Hi! Im discovering new things every day with Czech Roughly I know the auxiliary verb can can be translated either as umet or moci in Czech according to what you want to express: Umim cesky = I can (am able to) speak Czech Muzu vzit knihu = I can (am allowed to) take the book You can say Umim plavat but in the expression Umim cesky the verb speak is left out and at first I thought the verb umit was an alternative for mluvit. Now I have the impression that in this case Umim cesky could also be translated as I can handle Czech. Is the verb mluvit always omitted when translating I can speak? Ill try to give an example: Az budu naucit cesky, umim cesky s tebou Or would it be umim mluvit cesky s tebou? I wonder as I wait Lorenzo
I was re-reading what I wrote and I have just realized I made such a bad mistake! NAUCIT SE is a future tense construction! and I cannot say BUDU NAUCIT SE! Am I right? so.... Az naucit se cesky, (umim) mluvim cesky s tebou I hope I got it right this time! ;-)
Hi Lorenzo, I am not a linguist, I am just using the language everyday ))...but I hope I can help you. You want to probably say: "Az se naucim cesky, tak s tebou budu mluvit cesky." (After I learn czech, I will talk to you in czech.) So your second choice was correct. In this case you can't leave it out. But yes, you can omit it when saying: Mluvim anglicky. Mluvim nemecky. Mluvim spanelsky. I hope I help a bit. bye zuples
Hi zuples! Thank you for your reply! Yes, your explanation has been of help! So, the verb "umet" cannot fully replace the verb "mluvit", right? I don't think it's possible to say "Umim cesky s tebou"? That wouldn't make much sense I believe... So, I think "umis cesky" must be translated as "you know Czech"? Lorenzo
Hi Lorenzo, You can say both "Umím cesky" (more common) and "Umím mluvit cesky". But as you correctly pointed out, you can't always omit the verb "mluvit". E.g. it doesn't make sense to say "Umím cesky s tebou". Here you'd have to say "Umím mluvit cesky s tebou". The phrase "umís cesky?" can be translated as "do you know Czech?" but also "do you speak Czech?" - assuming that if you know Czech, you can also speak it. Hope this helps!