Ehi there, I was asking myself about the difference between Oslavovat, (oslavit) and Slavit. Fanoušci oslavovali jasné vítězství, jež se zadařilo dnes večer. Why should I prefere oslavovali instead of slavili to say they were celebrating?
One of the czech play with words, how to derive finished verb from unfinished and vice versa: slaviti = unfinished oslaviti = finished, derived from "slaviti" oslavovati = unfinished, derived from "oslaviti" by "(o)va" There is no real difference between "slaviti" and "oslavovati". They are interchangable almost in every context. May be some stylistics or personal preference. There exist many such examples, eg.: dát - podat - podávat sekat - osekat - oseknout sídlit - osídlit - osidlovat hořet - ohořet - ohořívat chladit - ochladit - ochlazovat (almost no difference between chladit x ochlazovat in many contexts) chladit - zchladit - zchlazovat chránit - ochránit - ochraňovat (almost no difference between chránit x ochraňovat in many contexts) and many others ... Usually, there is a difference in meaning between the first and last verb, but not always. The shift in meaning is mostly between the first and second verb, where the preposition brings the change in meaning, not only change in finiteness.
It could be alternatively derived from “oslava” (= celebration). It depends on the particular meaning of the verb. “Slavit” is “celebrate”, while “oslavovat” is rather “make celebration”. slavit vítězství ~ enjoy the win oslavovat vítězství ~ enjoy the celebration of the win But yes, it’s arguable and practically interchangeable in the given context.