I am from Scotland and i visited Prague during easter. I found it to be a very interesting city and i now really want to learn Czech. My problem is that i don't know the best way to start, would learning the grammer first be a good idea? I would be grateful is someone could tell me where is best to begin.
Everyone has his own method to study, surely grammar is something you cannot avoid Chce - nechce you will have to learn it... You should begin by learning basic declensions (nouns/adjective/pronouns) and verbs (byt, mit) The dictionary only gives you nominative (nouns) and infinitive (verbs) so if you dont know basic declensions and conjugations you wont go far
To Kikko: Just a small correction - it is not chce - nechce, but chtě - nechtě (for a male speaker) or chtíc - nechtíc (for female one), event. chtíce - nechtíce (plural for both genders)
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Jana: <B>To Kikko: Just a small correction - it is not chce - nechce, but chtě - nechtě (for a male speaker) or chtíc - nechtíc (for female one), event. chtíce - nechtíce (plural for both genders)</B></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I heard it once, well i wasnt SO far wish u a nice summer jana
HI I HAVEN'T WRITTEN ANYTHING HERE FOR A LONG TIME BUT I ALWAYS FOLLOW THE MESSAGE POSTS. JANA/KIKKO WOULD YOU MIND EXPLAINING WHAT CHTE/NECHTE MEANS. IS IT SOME KIND OF EXPRESSION? THANKS FOR YOUR HELP. I WILL BE ATTENDING A ONE MONTH INTENSIVE COURSE AT CHARLES UNIVERSITY THIS SUMMER AND I'M REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO IT ANI
Chtě/chtíc/chtíce (or chtěje/chtějíc/chtějíce) is the present transgressive of chtít (= to want, to wish). Chtě nechtě means willy nilly (according to my dictionary) or - from Latin - volens nolens. [This message has been edited by Bohaemus (edited 14-07-2003).]
Thanks again for your help Bohaemus I'm sorry about the upper case letters in my last message but i didn't notice until after I sent it. Ani
Ani, good luck with your language course! Please let us know how it was and what you thought about it. I'm curious.
Ahoj Dano! I just found the message you left here. I hope you don't mind the late reply Well the language course was great but unfortunately too short. There were over 200 of us from all over the world and at least I found there are other people out there who are learning Czech just for fun! Being immersed in Czech for 5 hours daily was such a great help, and once we entered the fourth week everything was becoming so much easier. There were 4 different levels from beginner to Proficient. On the strength of my test results I was put in Proficient but I changed classes till I found one I was happy with. I finally settled in an Intermediate class because while my grammar is not so bad, my speaking skills are miserable and this is where I hoped to improve. Having said that, I still leant a lot at Intermediate level. I thoroughly recommend the Letni skola and I really hope I will be lucky enough to go again this year to further improve my knowledge of this great language. Of course seeing Prague again is also an enticement for me) We'll see) Please feel free to ask any other questions about the course that I didn't answer. thanks for your interest. Anna
Thanks Ani, I was interested in hearing what you thought. I'm glad you liked the course. It sounds like it's pretty helpful - and it sure is a great excuse to spend the summer in Prague.