Prague travel guide to restaurants pubs bars apartments shops and hotels in Prague Czech Republic

Language Tips!

Fun with words


There are a whole range of Czech words that look roughly similar to their English equivalents, so signs such as POLICIE, RESTAURACE, HOTEL, and TAXI won't be a problem for you, but here are a handful of others that may be useful:

Kavarna - Cafe
Knihkupectvi- Book Shop
Reznik- Butchery
Obchod - Shop
Prasa - Newsagent
Pusobiste - Station
Letiste - Airport

Click & Listen!

Yes

No

Hello

Goodbye

How are you?

Please

Thank you

How much does this cost?

Do you speak English?

Cheers!

I lost my passport - can you help me?

How much does beer cost?

Two beers please!

Do you have a sister?

Drop by tonight and I'll show you my stamp collection

We're not going to lie to you: the Czech language is VERY hard for English speakers to get to grips with. We won't go into all the complicated reasons why (...cases, declensions, conjugations, participles, tongue-twisting pronunciation...) just trust us: Czech is a nightmare for all but the most linguistically talented students! Of course all this really means that it is all the more impressive when you do successfully utter even a few words in the Slavic tongue...

Even if you're only here for a short while you should be able to master one or two of the basics. Pretty much every Czech person you meet (i.e. those working in shops, hotels, restuarants etc) will speak English, and certainly virtually all young people will too, but the locals will like you better if you at least make the effort; don't be at all surprised to find that the level of service improves noticably after you give Czech a try, even if you massacre the pronounciation!

a few words...



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Czech language tips

"In response to Mr.Ernie Crespin. I think you are the one who should learn their language and Not vice-versa!All your comment is Non sense to me. What does capitalism got to do with anything.. "

ss
United Kingdom
Jul.22.2010
rates this page
3/5

"I wish no ill to the people of Uzbekistan or anyone else. America isn't perfect, but we finally (after 8 years of Bush hell) have a fine president. And, now that I have had my say, why don't we get back on topic. I am learning Czech as a hobby and that is why I visited this page!"

Roslyn Raney
United States
Jul.06.2010
rates this page
4/5

"Czech language sounds so nice! It's so soft and kind. And it has so much in common with my native language (Russian). I speak 6 languages (Hebrew and Chinese are among them), so believe me: Czech is not the most difficult one to study, just enjoy it! )))"

Ariella
Russia
Feb.15.2010
rates this page
4/5

"Ahoj, jsem z Ostravy a myslím že se může říci i děkuju :o) Hallo, I´m from Ostrava and I think that we can say děkuju. "

Romča
Czech Republic
Feb.13.2010
rates this page
3/5

"Death to American people, especially the the Corporatocracy. And the ignoramuses that reside there. The Americas is a very beautiful land, with dinosaur mentalities roaming it. And a black pres aint gonna do shit. Just there to perpetuate the agenda, war is peace, freedom is slavery and ignorance is strength. Czech Republic might have slipped from Left to Right, Red to Blue but at least consciousness levels and self awareness still remain in the populous. American's are the most misguided, mislead indoctrinated people in the world. The closing of the American mind began when the Gold reserve was removed from the legal tender and Coca cola was shoved down your throats calcifying your brontosaurus brains. Stuff it all up allah."

Halal
Uzbekistan
Jan.14.2010
rates this page
1/5

"Well, you people should stay on topic. Some Ernie wrote some crap and whole topic went south just to answer to his post :) Ignore such posts is best way to give such bad person hard lesson :) So, back on topic. I lived in usa nearly 5 years and I found english less complicated than czech, but english is hard to pronounce. Marcia wrote czech has less words that all mean the same thing. Let me show you something. In english you say "sun" and it is sun. Maybe big sun or little sun but in czech we can say slunce, slunko, sluníčko and all of that mean sun. And big sun? Well :) velké slunce, veliké slunko. So we have more options but it give us oportunity to say more closely what we mean. In usa I had all time feeling I could use just few words and let other people figure out what I mean. Little note for owner of this page: we are czech and we say thank you as děkuji. I can never understand how people from Prague and around where they have Charles University can screwing our language so much. Hezkej (nice) dobrej (good) děkuju (thanks) is slang and they should say hezký, dobrý, děkuji. "

Rado
Czech Republic
Dec.18.2009
rates this page
3/5

"Shame on you Ernie Crespin! I think that you're not even a real American! Czech republic is a beautiful country!!!"

Aaron E.
United States
Nov.21.2009
rates this page
3/5

"Uncle Sam is watching you Mr Ernie."

FBI
United States
Jun.13.2009
rates this page
3/5

"If I had to guess, "Ernie" is not a native American because his use of English is terrible. "Worst" is "worse" Ernie. Learn English before you start bashing other languages. "

Julie
United States
Apr.03.2009
rates this page
3/5

"I'm from the United States and Ernie embarrasses me. It's people like him that give the rest of us a bad reputation. Sad."

Austin Abroad
United States
Feb.14.2009
rates this page
3/5

"Ernie Ernie, i know why i donĄt like Americans. . . you are all too lazy to learn another language. . "

D
Czech Republic
Aug.23.2008
rates this page
2/5

"Wow, Ernie, who put bitter lemon in your coffee this a.m.? You criticize Czech and Slovak and think they welcomed the Warsaw Pact invacsion of 1968? Czech and Slovak are beautiful languages, far less complicated than English, less vowels to contend with, less words that all mean the same thing, like English. Perhaps you should pick on another nationality, like maybe, your own? "

Marcia
United States
Aug.12.2008
rates this page
3/5

"apologies for mr ernie-he does NOT speak for all of us here in the usa-and also ernie don't go 2 any country if u don't plan 2 learn to communicate in THIER language since u would be on THIER soil as well...gets some damn manners boy."

nate
United States
Jul.14.2008
rates this page
3/5

"I'm from Romania and find czech hard but not impossible,romanian has some slavic influences so words like 'narod' or 'prieten' are also present,if you speak english and want to study romanian it's much easier since you'l find it's a romanic language"

erds
Romania
Jul.05.2008
rates this page
3/5

"Czech is a wonderful language, and not so hard if you just listen and don't try to read it (at first) - To hear & pratice a few words before you arrive, try the "Quick Fix - Essential holiday phrases" mp3 download at the BBC Languages website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/other/quickfix/czech.shtml) The more you try, the more fun you'll have & the more people you'll meet! (And they are really great people!;-)"

Sonny
Netherlands
Apr.17.2008
rates this page
4/5

"Ernie, you're a real american dumba_s!"

Dora Simonffy
Hungary
Feb.15.2008
rates this page
4/5

"Helpful site thanks. Ernie- it's people like you that give Americans such a bad rap. I'm embarrassed to share the continent with someone as ignorant and rude as you are. "

Adrienne
Canada
Dec.23.2007
rates this page
3/5

"What an ignoramus Ernie Crispen is....it always shocks me how many "ugly Americans" are still out there. Try joining the human race, Ernie."

Deborah Bartlett
United States
Oct.18.2007
rates this page
3/5

"My advice to the Czech is this: Learn English, you decided to go capitalist, so now you have no other choice. By the way,the best Mac Donals can be found in Prague. I don't really care about the Czech language. It sounds worst than Chinese."

Ernie Crespin
United States
Aug.11.2007
rates this page
2/5

"great. but one question on the graph on what words to say to make you stay better, how to pronounce the words would be a great idea, beacuse i could even try saying the words correctly"

tracy
United States
May.10.2007
rates this page
3/5

"I appreciate all info. I am really worried about the language thing. I always try to know some of the language of wherever I visit but Czech is daunting. I do wish that when there is a czech-english (like on your page) that there was also a phonetic pronounciation written beside it. Thank you."

Susan Dukes
United States
Apr.06.2007
rates this page
3/5