Czech: An Essential Grammar is the standard reference grammar in English for the core structures and features of modern Czech, and will be used throughout the Czech (with Slovak) degree at Oxford. It presents a fresh and accessible description of the language, using clear, jargon-free explanations and setting out the complexities of Czech in short, readable sections. This book is used in conjunction with J.D. Naughton's Colloquial Czech throughout the Czech (with Slovak) degree course at Oxford.
The list below aims to draw users' attention to various errors and infelicities which crept into the first edition, as published in February 2005. (Errata last edited by JDN, 15 September 2009.)
Errata
p. 19, line 20:
for "the subject, agent, doer of a verb" read "the subject of a verb and after the verb 'to be'"
– the nominative is also used for the complement of the verb 'to be' (see p. 197, p.200)
p. 19, line 22:
for "the recipient of its action or state" read – less confusingly – "the recipient of its action"
p. 21, line 2:
add ch to the list of 'hard' consonants
p. 23, line 6 from bottom:
for "Proper names ending in -s, -x, -z" read "Proper names etc. ending in -s, -x, -z"
– both proper names and, less consistently, various other nouns for human beings
p. 36, paragraph, lines 13–14 following the table:
moč, obuv, rtuť, Budapešť and Bukurešť are normally singular
– their (mostly rare) plural forms will follow type píseň, except for nom./acc. pl. -i
– and moč may also decline throughout like type píseň
p. 54, line 11, table of non-standard forms:
in isolation, the standard neuter acc. pl. is, of course, ta dobrá auta, as for nom. pl.
p. 100, line 2 from bottom:
for do jižní Ameriky read do Jižní Ameriky
p. 114, line 6 from bottom, publisher's error:
for osm, devět, deset... liber, eura read osm, devět, deset... liber, eur
p. 138, top line:
for odejít 'to arrive' read odejít 'to go away'
p. 143, table:
add a comma after "she" before "it"
p. 153, line 17:
for kdybych = kdy + by read kdybych = kdy + bych
p. 162, line 10:
for "The shop is closed" read "The window is closed"
p. 192, top line:
the verb zrát should be listed on the previous page, after usmát se
p. 196, end of section 8.1:
add "The nominative is also used for the complement of the verb 'to be', e.g. Petr je student. 'Petr is a student'."
p. 222, line 13:
for "Until he called" read "Until she called"
p. 272, line 2:
'Urquell' beer is of course Prazdroj – but the brand name Staropramen has roughly the same meaning...
Table of Contents
Abbreviations
Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Standard versus non-standard usage
Chapter 2 Pronunciation and orthography – výslovnost a pravopis
2.1 Vowels – samohlásky
2.2 Consonants – souhlásky
2.3 Soft I versus hard Y
2.4 Consonants before Ě and I/Í
2.5 Voicing and devoicing
2.6 Intonation – intonace
2.7 The alphabet
2.8 Capital letters
2.9 Non-standard Czech
Chapter 3 Nouns – podstatná jména
3.1 Gender – rod
3.2 The plural – množné číslo
3.3 Cases – pády
3.4 Hard and soft declensions
3.5 Masculine types
3.6 Feminine types
3.7 Neuter types
3.8 Other miscellaneous types
3.9 Adjectival nouns – zpodstatnělá přídavná jména
3.10 Plural-only nouns – podstatná jmena pomnožná
3.11 Indeclinable nouns – nesklonná jména
Chapter 4 Adjectives and adverbs – přídavná jména a příslovce
4.1 The adjective – přídavné jméno
4.2 English noun modifiers
4.3 Standard adjectives – hard and soft types
4.4 Adjective rád
4.5 Soft-form adjectives – jmenný tvar
4.6 Possessive adjectives – přivlastňovací přídavná jména
4.7 The adverb – příslovce
4.8 Standard adverbs ending in -ě/e
4.9 Adverbs ending in -cky, -sky
4.10 Adverbs ending in -o
4.11 Looking happy/sad etc.
4.12 Interrogatives, place and motion
4.13 More adverbs of place and motion
4.14 Other forms of adverb
4.15 Comparison of adjectives – stupňování
4.16 Comparison of adverbs
Chapter 5 Pronouns – zájmena
5.1 Pronoun types
5.2 Personal pronouns – osobní zájmena
5.3 Reflexive pronoun se – zvratné zájmeno
5.4 Demonstratives – ukazovací zájmena
5.5 Possessives – přivlastňovací zájmena
5.6 Interrogatives – tázací zájmena etc.
5.7 Relative pronouns – vztažná zájmena etc.
5.8 Interrogatives and their derivatives
5.9 Sám and samý
5.10 The same
5.11 Jiný etc. – other, another
5.12 Všichni, všechno – all
5.13 Každý – each, every
5.14 Jediný – only, sole
5.15 Žádný – no, not any
Chapter 6 Numerals and quantifiers – èíslovky
6.1 Cardinal numerals – základní číslovky
6.2 Ordinal numerals – řadové číslovky
6.3 X times – x-krát
6.4 Compound adjectives with numbers
6.5 Talking about numbered items
6.6 Czech money
6.7 Weights and measures
6.8 Indefinite quantifiers – neurčité číslovky
6.9 Telling the time
6.10 Days of the week, months and date
6.11 Arithmetic
6.12 Collective or set numerals – souborové číslovky
6.13 Generic numerals – druhové číslovky
Chapter 7 The verb – sloveso
7.1 Verb forms and categories
7.2 The infinitive – infinitiv
7.3 Reflexive verbs – zvratná slovesa
7.4 The present tense – přítomný čas
7.5 The past tense – minulý čas
7.6 Imperfective and perfective aspect – nedokonavý a dokonavý vid
7.7 Perfective present and future
7.8 Imperfective future
7.9 The conditional tense – kondicionál / podmiňovací způsob
7.10 Synopsis of main tenses
7.11 Past conditional
7.12 Pluperfect – předminulý čas / plusquamperfektum
7.13 Reported / indirect speech – nepřímá řeč
7.14 The imperative – imperativ/rozkazovací způsob
7.15 Participles and passive constructions
7.16 Verbal nouns – podstatné jméno slovesné
7.17 Frequentatives – slovesa opakovací
7.18 More participles
7.19 Modal verbs – modální slovesa
7.20 Phase verbs – start and stop
7.21 Verbs of motion – slovesa pohybu
7.22 More verbs
7.23 Basic/irregular verbs
7.24 Monosyllabic/irregular verbs
Chapter 8 Cases and prepositions – pády a předložky
8.1 The nominative case
8.2 The accusative
8.3 The genitive
8.4 The dative
8.5 The locative
8.6 The instrumental
8.7 The vocative
8.8 Prepositions
Chapter 9 Syntax and conjuctions – syntax a spojky
9.1 Sentences – věta a souvětí
9.2 Yes and no
9.3 Questions – otázky
9.4 Exclamations – zvolací věty
9.5 Word order – slovosled
9.6 Conjunctions – spojky
9.7 Commas – čárky
9.8 Quotation marks – uvozovky
9.9 Reported Speech – nepřímá řeč
9.10 Time
9.11 Conditions
9.12 If meaning whether
9.13 Aby etc.
9.14 List of coordinating conjunctions
9.15 List of subordinating conjunctions
Chapter 10 Word Formation
10.1 Vowel alternations
10.2 Consonant alternations
10.3 Forming nouns
10.4 Adjective suffixes
10.5 Adverbs
10.6 Foreign suffixes
10.7 Diminutives – zdrobněliny
10.8 Personal names
10.9 Derived verbs
10.10 Prefixes with other parts of speech
Index