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Lesson Transcript

Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 19 - Big Trouble at a Czech Airport
INTRODUCTION
Michael: Hi everyone, and welcome back to CzechClass101.com. This is Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 19 - Big Trouble at a Czech Airport. Michael, here.
Veronika: Ahoj, I'm Veronika.
Michael: In this lesson, you’ll learn about numerals. The conversation takes place at the luggage reclamation desk.
Veronika: It's between Tomas Tvrdik and an office clerk.
Michael: The speakers are strangers in a customer service context, therefore, they will speak formal Czech. Okay, let's listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
TOMÁŠ TVRDIK: To snad není možné. Čekám tady už půl hodiny. Kde je zaměstnanec z přepážky reklamace zavazadel?
HANA HORNIKOVA: Tady jsem. Jaký máte problém?
TOMÁŠ TVRDIK: Ztratil se mi kufr. Přiletěl jsem z Paříže, ale můj kufr tu není!
HANA HORNIKOVA: Jak váš kufr vypadá? Můžete ho popsat? Měl jste ho označený vaším jménem?
TOMÁŠ TVRDIK: Je to velký plastový kufr a má modrou barvu.
HANA HORNIKOVA: Můžete mi popsat, co jste měl uvnitř?
TOMÁŠ TVRDIK: V kufru mám šatstvo - troje kalhoty, dvoje boty, jedny drahé hodinky. A jídlo.
HANA HORNIKOVA: Vy v kufru vezete jídlo?
TOMÁŠ TVRDIK: Ano, nakoupil jsem ve Francii kvalitní potraviny - celou bagetu, půlku chleba, čtvrtku salámu, cukroví, nějaké sýry...
HANA HORNIKOVA: Sýry? To budeme muset váš kufr rychle najít, jinak bude hodně zapáchat!
Michael: Listen to the conversation with the English translation
Michael: To snad není možné. Čekám tady už půl hodiny. Kde je zaměstnanec z přepážky reklamace zavazadel?
Michael: This is not possible! I have been waiting for half an hour. Where is the clerk from the luggage reclamation desk?
HANA HORNIKOVA: Tady jsem. Jaký máte problém?
Michael: Here I am. What is your problem?
TOMÁŠ TVRDIK: Ztratil se mi kufr. Přiletěl jsem z Paříže, ale můj kufr tu není!
Michael: My luggage is missing. I flew from Paris but my luggage is not here.
HANA HORNIKOVA: Jak váš kufr vypadá? Můžete ho popsat? Měl jste ho označený vaším jménem?
Michael: What does your luggage look like? Can you describe it? Did you have it marked with your name?
TOMÁŠ TVRDIK: Je to velký plastový kufr a má modrou barvu.
Michael: It's a large plastic suitcase and it has a blue color.
HANA HORNIKOVA: Můžete mi popsat, co jste měl uvnitř?
Michael: Can you describe what you have inside?
TOMÁŠ TVRDIK: V kufru mám šatstvo - troje kalhoty, dvoje boty, jedny drahé hodinky. A jídlo.
Michael: I have mostly clothing in my suitcase - three pairs of pants, two pairs of shoes, one pair of expensive watches. And then food.
HANA HORNIKOVA: Vy v kufru vezete jídlo?
Michael: Are you carrying food in the suitcase?
TOMÁŠ TVRDIK: Ano, nakoupil jsem ve Francii kvalitní potraviny - celou bagetu, půlku chleba, čtvrtku
Michael: Yes, I bought some quality food in France - a whole baguette, half of bread, quarter of sausage, sweets, some cheeses…
HANA HORNIKOVA: Sýry? To budeme muset váš kufr rychle najít, jinak bude hodně zapáchat!
Michael: Cheeses? We'll have to find your luggage quickly, otherwise it will smell very bad!
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Michael: What can you tell us about how Czechs travel abroad?
Veronika: Things have changed a lot! In the 1990s, Czechs traveled to Paris on old buses and slept in the cheapest places they could find—even in tents!
Michael: Now, they travel by luxury buses and sleep in decent hotels.
Veronika: After the border was opened in 1990, the Czechs wanted to travel to the West as much as possible.
Michael: Previously they hadn’t been able to. So that’s why they would travel in the cheapest way possible.
Veronika: The tents were also popular at that time for summer vacations in Croatia. The vacations were also self-catered.
Michael: People would take bags full of their own food with them. I guess that now, Czechs go to restaurants when they’re on vacation instead.
Veronika: That’s right! After the year 2000, Czechs also began to have more interest in exotic destinations. To learn more about this, I recommend watching the movie Účastníci zájezdu
Michael: “Holiday Makers.” This is a Czech comedy film based on the 1996 novel:
Veronika: Účastníci zájezdu
Michael: “The Sightseers.”
Veronika: This was written by the famous writer Michal Viewegh.
Michael: The film was released in 2006. Okay, now onto the vocab.
VOCAB LIST
Michael: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is..
Veronika: přepážka [natural native speed]
Michael: desk
Veronika: přepážka[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Veronika: přepážka [natural native speed]
Michael: Next we have..
Veronika: reklamace [natural native speed]
Michael: complaint, claim
Veronika: reklamace[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Veronika: reklamace [natural native speed]
Michael: Next we have..
Veronika: kufr [natural native speed]
Michael: luggage, suitcase
Veronika: kufr[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Veronika: kufr [natural native speed]
Michael: Next we have..
Veronika: označený [natural native speed]
Michael: marked
Veronika: označený[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Veronika: označený [natural native speed]
Michael: Next we have..
Veronika: šatstvo [natural native speed]
Michael: clothes, clothing
Veronika: šatstvo[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Veronika: šatstvo [natural native speed]
Michael: Next we have..
Veronika: uvnitř [natural native speed]
Michael: inside
Veronika: uvnitř[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Veronika: uvnitř [natural native speed]
Michael: Next we have..
Veronika: hodinky [natural native speed]
Michael: watches
Veronika: hodinky[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Veronika: hodinky [natural native speed]
Michael: Next we have..
Veronika: vézt [natural native speed]
Michael: to carry
Veronika: vézt[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Veronika: vézt [natural native speed]
Michael: Next we have..
Veronika: salám [natural native speed]
Michael: salami, sausage
Veronika: salám[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Veronika: salám [natural native speed]
Michael: And last..
Veronika: zapáchat [natural native speed]
Michael: to stink, to smell bad
Veronika: zapáchat[slowly - broken down by syllable]
Veronika: zapáchat [natural native speed]
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Michael: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first phrase is..
Veronika: Chtěl(a) bych reklamovat...
Michael: meaning "I would like to complain about..."
Michael: This phrase is formed by the modal verb
Veronika: chtít
Michael: in the conditional mood, followed by the verb in infinitive. The verb is in the third person singular, with the ending
Veronika: -a
Michael: added for a female speaker. You can use this phrase to complain about something in a polite way of speaking. Can you give us an example using this phrase?
Veronika: Sure. For example, you can say.. Chtěla bych reklamovat nové boty.
Michael: ..which means "I would like to complain about the new shoes."
Michael: Okay, now onto the lesson focus.

Lesson focus

Michael: In this lesson, you'll learn about numerals.
Michael: We will start with generic numerals. In Czech, these are called:
Veronika: druhové číslovky
Michael: These are special forms that indicate the number of collectives. Generic numbers answers the question:
Veronika: Kolikery?
Michael: “How many pairs?” These numbers are used to count the number of types of something. For example:
Veronika: Jedny boty
Michael: “One pair of shoes.”
Veronika: Dvoje ponožky
Michael: “Two pairs of socks.” They’re also used for counting objects that are normally given in the plural:
Veronika: Troje brýle.
Michael: “Three pairs of glasses.”
Veronika: Patery dveře
Michael: “Five sets of doors.” Generic numbers are also used for counting collective nouns.
Veronika: Šestery mouky
Michael: “Six packages of flour.” You can find a table of the generic numbers in the lesson notes but for now, let’s hear some more examples.
Veronika: Koupil dvoje noviny.
Michael: “He bought two newspapers.”
Veronika: Vem si s sebou několikery kalhoty.
Michael: “Take with you several pairs of trousers.”
Veronika: Ukradli mu jedny drahé hodinky.
Michael: “They stole him one watch.” Next, we will look at fractions in Czech. How do we say “fractions” in Czech, Veronika?
Veronika: zlomky
Michael: The substantive forms of fractions are formed by adding the suffix:
Veronika: -ina
Michael: to the stem of the cardinal numeral in the nominative. Substantive forms of fractions are always singular feminine nouns. Let’s see an example. Veronika will say the number “seven,” and then add the suffix to make “seventh.”
Veronika: sedm, sedmina
Michael: And here’s another example with “ten” and “tenth.”
Veronika: deset, desetina
Michael: Keep in mind though, that “third” is formed from the ordinal stem.
Veronika: třetina comes from třetí.
Michael: The most common substantive forms of fractions are:
Veronika: polovina
Michael: “a half”
Veronika: čvtrka
Michael: “a quarter.” Remember that “half” has a variety of realizations, which are:
Veronika: půl, půlka, polovina
Michael: In some contexts, these are semantically interchangeable, whereas in other contexts only one is possible. Let’s hear some examples:
Veronika: Kup půl/půlku/polovinu chleba.
Michael: “Buy a half a loaf of bread.” This can use all of the words for “half.”
Veronika: Půl/půlku/polovinu cesty jel vlakem a zbytek šel pěšky.
Michael: “He went by train a half of the way and walked the rest.” This can also use all of the words for “half.”
Veronika: Vypil půl litru piva.
Michael: “He drank a half liter of beer.” In this case, only one word for “half” is commonly used.
Veronika: That is půl.
Michael: Other alternatives would make sense, but don’t sound as natural. This happens mainly with the expressions of quantity such as litre, gram, kilo and hour. Quarter is also similar as there are alternative forms for this, too.
Veronika: čtvrtina, čtvrt, čtvrtka.
Michael: For example
Veronika: V lednici je čtvrt/čtvrtka/čtvrtina salámu.
Michael: “In the fridge, there is a quarter of sausage.” This can use all of the words for “quarter.”
Veronika: Zaplatila čtvrt/čtvrtku/čtvrtinu ceny.
Michael: “She paid a quarter of the price.” This can also use all of the words for “quarter.”
Veronika: Sýr váží čtvrt kila.
Michael: “The cheese weighs a quarter of a kilo.” Like we heard before with “half,” expressions of quantity are generally used just with
Veronika: čtvrt
Michael: The other words can be used, but wouldn’t sound as natural. Let’s hear another couple of examples.
Veronika: Rozděl dort na třetiny.
Michael: “Divide the cake into thirds.”
Veronika: Chtěl bys půlku jablka?
Michael: “Would you like a half of an apple?” Finally, we will look at how to identify collective nouns. These are the names that indicate groups of related things or beings without the need for grammatical pluralization. These only have singular forms, even though they denote more things of the same kind or more individuals of the same species. Most of the collective nouns are neutral and follow the patterns:
Veronika: město or stavení
Michael: The lesson notes have a list of the typical suffixes used for collective nouns. However, it’s not always possible to distinguish a collective name by its suffix. In some cases, you have to rely only on the meaning of the word. They are always combined with the singular verbal form. Collective nouns cannot be associated with cardinal numerals, but they can be combined with generic numerals. For example:
Veronika: Na Vánoce pečeme dvoje cukroví.
Michael: “We bake two types of sweets for Christmas.”
Veronika: Mám ráda čaj s devatero kvítím.
Michael: “I like tea with nine kinds of flowers.”

Outro

Michael: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye!
Veronika: Na shledanou!

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