Learn Czech from scratch!
Lesson 1 · Hodina 1

Czech alphabet and basic reading rules

Letter	Letter name	Approximate sound equivalent in English
А а	a krátké	short a (like in cut or cup)
Á á	á dlouhé	long a (like in father)
B b	bé	b
C c	cé	ts (like in tsar or cats)
Č č	čé	ch (like in chair)
D d	dé (tvrdé)	d
Ď ď	dě (měkké)	soft d (palatalized, like in duty)
Е е	e krátké	short e (like in pet)
É é	é dlouhé	long e (like in there without the ‘r’ sound)
Ě ě	ije	ye (like in yes)
F f	ef	f
G g	gé	hard g (like in go)
H h	há	voiced h (like in ahead)
CH ch	chá	guttural ch (like in Scottish loch or German Bach)
I i	i měkké krátké	short i (like in sit)
Í í	í měkké dlouhé	long ee (like in see)
J j	jé	y (like in yes)
K k	ká	k
L l	el	l (alveolar, slightly softer than English l)
M m	em	m
N n	en	n
Ň ň	eň	soft n (palatalized, like in canyon)
O o	o krátké	short o (like in pot)
Ó ó	ó dlouhé	long o (like in more without the ‘r’)
P p	pé	p
Q q	kvé	kv
R r	er	rolled r (trilled)
Ř ř	eř	rolled r + zh/sh (a unique Czech sound)
S s	es	s (like in sit)
Š š	eš	sh (like in shoe)
T t	té (tvrdé)	t
Ť ť	tě (měkké)	soft t (palatalized, like in tube)
U u	u krátké	short oo (like in book)
Ú ú	ú dlouhé	long oo (like in moon)
Ů ů	ú s kroužkem	long oo (like in moon)
V v	vé	v
W w	vé dvojité	v
X x	iks	ks, gz
Y y	y tvrdé krátké	short i (pronounced exactly like Czech i)
Ý ý	ý tvrdé dlouhé	long ee (pronounced exactly like Czech í)
Z z	zet	z
Ž ž	žet	zh (like ‘s’ in pleasure)

We will analyze these letters in more detail in lessons 1-4.

Lesson 1

Letters A E O U B D J K L M N S T Stress. The copula

A a

O o

K k

T t

M m

Takt (rhythm/tact). Kam? (where to?). Tam (there). Tok (stream, flow). Oko (eye). Matka (mother).

The stress in the Czech language always falls on the first syllable:

atom kakao Oka Ota matka Kama

Stressed and unstressed vowels are pronounced equally clearly.

E e

U u

D d

L l

N n

Ema (name Ema), ekonom (economist), Don (the Don river), k Donu (to the Don), doma (at home), Kladno (city of Kladno), okno (window), ano (yes), Dukla (Dukla - a Czech sports club, etc.).

Czech e is pronounced like the English short [e] in ‘pet’: te, de, ne, me.

Ela (name Ela), Ele (Ele - the name Ela in the dative case), kolo (wheel, bicycle), na kole (on a bicycle), lak (varnish/lacquer), led (ice), element (element), leden (January), nedaleko (not far), talent (talent).

Czech l is pronounced slightly softer than the English dark [l] in ball, but harder than the clear [l] in leaf (it’s an alveolar lateral).

Ela Ele kolo na kole lak led element leden nedaleko talent

B b		S s		J j
Bajkal banka bok		sad Omsk nos		boj nalij dejte

Buk a dub. (Beech (tree) and oak.) Dunaj a Labe. (The Danube and the Labe/Elbe river.) Sad u domu. (An orchard by the house.) Dnes budeme doma. (Today we will be at home.) Dejte mu kolo. (Give him the bicycle.) Nalijte Ele kakao. (Pour Ele some cocoa.) Dej mu ten lak. (Give him that varnish.)

The combinations ja, je, jo, ju are pronounced like ya, ye, yo, yu in English: Jalta, Jan, Jelena, jedu, jod, juta.

Kam jedete? (Where are you going?) Jedu s Janem k Ele. (I am going with Jan to Ele.) — Kde je Jelena? (Where is Jelena?) Jela do Kladna. (She went to Kladno.) Je to daleko? (Is it far?) Ano. (Yes.) — Dejte mu jablko. (Give him an apple.)

The copula verb (jsem, jsi, je, jsme, jste, jsou) in the Czech language is used not only in the past or future, but also in the present tense.

Compare:

Tо je teta Ema.
Tо je moje matka.
Kdo je to?

This is aunt Ema.
This is my mother.
Who is this?

Prepositions

A word following a one-syllable preposition (do, na, u, od...) loses its stress; in this case, the stress shifts to the preposition: do Kladna, na kole, u domu, od Jana.

Exercises

1. Read aloud with the correct stress:

Matka. Teta. Dukla. Kladno. Dunaj. Labe. Doma. Okno. Kakao. Oko. Kolo. Daleko. Talent. Do Kladna. Od Kladna. U Omska. U Labe. Nad Dunajem. Na Bajkale. Od Jana.

2. Read aloud:

a) Den, deska, dnes, ten model, letos, sen, seno. Jedu, jede, jedete, jedeme. Nesu, nese, nesete, neseme. Jdu, jde, jdete, jdeme. Dej, dejte. Nalij, nalijte.

b) Letos jedu do Omska. Moje matka dnes jede do Kladna. Jedeme daleko. Dnes budu doma. Jelena bude doma. Budeme v tom sadu. Nesu mu lak. Jan nese Ele jablka. Nalij mu kakao. Tam je ten sad. U sadu je banka. Je to daleko.

3. Read the dialogues (in pairs):

— Kdo je tam?
— Matka.

— Kde je Ema?
— Jela do Kladna.

— Je tam teta Ela?
— Ano, je.

— Je to daleko?
— Ne. Jela tam na kole.

— Kde je Jan?
— Doma.

— Kam letos jedete?
— Na Jaltu. Jedeme tam s Janem.

— Kam jdete?
— Do sadu tam u Dunaje.

— Je Eva doma?
— Je.

4. Insert the copula verb:

Kde matka? Teta doma. Kdo to? To moje matka. Kde ta banka? Ta banka tam u sadu. To Dunaj. To Labe.

Klíč

5. Choose the appropriate answers:

Kdo je to?

Co je to?

Kam jedete?

Kam jdete?

Je tam Jelena?

Budete dnes doma?

Je ten sad daleko?

Klíč

6. Translate into Czech:

Who is this? This is my aunt. — Where is Jan? He is at home. — Where are you going? I am going to Kladno. — Is it far? Yes. — Will you be at home today? Yes, we will.

Klíč

7. Answer aloud:

Kdo je tam? Kdo je dnes doma? Kde je teta? Kam jede Ela? Kam jedete? Je to daleko? Budete dnes doma? Je Jan doma? Co je to? Jdete k Ele? Nesete mu jablka? Kde je ten sad?

Klíč