Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Becky: Hi everyone, and welcome back to CzechClass101.com. This is Beginner Season 1 Lesson 18 - What's Your Big Czech Secret? Becky Here.
Martin: Ahoj! I'm Martin.
Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn about exploring the past - past tense review and sequential adverbs. The conversation takes place outside the house.
Martin: It's between Jitka and Matěj.
Becky: The speakers are friends, therefore, they will speak informal Czech. Okay, let's listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Jitka: Jé, Matěji, tebe jsem dlouho neviděla. Ty ses odstěhoval?
Matěj: Jé, ahoj. Ne, byl jsem dlouho pryč. Nejdřív v Nizozemí, potom chvíli v Norsku a teď jsem zase tady.
Jitka: Aha. A co jsi dělal v Nizozemí?
Matěj: Studoval jsem a pak pracoval.
Jitka: To je super. A proč jsi šel do Norska?
Matěj: No, jak to říct...potkal jsem holku.
Jitka: Aha, ona je Norka?
Matěj: Jo, Norka. Teď bydlíme tady.
Jitka: Jo? A jak jste se poznali?
Matěj: Noo....víš co....To je tajemstvi.
Becky: Listen to the conversation one time slowly.
Jitka: Jé, Matěji, tebe jsem dlouho neviděla. Ty ses odstěhoval?
Matěj: Jé, ahoj. Ne, byl jsem dlouho pryč. Nejdřív v Nizozemí, potom chvíli v Norsku a teď jsem zase tady.
Jitka: Aha. A co jsi dělal v Nizozemí?
Matěj: Studoval jsem a pak pracoval.
Jitka: To je super. A proč jsi šel do Norska?
Matěj: No, jak to říct...potkal jsem holku.
Jitka: Aha, ona je Norka?
Matěj: Jo, Norka. Teď bydlíme tady.
Jitka: Jo? A jak jste se poznali?
Matěj: Noo....víš co....To je tajemstvi.
Becky: Listen to the conversation with the English translation.
Jitka: Hey, Matěji. Haven't seen you in a long time. Have you moved out?
Matěj: Hey, hi. No, I was away for a long time. First in the Netherlands, then in Norway for a while, and now I'm back.
Jitka: I see. What did you do in the Netherlands?
Matěj: I was working and studying.
Jitka: That's great. And why did you go to Norway?
Matěj: Well, how should I say it....I met a girl.
Jitka: I see. She is Norwegian?
Matěj: Yep, Norwegian. We live here now.
Jitka: Really? And how did you meet?
Matěj: Well......you know......That's a secret.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Becky: That was a lot of traveling! He went to three different countries, including the Czech Republic. Do Czechs like traveling?
Martin: After the borders were opened in 1989 due to the Velvet Revolution, traveling to the West became possible and very popular.
Becky: How many people emigrated to a new country after 1989?
Martin: About 1.7 million went to the USA, with Canada as the second most popular destination.
Becky: Are there many Czech people living abroad?
Martin: About 2.2 million, now. The UK is also a very popular destination.
Becky: Do they intend to live abroad permanently or to come home at some point?
Martin: According to a Czech “return project,” Czech nationals want to return home more than any other nationality do.
Becky: That’s interesting. Do you know why that is?
Martin: Mainly for their family and friends.
Becky: I guess that even though they live abroad, they must keep in contact with people back home and watch closely what is happening in the Czech Republic.
Martin: Yes, they do.
Becky: Okay, now onto the vocab.
VOCAB LIST
Becky: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is...
Martin: odstěhovat [natural native speed]
Becky: to move away
Martin: odstěhovat[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Martin: odstěhovat [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have...
Martin: pryč [natural native speed]
Becky: away, out of, gone
Martin: pryč[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Martin: pryč [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have...
Martin: nejdřív [natural native speed]
Becky: first, firstly
Martin: nejdřív[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Martin: nejdřív [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have...
Martin: potom [natural native speed]
Becky: then, after that, thereafter
Martin: potom[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Martin: potom [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have...
Martin: teď [natural native speed]
Becky: now
Martin: teď[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Martin: teď [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have...
Martin: dělat [natural native speed]
Becky: to do, to make
Martin: dělat[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Martin: dělat [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have...
Martin: říct [natural native speed]
Becky: to say, to tell
Martin: říct[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Martin: říct [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have...
Martin: poznat se [natural native speed]
Becky: to get to know, to meet
Martin: poznat se[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Martin: poznat se [natural native speed]
Becky: Next we have..
Martin: vědět [natural native speed]
Becky: to know, to be aware
Martin: vědět[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Martin: vědět [natural native speed]
Becky: And last..
Martin: tajemstvi [natural native speed]
Becky: secret
Martin: tajemstvi[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Martin: tajemstvi [natural native speed]
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Becky: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is..
Martin: nejdřív... potom...
Becky: meaning "First... then..." What can you tell us about this?
Martin: Nejdřív and Potom are part of the sequential adverbs group.
Becky: These adverbs are important if we want to talk about when things happened and in what order.
Martin: Yes, they make explaining order much easier.
Becky: Where in a sentence are these words usually used?
Martin: Either at the beginning of the sentence, or at the beginning of the clause.
Becky: Can you give us an example using this word?
Martin: Sure.For example, you can say, Nejdřív si umyj ruce, pak teprve jez.
Becky: ...which means "First wash your hands, only then eat. "
Becky: Okay, what's the next word?
Martin: Jak to říct...
Becky: meaning "How should I say it..." What can you tell us about this phrase?
Martin: Jak means "how," to means "it” or “that," and říct - means "say."
Becky: So it’s literally “how to say it.”
Martin: Yes. We use this phrase when we are hesitating to give a reply.
Becky: It softens the blow of what we are about to say. Can you give us one last example using this phrase?
Martin: Sure. For example, you can say, No, jak to jen říct, nehodí se to.
Becky: ...which means "Well, how to say it, it's not suitable. "
Martin: Jak to vysvětlit… meaning "How to explain this...'' can be used in the same way.
Becky: Okay, what's the next word?
Martin: Víš co...
Becky: meaning "You know…." What can you tell us about this phrase?
Martin: Víš is the imperative form of the verb vědět, meaning "to know," and co- means "what."
Becky: How is this used?
Martin: This is used in everyday speech. It’s similar to the English phrase “you know.”
Becky: Oh, so it’s one of those phrases we use in spoken language that doesn’t really carry much meaning.
Martin: That’s right.
Becky: Can you give us an example using this word?
Martin: Sure. For example, you can say, No, víš co, nebavilo mě to.
Becky: ...which means "Well, you know, I wasn't into it. "
Becky: Okay, now onto the lesson focus.

Lesson focus

Becky: In this lesson, you'll learn about exploring the past - past tense review and sequential adverbs. Let’s start by reviewing the past tense. In a previous lesson, we said that the past tense in Czech covers the three English past tenses.
Martin: Yes, and conjugating the past tense follows a regular pattern.
Becky: Let’s look at those conjugations in more detail.
Martin: For verbs that end in -at, you remove the last letter and conjugate it with l, or, la, or lo according to gender.
Becky: Let’s hear an example using the Czech verb for “to study.”
Martin: Studovat becomes studoval, studovala or studovalo.
Becky: How about the next group of verbs?
Martin: For verbs that end in -nout, replace -nout with ,-nul after a vowel and with -l after a consonant.
Becky: Let’s hear examples using “to miss” and “to manage,” respectively.
Martin: Minout becomes minul, minula and minulo. Zvládnout becomes zvládl, zvládla and zvládlo.
Becky: How about with verbs in plural form?
Martin: The masculine animate form will end in -li. The masculine inanimate and feminine will end in -ly, and neutral is -la. This changes to -ly in spoken form.
Becky: The worst part of conjugating verbs are those annoying irregular verbs.
Martin: That’s true. There are a few in Czech, and a good example is jit.
Becky: This means “to go.” How do we say “I went” when using the masculine form?
Martin: Já jsem šel, with šel being the past tense.
Becky: That’s quite different! There’s a table in the lesson notes with the other past tense conjugations for this verb. Finally, let’s look at some sequential adverbs.
Martin: They can be used at the start of a sentence, or in the middle at the beginning of a new clause.
Becky: Can we have some example sentences?
Martin: Nejdřív se najíme, potom půjdem ven.
Becky: “First we’ll eat, after that we’ll go out.”
Martin: Poprvé jsme tam byli loni, podruhé letos.
Becky: “For the first time we were there last year, for the second time this year.”
Martin: There are some words that can go at the end of the sentence. An example is Teď nemůžu, zavolej mi později.
Becky: "Now I can’t, call me later."

Outro

Becky: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye!
Martin: Čau.

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