, kde je kino? |
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