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B S1L9 082916 Csclass101
B S1L9 082916 Csclass101
Beginner S1 #9
Making Dinner Reservations in
Czech
CONTENTS
2 Czech
2 English
3 Vocabulary
4 Sample Sentences
5 Vocabulary Phrase Usage
6 Grammar
10 Cultural Insight
# 9
COPYRIGHT © 2016 INNOVATIVE LANGUAGE LEARNING. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
CZECH
1. Matěj: Dobrý den, chtěl bych rezervovat stůl pro tři lidi.
8. Číšnice: Dobře.
ENGLISH
CONT'D OVER
6. Waitress: All right. And what time would you like the reservation for?
8. Waitress: Sure.
VOCABULARY
SAMPLE SENTENCES
"It 's not a very good choice." "Only a few minut es are left ."
volný
"f ree, unreserved"
Volný is an adjective with many meanings, the basic ones being "free,
independent, vacant, loose, unrestricted," etc. There are lots of possible
translations of this word in English.
There are about eight different situations where the adjective volný can be used.
Somebody can be volný when speaking about being free or independent. When
talking about there being no restrictions, something or somebody can be volný,
i.e. volný přístup, "unrestricted access," or volný trh, "free market." When we
talk about time, volný čas is "free/leisure time," and ve svém volném čase is "in
one's spare time." When we talk about a place that is vacant, free, or unoccupied,
we can say Je tu volné místo?, "Is this seat free?" We can also use volný in terms
of a free/borderless place or area, for example, na volném moři "in the open
sea," or ve volné přírodě "in the wild, in the open." Also, access or a ticket can
be volný - volný vstup "free admission," or volná vstupenka "complimentary
ticket." When talking about clothes, we can use volný oděv, "loose/loose-fitting/
baggy clothes."
For example:
vyhovovat
"t o suit "
This is an imperfective verb with three main meanings: "to suit"/ "to be convenient,
to oblige," "to meet"/ "to satisfy."
The most frequent use of this verb is when asking somebody if something is all
For example:
výběr
"choice, select ion"
Výběr is a masculine noun. Výběr can either refer to a selection, choice, range,
digest, compilation, or to withdrawal or collection of money.
For example:
GRAMMAR
The present tense in this lesson's conversation is mainly expressed through the
verb mít, "to have." There are several sentences where mít is used in the
As you can see, the verb mít can have several translations in English. It is often
translated as "to have" or "there is" or in a question as "is there?, are there?" When
asking a question, the conjugated mít has to be at the beginning of the sentence
without the personal pronoun.
Singular
Plural
When making a reservation in Czech, you also need to use the conditional tense
bych, which adds politeness to the speech. As we already said in lesson 5, bych is
equivalent to the English conditional tense "would" (in other cases also "would do",
"would make", etc). When making a reservation, it is often used in the following
form:
male:
Já bych rád
"I would like"
Já bych chtěl
"I would like"
f emale:
Já bych ráda
"I would like"
Já bych chtěla
"I would like"
Rád or ráda is an adjective meaning "gladly, happy, pleased, with pleasure, etc",
while chtít or chtěl means "want to"(wanted to). When we want to express that
we would like something, both forms can be used. In this case, both sentences
mean the same thing, which is "I would like to.")
Czech people often use such sentences without the personal pronouns.
Examples:
Singular
Plural
Singular
Plural
*bychom is a formal term, used more in written rather than spoken form.
CULTURAL INSIGHT
Traditional Czech cuisine cannot exactly be called healthy. There are many heavy
foods that may not be to everybody's liking, but if not eaten on a daily basis they
are certainly worth trying for their special tastes. One traditional food item not
found in many other countries are the many various types of dumplings Czech
cuisine has to offer. They range from bread dumplings to potato dumplings or
sweet dumplings filled with fruit. Nevertheless, over the past five years, there have
been new trends entering the Czech restaurants in order to attract customers.
These trends include providing food cooked from fresh domestic ingredients,
exotic combinations and unusual preparations. After international cuisines entered
the Czech market, such as Japanese, Mexican, and Vietnamese, the Czech
restaurants are trying to gain customers through Slow Food (this particular food
movement condemns fast-food culture and promotes organic domestic ingredients
without using pre-packed food) or through Fusion Cuisine, which combines two or
more traditional cuisines together and creates new, attractive looking and great
tasting meals. Most common are combined Asian and Western/mainly European
meals.
Typical Czech pubs have also been changing. Pubs used to be primarily a meeting
point for men, especially during the sports World Cups when many male fans came
to support their teams, to socialise over a pint of beer. Now many customers are
also women.This phenomenon is due to modernisation, and pubs are now less
smoky, and the facilities, such as toilets and general seating, are improving. Czech
pubs also offer certain food specialities that cannot be found in other restaurants,
and they tend to have good quality Czech beer.
Useful expression: