Learn how to ask "Can you speak English?"
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| INTRODUCTION |
| In this lesson we’ll cover another extremely important phrase: "Do you speak English?" Using this phrase is important for many reasons. For one, if the party you’re speaking to doesn’t understand English, at least they’ll be able to understand what you’re asking. Furthermore, it shows a lot of respect on your part, because you’ve made an effort to learn even a little bit of the language. For these reasons and many more, we’re going to cover this very important phrase. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| In Czech, "Do you speak English?" is |
| Mluvíte anglicky? |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) Mlu-ví-te ang-lic-ky? |
| Once more: |
| Mluvíte anglicky? |
| Mluvíte is a form of the verb translated as “to speak” or “to talk.” |
| (slow) Mlu-ví-te. |
| Mluvíte. |
| The word for “English" is Anglicky. |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) Ang-lic-ky. |
| Anglicky. |
| The whole phrase is: |
| (slow) Mlu-ví-te ang-lic-ky? |
| Mluvíte anglicky? |
| These phrases that we just learned are formal. Use them with people that you don’t know or with people older than you. |
| To young people, of course, you can feel free to address informally. So you will say: |
| Mluvíš anglicky? |
| As you’ve already observed, the difference between the two expressions Mluvíte anglicky? and Mluvíš anglicky? is small, but you have to pay attention because it completely changes the formality level. |
| Let’s break the whole phrase down: |
| (slow) Mlu-víš ang-lic-ky? |
| Once more: |
| Mluvíš anglicky? |
| Now for a change, let's try different languages that are frequently taught in Czech schools |
| “Do you speak French?" is |
| Mluvíte francouzsky? |
| The word for “French" is |
| Francouzsky. |
| Let’s break it down: |
| (slow) Fran-couz-sky. |
| Francouzsky. |
| The whole phrase is: |
| (slow) Mlu-ví-te fran-couz-sky? |
| Mluvíte francouzsky? |
| Now let’s try with German. |
| Mluvíte německy? |
| (slow) Mluvíte německy? |
| The word německy means “German.” |
| When you ask the question “Do you speak English?” in Czech there is a big possibility you’ll get the answer in Czech. |
| Here are few ways of answering this question. |
| “Yes, I speak English” would be |
| Ano, mluvím anglicky. |
| Let’s hear that slowly now: |
| (slow) Ano, mluvím anglicky. |
| And one more time at natural native speed: |
| Ano, mluvím anglicky. |
| The first word, ano, means “yes.” |
| (slow) Ano. |
| Ano. |
| After this comes mluvím which is a conjugated form of the verb translated in English as “to speak” or “to talk”. |
| (slow) mluvím |
| mluvím |
| Finally, we have anglicky, which means English. |
| All together, that’s |
| (slow) Ano, mluvím anglicky. |
| Ano, mluvím anglicky. |
| This phrase could be made shorter, just by saying “yes”: |
| Ano. |
| If the answer is negative, Czech people could say “No, I don’t speak English”: |
| Ne, nemluvím anglicky. |
| Let’s break it down by syllable: |
| (slow) Ne, nemluvím anglicky. |
| And again at natural native speed: |
| Ne, nemluvím anglicky. |
| The first word, ne, means “no”. |
| (slow) Ne. |
| Ne. |
| Next we have nemluvím, the form for “don’t speak”. |
| (slow) nemluvím |
| nemluvím |
| And finally the word anglicky which means “English.” |
| All together, that’s |
| (slow) Ne, nemluvím anglicky. |
| Ne, nemluvím anglicky. |
| Sometimes, people will answer only with “no”, which in Czech is: |
| Ne. |
| (slow) Ne. |
| Ne. |
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