As we saw with colours, adjectives come in three flavours, for male, female and neutral and take the gender of the subject.

Here then are some (mostly) people related adjectives to play with...

• Happy - Veselý / Veselá / Veselé 
• Sad - Smutný / Smutná / Smutné
• Short - Malý / Malá / Malé 
• Tall - Vysoký / Vysoká / Vysoké 
• Thin - Hubený / Hubená / Hubené 
• Fat - Tlustý / Tlustá / Tlusté
• Young - Mladý / Mladá / Mladé 
• Old - Starý / Stará / Staré
• Beautiful - Krásný / Krásná / Krásné (for girls, cars, etc.)
• Nice - hezký / hezká / hezké (boys, girls, days, etc.)

Examples

• (Ja) jsem tlustý / I am fat (and male)
• Ona je hubená / She is skinny
• To auto je krásné / That car is beautiful

Want to have a try at describing yourself? or your partner? The comments are open...

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A modal verb, if like me you either weren't taught or don't remember this stuff, is an auxiliary verb that indicates likelihood, ability, permission or obligation (thanks wikipedia)

If you're starting to use your Czech you're either already using a couple of these in phrases or you are crying out for them, because they are everywhere.

So, present tense only, here are your starter three modal verbs so you can describe what you want and can or must do... Like all verbs, the ending changes based on who is the subject, me, you him, etc....

Some examples then...

• (já) chci pivo / I want beer
• chces (ty)  pomoc? / you want help?
• můžu (ja) zaplatit kartou? / can I pay by c ard? 
• (ona) musí studovat / She must study
• (já) musím jít / I must go
• (vy) musíte zaplatit / you must pay

Negation is once again pleasantly simple just add ‘ne’ to the begining of the modal verb...

• (já) nechci pivo / I don’t want beer
• (ty) nechceš pomoc? / you don’t want help?
• (já) nemuzu zaplatit kartou? / I cannot pay by card?
• (ona) nemusí studovat / She must not study
• (já)  nemusím jít / I must not go
• (vy) nemusíte zaplatit / you must not pay

What do you most want for in the Czech Rep.? What must someone do while they are here? Let us know in the comments and, as always, corrections welcome.

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If you want to express a liking for something, in the pre-facebook sense of the word, then you’re probably looking for rád.

Ah, if only life were that simple, but it of course it’s not. First of all, and for reasons I don’t understand, you have a liking for nouns but you simply like verbs.

• Ja rád piju pivo. I like to drink beer.
• Ja mám rád chleb. I like bread.

Added to that you have the obvious complexity of gender (rád takes the gender of the subject) so...

• male / female / neutral / plural
• rád / ráda / rádo / rádi

So mám, máš, má, máme, máte, mají is inserted before rád, ráda, rádo, rádi for nouns based on who is the subject.

I am male so...

• Ja mám rád pivo.

but you are female...

• Ty máš ráda pivo.

So putting it all together with examples you get...

For Verbs

You need the correct gender form of rád based on who is the subject and then the verb in the appropriate form for the subject studuju, studuješ, etc...

• Ja rád vařim.
• Ona ráda běhá
• To rádo spí.
• Oni rádi cestujou

For Nouns

You need the correct gender form of rád, the correct form of the verb to have based on who is the subject and the noun.

• Ja mám rád pivo.
• Ty máš ráda pivo. (in this case you are female)
• Vy máte rádi pivo. (you all like beer)

Mercifully once you know how to like things, not liking them is easy.

• nerád / nerada / nerado /neradi

and this, of course is all just in the present tense!

What do you all like and not like? Let us know in the comments and, as always corrections welcome!

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The colours of the rainbox or barvy duhy...

• red - červený / červená / červené
• orange - oranžový / oranžová / oranžové
• yellow - žlutý / žlutá / žluté
• green - zelený / zelená / zelené
• blue - modrý / modrá - modré
• indigo - indigový / indigová / indigové
• violet - fialový / fialová / fialové

I’ve included here the list, as I was taught it in school, which I think is Newton’s list and starts with red and ends with indigo and then violet. But I’m given to understand that there might be alternative lists here in Czech, I think you might hear..

• pink - růžový / růžová / růžové

Other useful colours (barvy)...

• black - černý / černá / černé
• white - bílý / bílá / bílé
• grey - šedý / šedá / šedé
• brown - hnědý / hnědá / hnědé

Did we miss your favourite colour? Let us know in the comments...

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An earlier post To Be Or Not To Be covered these but I wanted them in the table format that we've been using for other things, I think this has become the default layout in my head.

* Note difference

Comments / questions? Let us know in the comments... and corrections always welcome.

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It's back, it's Friday caption compeition time.

Photo used under a creative commons licence from flickr user marcoarment.

Create a caption for the photo in Czech. It could be a suggested title, what he's thinking, what he's saying, what someone is saying to him, etc. You get the idea.

• Already a Czech speaker? Great, this gives you a chance to show off your wit and wisdom and give us some good (funny?) sentances to learn from.
• Czech beginner? Great, here's a chance to start building sentences.

I'm going to start the bidding low with...

"Já nevím..."

Let's have yours in the comments...

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Staying with the spatial theme for one last post, if your navigational requirements are a bit more 'extreme' you may need your compass points...

• North / Sever
• East / Východ
• South / Jih
• West / Západ

Any experience with Czech Mountain Rescue? Ever get lost in Stromovka? Let us know in the comments... and corrections always welcome.

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Staying with our spatial theme for a little while, here are your essential four words for getting the taxi home at the end of the night.

• Straight Ahead / Rovně
• Left / Doleva
• Right / Doprava
• Go Back / Zpátky

Ever not made it home, did you lack the vocab? Let us know in the comments... and corrections are always welcome.

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Quick and easy one for you today. Your five essential words for describing the position of an object in two dimensional space...

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Inspired by one of these I saw and used many years ago for Mandarin (check out how many more words there are to learn) here is a little diagram that shows all the major family members...

Click the image to see the full size version on Flickr. For easy cutting and pasting, see the full list below.

Anybody important in your family missing? Tvůj pes? Let us know in the comments... and corrections always welcome.

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Apologies for the break in transmission there last week. We're rolling again this week, despite a lingering cold. Just a quick one for today, here in a table format that I find really useful are the possessive pronouns...

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So quite a few of these usages of the verb to be (být) have come up in the phrases we have looked over the last few weeks. Still, it was instructive to me to see them listed...

First, a quick recap of the personal pronouns.

• I / Já
• You / Ty
• He, She / On, Ona
• We / My
• You / Vy (plural / formal)
• They / Oni

To be

• (Já) jsem
• (Ty) jsi
• (On, ona) je
• (My) jsme
• (Vy) jste
• (Oni) jsou

Not to be

• (Já) nejsem
• (Ty) nejsi
• (On, ona) neni ** Note difference **
• (My) nejsme
• (Vy) nejste
• (Oni) nejsou

One of the things that I struggle with is that the personal pronoun often seems to be dropped, as the difference forms of the verb tell us who is the subject.

Comments / questions? Let us know in the comments... and corrections always welcome.

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So to complete our essential phrases series I thought I'd throw in some 'glue' so we can start to stitch the phrases together and, of course, get using them...

How do you say ... ? / Jak Řekneš?

What is this ? / Co to je?

I understand. / (Já) rozumím.

I don't understand. / (Já) nerozumím.

Could you repeat that, please? / Můžete to prosím zopakovat.

Could you say it slowly, please? / Můžete to říct pomaleji prosím.

Or / Nebo

But / Ale

And / A

Also / Taky

Of course / Samozřejmě

Because / Protože

Any essentials missing? Let us know in the comments? ... and corrections are always welcome.

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Sticking with our theme this week, some basic vocab around making plans? 

Do you want to ... ? / Chceš ... ?

I am ... . / Já jsem ... .

I want to ... . / (Já) chci ... .

I don't want to ... . / (Já) nechci ... .

Do you want to go to the shop? / Chceš jít do obchodu?

I am going for a run. / Jdu si zaběhat.

I am going for a walk. / Jdu na procházku.

I want to go for dinner. / (Já) chci večeři.

I don't want to go to the pub. / (Já) nechci jít do hospody.

What do you like to do? Let us know in the comments… and suggestions are always welcome.

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Next up in our essentials series, the vocabularly that will get us using Czech right now, let's try making some arrangements...

When will you be back? / Kdy budeš (ty) zpátky?

When will we meet? / Kdy se (my) potkáme?

Where will we meet? / Kde se (my) potkáme?

Where are we going? / Kam jdeme?

Who is going? / Kdo má přijít?

Call me. / Zavolej mi.

I will be back ... . / (Ja) budu zpátky ... .

Can you call me ... ? / Můžeš mi zavolat?

I will call you ... . / (Ja) zavolám (ti) ... .

I will be back before noon. / (Ja) budu zpátky dopoledne.

Can you call me in the morning? / Můžeš mi zavolat ráno.

I will call you in the afternoon. / (Ja) zavolám (ti) odpoledne.

I will call you in the evening. / (Ja) zavolám (ti) večer.

Anything essential missing? Let us know in the comments... and corrections are always welcome.

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Staying with our domestic theme for this week, here's a digram and vocab list for your home (well, my home, actually)...

Rooms

Living Room / Obývák

Kitchen / Kuchyň

Hall / Předsíň

Bathroom / Koupelna

Toilet / Záchod

Bedroom / Ložnice

Building Features

Door / Dveře

Window / Okno

Floor / Podlaha

Sink / Dřez

Shower / Sprcha

Toilet / Záchod

Furniture

Blind / Roleta

Plant / Křitina

Table / Stůl

Chair / Židle

Sofa / Gauč

Bookshelf / Police

Drawers / Prádelník

Cupboard / Skříň

Bed / Postel

Wardrobe / Skříň

Rug / Koberec

Equipment

Television / Televize

Fridge / Lednička

Microwave / Mikrovlnka

Cooker / Sporák

Washing Machine / Pračka

Lamp / Lampa

Anything important in your house that's not in this list? Let us know in the comments... corrections, of course, welcome.

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I've recieved lots of help, from a host of different people, with my Czech so far but this one was special. This list was provided to my unsolicited and nicely written out in English and Czech.

Wash the dishes / Mýt nádobí

To iron / Zehlit

Vacum cleaning / Vysávat

Dusting / Utírat prach

Wash the floor / Mýt podlahu

Do the laundry / Prát pradlo

To Sweep / Zametat

To tidy up / Uklízet

Clean (adj) / Čistý

Dirty (adj) / Špinavý

How did you spend your weekend? Let us know in the comments... and corrections always welcome.

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Following on from the recent post on body parts, here are your basic facial features....

Vlasy / Hair

Čelo / Forehead

Oko (Oči) / Eye(s)

Ucho (Uši) / Ear(s)

Nos / Nose

Ústa / Lips

Zub (Zuby) / Tooth (Teeth)

Missing your favourite facial feature? Let us know in the comments... and corrections, as ever, are welcome.

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As I've said previously, the methodology here, put simply, is to learn that vocabulary I need for my day to day life, so that I can get using Czech as fast as possible, and from there I can learn the grammar, etc. Somewhat surprisingly, when I looked at my everyday conversations, the process of losing and finding things came up rather a lot. So, here is your basic vocabulary of lost and found…

Saying that we've lost something, careful here 'ztratila' implies something is really gone forever more so than lost in colloquial English, better to use 'nemuzu najit'.

I can't find ... . / Nemůžu najít ... .
I've lost ... . / Ztratila jsem .... .
Where is ... ? / Kde je ... ? (sg) / Kde jsou ... ? (pl)
My. / Moje (pl) / můj (m) / moja (f) / moje (n).

Things we might have misplaced...

Phone / Telefon (sg)(m)
Keys / Klíče (pl)(m)
Glasses / Brýle (pl)(m)
Beer / Pivo (sg)(n)
Wine / Víno (sg)(n)
Glass (cup) / Pohár (sg)(m)

Where they may be...

In the kitchen / V kuchyni
In the drawer / V zásuvce
In the bedroom / V ložnici
In the living room / V obýváku
In the bathroom / V koupelni
In the toilet / Na záchodě [Note the preposition here. Things, bizzarely are said to be on the toilet :)]
On the bench / Na drezu
On the table / Na stole
On the bedside table / Na stolku v ložnice

Some examples of complete sentences...

Here it is. / Tady je.
Here they are. / Tady jsou.
They are in the kitchen. / (Oni) jsou v kuchyni. [The item is male, plural]
It is in the drawer. / (Ona) je ve zásuvce. [The item is female, singular]
They are on the table. / (Oni) je na stole. [The item neutral, plural]

What do you lose and find often, let us know in the comments... and corrections are always welcome.

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Not sure if (or when) you're coming or going? This quick list of essential phrases related to making arrangements will hopefully give us some more vocab that we can start using right now.

When will you be back? / Kdy budeš (ty) zpátky?
When will we meet? / Kdy se (my) potkáme?
Where will we meet? / Kde se (my) potkáme?
Where are we going? / Kam jdeme?
Who is going? / Kdo má přijít?
Call me. / Zavolej mi.
I will be back ... . / (Ja) budu zpátky ... .
Can you call me ... ? / Můžeš mi zavolat?
I will call you ... . / (Ja) zavolám (ti) ... .
I will be back before noon. / (Ja) budu zpátky dopoledne.
Can you call me in the morning? / Můžeš mi zavolat ráno.
I will call you in the afternoon. / (Ja) zavolám (ti) odpoledne.
I will call you in the evening. / (Ja) zavolám (ti) večer.

Got anything to add? Let us know in the comments... and corrections are always welcome.

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