Dialogue

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Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
This lesson will teach you how to refuse in Czech. There are many situations in our daily life when we want to refuse, especially when we do not like or want something. Other than that, especially older Czechs consider refusing as a form of being polite. When someone gives an unexpected present and it seems to be too expensive, refusing is considered the proper thing to do in Czech culture.
GRAMMAR POINT
In Czech, “No thank you ” is:
Ne, děkuji.
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Ne, dě-ku-ji.
Once more:
Ne, děkuji.
The first word ne means “no” and after that comes děkuji, which means “thank you”.
(slow) dě-ku-ji.
Děkuji.
Let’s hear the expression again:
Ne, děkuji.
(slow) Ne, dě-ku-ji.
This expression is the equivalent of “No, thank you!” and it is used in the same situations as in English.
・
When you feel that what was offered to you is too much, say To je moc.
Let’s hear that again:
(slow) To je moc.
To je moc.
The first word is to, which is translated as “it”.
(slow) To.
To.
In this sentence, the word je is a form of the verb that means “to be”.
(slow) je.
je.
Next we have moc, which is translated as “a lot” or “much”.
(slow) Moc.
Moc.
Let’s hear the phrase one more time.
To je moc.
The translation is “It is too much”.
・
A combination of the two expressions we just covered is also possible Ne, děkuji, to je moc.
・
During your stay in the Czech Republic, you may be invited to a person’s house. In most of the cases, you will be offered food. There is a custom in the Czech Republic to offer more food when the guest is about to finish eating everything that is on their plate. You may feel like saying: “Thank you, but I can’t eat anymore”.
Děkuji, ale už nemůžu.
Let’s break it down:
(slow) Dě-ku-ji, ale už ne-mů-žu.
Once more:
Děkuji, ale už nemůžu.
In this sentence, děkuji means “thank you”.
Ale means “but”.
(slow) Ale.
Ale.
Už nemůžu is translated as “cannot anymore”.
(slow) už ne-mů-žu.
Už nemůžu.
Altogether, it’s:
Děkuji, ale už nemůžu.
“Thank you, but I can’t eat anymore.”

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