Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
In this lesson, we’ll cover basic greetings for the appropriate time of day. As there are quite a few to cover, let's jump right in.
We’re going to start with the more formal ones first.
GRAMMAR POINT
The universal greeting is “Good day“. You can use it any time of the day.
Dobrý den.
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Dob-rý den.
Once more:
Dobrý den.
The first word, dobrý, means “good.”
(slow) Dob-rý.
Dobrý.
The second word means “day”. Here it is again:
(slow) Den.
Den.
In Czech, “Good morning” is
Dobré ráno.
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Dob-ré rá-no.
Once more:
Dobré ráno.
The first word, dobré, means “good.”
(slow) Dob-ré.
Dobré.
And the second word, Ráno, means “morning”. Here it is again:
(slow) Rá-no.
Ráno.
Let’s break it down again:
(slow) Dob-ré rá-no.
Dobré ráno.
The adjectives in the Czech language can be expressed in masculine, feminine, and neutral forms. This is the reason for the different variations of the word “good”. Dobrý means “good”, it’s a masculine form. Dobré also means “good”, but it is a neutral form. The form of adjective depends on the form of the following noun.
In Czech, "Good afternoon" is
Dobré odpoledne.
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Dob-ré od-po-led-ne.
Once more:
Dobré odpoledne.
Dobré, as we’ve already mentioned, means “good.”
The second word, odpoledne, means “afternoon.”
(slow) Od-po-led-ne.
Odpoledne.
All together, that’s
(slow) Dob-ré od-po-led-ne.
Dobré odpoledne.
In Czech, “Good evening” is
Dobrý večer.
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Dob-rý ve-čer.
Once more:
Dobrý večer.
Here we have dobrý again.
The second word, večer, means “evening.”
(slow) Ve-čer.
Večer.
All together, that’s
(slow) Dob-rý ve-čer.
Dobrý večer.
“Good night” is
Dobrou noc.
This expression is a parting greeting, and just like in English, it’s also said before going to sleep.
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Dob-rou noc.
Once more:
Dobrou noc.
The first word, dobrou, means “good.”
(slow) Dob-rou.
Dobrou.
The second word, noc, means “night.”
(slow) Noc.
Noc.
Once again, that’s:
(slow) Dob-rou noc.
Dobrou noc.
Sometimes Czechs tend to use shorter versions of formal greetings. Very often, you can hear just dobrou instead of dobrou noc - which means “good night”.
As you may have noticed, dobrou also means “good”, but it is the feminine form.
All of these expressions can be used in informal and formal situations as well. However, with friends, feel free to use other methods of greeting. Let’s take a look at them.
The most common way of saying “Hello” in Czech is
Ahoj!
(slow) A-hoj!
Ahoj!
Use this word with your friends and with young people.
Another common way to say “Hi” is Čau! pronounced a little like in Italian.
(slow) Čau!
Čau!
Both Ahoj! and Čau! are parting expressions as well.

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