Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
In the last lesson, you learned how to make a reservation in a restaurant. Now that you know how to get a table, you have another big issue to tackle. If you want to enjoy your meal, the smoking issue is very important. If you are a smoker in a non-smoking establishment or a non-smoker in a smoking establishment, this could ruin your meal.
GRAMMAR POINT
In this lesson, we'll cover how to ask for a smoking or non-smoking table.
First, we will imagine that you are a smoker. Before entering a restaurant, you need to ask, “Excuse me, is smoking allowed here?”:
Promiňte, může se tady kouřit?
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Pro-miň-te, mů-že se ta-dy kou-řit?
Once more:
Promiňte, může se tady kouřit?
Promiňte, as we have seen, means “Excuse me.”
(slow) Pro-miň-te.
Promiňte.
We follow this with může se which is a form of the verb “can” . It’s translated as “it can”
(slow) Mů-že se.
Může se.
The next word, tady, means “here”.
(slow) Ta-dy.
Tady.
And the last word, kouřit, means “to smoke”.
(slow) Kou-řit.
Kouřit.
Here’s the whole sentence:
(slow) Pro-miň-te, mů-že se ta-dy kou-řit?
Promiňte, může se tady kouřit?
The answer to this question is simple: Ano, tady se může kouřit (“Yes, smoking is allowed”) or Ne, tady se nemůže kouřit (“No, smoking is not allowed”).
Let’s break those down:
(slow) Ano, tady se může kouřit.
(slow) Ne, tady se nemůže kouřit.
Now let’s imagine you don’t smoke. In this case, when you go to a Czech restaurant you should ask: ”Do you have tables for non smokers?”
Máte stůl pro nekuřáky?
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Má-te stůl pro ne-ku-řá-ky?
Once more at natural speed:
Máte stůl pro nekuřáky?
Máte is a form of the verb which means “to have”
(slow) Má-te.
Máte.
Stůl means “table”
(slow) Stůl
Stůl
Pro means “for.”
(slow) Pro.
Pro.
And the word nekuřáky is a form of the noun which is translated as “non smokers”.
(slow) nekuřáky
nekuřáky
The whole question is:
(slow) Má-te stůl pro ne-ku-řá-ky?
Máte stůl pro nekuřáky?
Now let’s go over the possible answers to this question. If it’s a positive answer, you might hear
Ano, máme and if the answer is negative Ne, nemáme.
In these expressions:
Ano means “yes”
Ne means “no” and
Máme and nemáme are conjugated forms of the verb “mít” translated as “to have” and “not to have”.
(slow) Má-me
(slow) Ne-má-me.
Máme
Nemáme.
Let’s hear the expressions again:
Ano, máme.
Ne, nemáme.
When the answer is negative, you will also hear “we are sorry” attached to ne, nemáme. The phrase will sound like this: Ne, nemáme, promiňte.
Meaning, “no we haven’t, sorry”
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Ne, ne-má-me, pro-miň-te.
Once more at natural speed:
Ne, nemáme, promiňte.

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