The Bohemian alphabet—abeceda—(called after the first four letters a, b, c, d) consists of 39 letters—pÍsmen.

To these letters correspond individual sounds—hlÁsky—which go to make up the Bohemian words. The Bohemian language is very nearly phonetic, that is, for each sound there is a letter or, in other words, the spelling of words agrees with the pronounciation. These sounds are divided into: vowels—samohlÁsky—; and consonants—souhlÁsky.

B. The Vowels—SamohlÁsky.

The vowels are the word building sounds. Every vowel (and every consonant) has only one, unchanging pronunciation. The vowels are:

• a like final a in America,
• e like e in pen,
• o like o in obey,
• u like u in pull,
• y was formerly pronounced hard (as u in French, or ue in German), but it softened and is now almost equal to i.

Long and short vowels.—DlouhÉ a krÁtkÉ samohlÁsky.

The vowels a, e, i, o, u, y as given above are called short—krÁtkÉ,—and their pronounciation is short. But the same vowels occur long—dlouhÉ and then they are marked with the long sign—cÁrka and are pronounced long.

DlouhÉ samohlÁsky: Á, É, Í, Ó, Ú, Ý

C. Consonants.—SouhlÁsky.

Most of the consonants in Bohemian have the same sound as in English. These will be taken up first.

The following consonants have the same pronounciation in Bohemian as in English:

b, d, f, h, l, m, p, r, t, v, z. The letter s is always pronounced as the s in side; never like s in nose (sound z).

The Accent—PrÍzvuk.

In Bohemian the accent falls upon the first syllable. If the word contains many syllables a secondary and weaker accent falls upon the odd syllables (that is upon the third or fifth). Since the accent is regular there is no need of marking it.

Note.—Differentiate between the long syllable and the accented one! Examples: Voda (water). Here both syllables are short, the first one is accented; pÁtÁ (the fifth); here both syllables are long, the first one is accented. KÁmen (the stone); here the first syllable is long and is accented; malÁ (small); here the first syllable is short but accented, the second is long and unaccented. The accent is the stress of the voice, while the long syllable refers merely to the prolongation in sounding. The beginner is advised to pronounce the long syllables markedly long just for the sake of practice.

GRAMMAR.

VERBS.

mÁm, I have;	mÁ, has;	mÁme, we have;
znÁm, I know;	znÁ, knows;	znÁme, we know;
volÁm, I call;	volÁ, calls;	volÁme, we call.

The negative form of the verb is formed by simple prefixing—ne—to the verb. Examples: neznÁm—I don’t know; nemÁme—we have not etc.

NOUNS.

We begin with the nouns of the first declension. They end in a consonant in the nominative singular. In the objective (accusative) case they add -a; in the objective plural they replace -a by -y.

Examples:

• bratr—brother, objective sing. bratra, object. plural bratry.
• syn—son; object. sing. syna, object. plural syny.
• pÁn—gentleman, object. sing. pÁna, object. plural pÁny.
• ptÁk—bird, objective sing. ptÁka, object. plural ptÁky.
• sedlÁk—a farmer, object. sing. sedlÁka, object. plural sedlÁky.
• hoch—a boy, object. sing. hocha, object. plural hochy.

Article.—There is no article, definite or indefinite in Bohemian.

Use of the cases.—The subject of a sentence is in the nominative case (the case that names the person or thing). The object of the verb is in the objective case.

PÁn volÁ hocha.—The gentleman calls the boy.

Who (kdo) calls? The gentleman calls.—PÁn volÁ. The gentleman is the subject of the sentence and is in the nominative case. Whom (koho) does the gentleman call? The gentleman calls the boy.—PÁn volÁ hocha. The boy is the object of the verb calls and is in the objective case.

Since Bohemian is a highly inflected language, it is of extreme importance to become acquainted early with the case forms and their meanings.

Exercise I.

Translate into English:

MÁm bratra. MÁme bratry. ZnÁm ptÁka. VolÁme sedlÁky. Bratr volÁ hocha. SedlÁk mÁ syna. PÁn volÁ bratra. SedlÁk neznÁ pÁna. Hoch nemÁ ptÁka. Bratr nevolÁ hocha. NeznÁm pÁna. NevolÁm sedlÁka. (The article and auxiliary do, does, are not translated).

Exercise II.

Translate into Bohemian:

The farmer knows the gentleman. We have a brother. The gentleman has a bird. The farmer doesn’t know the boy. We know the farmer. The gentleman doesn’t call the boys. The farmer has sons. The brother knows the boys. I know the boy. I don’t know the gentleman.

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LESSON II. ÚLOHA II.
Phonetics.—HlÁskoslovÍ.

Consonants having different pronounciation in Bohemian than in English.

c pronounced like ts, noc the night, celÝ whole.

j pronounced like y in you, jÁ I, vojÁk the soldier.

ch pronounced like kh (more exactly like German ch, machen)—chudÝ, poor.

Consonants with the hook marks.—SouhlÁsky s hÁcky.

When the Latin script was adopted for the Bohemian language there were not enough letters for some of the Bohemian sounds. In the early times groups of letters were used to denote such sounds. The long vowels were marked by doubling. Ex. PÁn was written paan, the present letter Š (equal to our sh in shoe) was written ss, sh, or sch. In the XV. century the Bohemian reformer John Hus advanced a spelling reform by devising simple marks over kindred Latin letters to represent such sounds as had no Latin equivalents. At the present hooks are used to mark these peculiar consonants.

, like z in seizure,	Ák, pupil;—uitek, use.
Š, like sh in shoe,	koŠile, shirt;—koŠ, a basket.
c, like ch in church,	cernÝ, black;—oci, eyes.
t, like ty (y like in you),	kotata, kittens;—tukÁ, knocks.
d, like dy (y like in you),	lod, ship.
n, like n in onion,	lan, roe;—kun, horse.
r, something like rsh,	koren, root;—horÍ, burns.

It is impossible to indicate the exact pronounciation of the letters d, t and r. The best way to learn their pronunciation is by imitating the native Bohemians. The following phonetical description of the more difficult sounds will be perhaps helpful.

d, t, n are palatal dentals. They are formed when the tip of the tongue is close to the conjunction of the palate and front teeth.

, Š, c are palatal sibilants, the position of the tongue is in the middle of the mouth, the teeth are almost closed and hissing sounds are formed.

r, the tongue as in the preceding section, but the tip is slightly raised and it trills when r is pronounced.

h, ch, gutturals, are formed in the throat.

di, ti, ni.

Syllables di, ti, ni are pronounced as if written di, ti, ni, leaving out the “v” hook is an exception in writing.

Distinguish carefully in writing and speaking the syllables di, ti, ni, from dy, ty, ny. This is very important!

Examples:—zvony, bells; zvonÍ, rings; u vody, by the water; vodÍ, leads; letÍ, flies; tety, aunts; noviny, newspaper; nic, nothing; ticho, silence; boty, boots; vdy, always; divadlo, theater.

Verbs.	SlovÍcka.
Jsem, I am,	Jsme, we are,
jsi, thou art,	jste, you are,
on jest (abbreviated je), he is,	ona jest (je), she is,
mÁŠ, thou hast,	mÁte, you have,
znÁŠ, thou knowst,	znÁte, you know,
volÁŠ, thou calls,	volÁte, you call.

The second person singular jsi, mÁŠ, volÁŠ etc. corresponds to our: thou art, thou hast, thou callest etc. These forms, however, are obsolete in English and therefore the Bohemian forms ought to be translated by you are, you have, you call etc.

In Bohemian the singular forms jsi, mÁŠ, etc. are used in a familiar way, in talking to intimate friends, to children, or among the members of the family. The plural forms, jste, mÁte etc. are the polite forms to be used by the stranger.

NOUNS.

bratr, brother,	bratri, brothers;
pÁn, gentleman,	pÁni, gentlemen;
ptÁk, bird,	ptÁci, birds;
sedlÁk, farmer,	sedlÁci, farmers;
hoch, boy,	hoŠi, boys;
Ák, pupil,	Áci, pupils;
vojÁk, soldier,	vojÁci, soldiers;
holub, pigeon,	holubi, pigeons.

Nominative plural of the nouns of the first declension:

The nominative plural of the nouns of the first declension ends in -i.

• Zde, here;
• doma, home.

Exercise I.

Translate into English:

Jsem Ák. Jsme Áci. Nejsem vojÁk. Nejsme vojÁci. Ák mÁ bratra. Áci majÍ bratry. VojÁk volÁ sedlÁka. SedlÁk jest zde. Nejsem sedlÁk, jsem Ák. Bratr jest doma. HoŠi jsou doma. Hoch mÁ holuba. VolÁme pÁny. VolÁŠ pÁna. MÁte holuby. Jste zde. NeznÁme hochy. Ona jest doma.

Exercise II.

Translate into Bohemian:

I am here. The boy is home. The farmer has a pigeon. The farmers have pigeons. You don’t know the gentleman. The soldier has a brother. We are soldiers. The gentleman has a son. You call the boy. We know the gentleman. The birds are here. She is home. He is here.

Reading exercise. Given to practice the pronunciation.
LEV A MYŠ.

Lev spal. MalÁ myŠka mu skocila na zÁda. Lev se probudil a chytil myŠ do svÝch drÁpu. UlekanÁ myŠ prosila lva: Pust mne, odplatÍm se ti jednou. Lev se dal do smÍchu, e mu malÁ myŠka slibuje odplatu, ale pustil ji na svobodu.

Za rok lovci chytili lva a privÁzali ke stromu provazem. MyŠka uslyŠela rvanÍ lva, priŠla, prehryzla provaz a pravila: VidÍŠ, smÁl jsi se, e bych ti nemohla pomoci, ale ted vidÍŠ, e i malÁ myŠka mue mnoho vykonati.

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LESSON III. ÚLOHA III.
Phonetics.—HlÁskoslovÍ.

Hard and soft consonants.—MekkÉ a tvrdÉ souhlÁsky.—I and Y.

The two vowels i, and y differ slightly in pronounciation, see Lesson I. I is called mekkÉ i (soft i), y is called tvrdÉ y. The distinction between these two letters is very important.

h, ch, k, d, t, n, r are called tvrdÉ souhlÁsky—hard consonants and they are followed by y or Ý.

, Š, c, c, d, t, n, r, j, are called mekkÉ souhlÁsky—soft consonants and are followed by i, or Í.

Memorize each set of the consonants and keep well in mind the fundamental distinction between them.

ou is the only diphthong in Bohemian. It is pronounced as o in low. Koule, a ball; louka, a meadow.

Ú, u. If the long u occurs at the beginning of the words the simple long mark ´ is used; Úkol, lesson; ÚterÝ, Tuesday. If the long u occurs in the middle or at the end of the words a little circle mark u is used to denote the length, rue, rose; dolu, down; kue, leather.

Where we have u at present the old Bohemian had Ó, bÓh o. B. (buh), stÓl o. B. (stul), table etc.

• e called and formerly written ie, pronounce iye.
• e is the only vowel taking the hook mark.

e occurs in the following syllables:

me (mye),	mesto, city,	umeti, to know.
be (bye),	behÁm, I run,	obed, dinner.
ve (vye),	veda, science,	veci, things.
pe (pye),	pet, five,	pena, foam.
fe (fye),	fertoch, an apron.

Syllables de, te, ne are pronounced as if written de, te, ne. Both di, ti, ni and de, te, ne, are exceptional modes of writing.

Distinguish carefully between: de, te, ne, and de, te, ne; me, be, pe, ve, fe, and me, be, pe, ve, fe.

Vedeme, tebe, telo, umenÍ, neco, veci, nedelej, pest, ledy, tÝrÁ, udice, utÍkÁ, nynÍ, u vany, vonÍ.

GRAMMAR.

Present indicative of verb slyŠeti—to hear.

SlyŠÍm, I hear,	slyŠÍme, we hear,
slyŠÍŠ, you hear,	slyŠÍte, you hear,
slyŠÍ, he hears,	slyŠÍ, they hear.

There is no progressive form of the verb in Bohemian, therefore slyŠÍm can also be translated by I am hearing; volÁme, we are calling etc. The following verbs are conjugated in the same way as slyŠÍm. The first person only is given: vidÍm, I see; nosÍm, I carry; chodÍm, I walk; mluvÍm, I speak; chvÁlÍm, I praise.

• bratra, of the brother;—bratru, of the brothers.

The possessive case of the nouns of the first declension ends in -a in the singular and in -u in the plural.

The first three cases of pÁn.

	Singular	Plural
Nominative	pÁn, the gentleman,	pÁni, the gentlemen,
objective	pÁna, the gentleman,	pÁny, the gentlemen,
possessive	pÁna, of the gentleman,	pÁnu, of the gentlemen.

The nouns of the first declension are all of the masculine gender. They are divided into two sections, the first denoting animate things only, the other denoting inanimate beings. The second section, that of the inanimate nouns is declined as follows:

	Singular	Plural
Nominative	strom, the tree,	stromy, the trees,
objective	strom, the tree,	stromy, the trees,
possessive	stromu, of the tree,	stromu, of the trees.

As we have seen we do not need to use the personal pronouns with the Bohemian verb to indicate person and number. The endings of the verb show that with sufficient clearness.

The interrogative form is denoted by the question mark in writing and proper accentuation in speaking, e. g.

VolÁte bratra.	You call the brother.	Positive statement.
VolÁte bratra?	Do you call the brother?	Question.
NemÁte chleba.	You have no bread.	Positive statement.
NemÁte chleba?	Haven’t you bread?	Question.

• Kdo? who?
• Koho? whom?
• Co? what?
• Kde? where?
• a, and;
• ne, no;
• ano, yes.

These inanimate nouns are declined like strom.

• klobouk, hat;
• strom, tree;
• chlÉb, bread;
• kabÁt, coat;
• obraz, picture;
• rÁm, frame.

Exercise I.

Translate into English:

Kdo mÁ kabÁt? JÁ mÁm kabÁt. My mÁme kabÁty. Koho volÁte? VolÁm bratra a vojÁka. Zde jest kabÁt hocha. VidÍte strom? Ano, vidÍm strom. Ne, nevidÍm strom. MÁŠ chlÉb? Ano, mÁm chlÉb. Ák mÁ klobouk a kabÁt. Koho slyŠÍte? SlyŠÍm hocha. Koho chvÁlÍte? ChvÁlÍme Áka. PÁn mÁ obraz. RÁm obrazu. ChlÉb sedlÁku.

Exercise II.

Translate into Bohemian:

The gentleman has a picture. Whom do you hear? I hear the soldiers. We speak. Do you know the farmer? Yes, I know the farmer. Whom do you call? I call the brother. We praise the farmers. What do you hear? Do you see the boy and the soldier?

Reading Exercises:

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LESSON IV. ÚLOHA IV.
PHONETICS.

Semivowels.—PolosouhlÁsky.

There are some words in Bohemian that contain no vowels; ex. vlk, wolf; prst, finger.… In such words the consonants l and r play the part of a vowel; they take a softer sound and are called semivowels (Pronounce them as if there were a slight e before l or r. Vlk as velk, prst as perst).

Examples:—Strc prst skrz krk. Drn, pln, slz, brk, vlna.—Some consonants following each other give trouble to the inexperienced beginner. Much practice is therefore necessary to acquire a good pronounciation right from the beginning.

Drill exercise.—Pronounce distinctly:

hnev, anger; cti, read; zdi, walls; ŠtestÍ, happiness; korist, prey; zvon, bell; sklep, cellar.

Šla Prokopka pro Prokopa, Prokope, dej trochu oukropa. Triatricet krepelek letelo pres triatricet strÍbrnÝch strech.

The Bohemian Alphabet.

a, Á, b, c, c, d, d, e, É, É, e, f, g, h, ch, i, Í, j, k, l, m, n, n, o, Ó, p, r, r, s, Š, t, t, u, Ú, u, v, y, Ý, z, .

The letters q, x, w occur only in words of foreign origin.

The vowels a, e, i, o, u, y have full vocal tone. Consonants are divided into surds ch, k, t, t, p, s, c, Š, c, f. They have a dull sound and no vocal tone while the sonants h, g, d, d, b, z, , v, have a clear sound and light vocal tone.—When a surd follows the sonant or vice versa, either in the same word or in two neighboring words, then either the surd changes into a sonant or the sonant into a surd so that they are both of the same quality.

Examples:

• lehkÝ, light, is pronounced as lechkÝ,
• nehty, nails, is pronounced as nechty,
• kde, where, is pronounced as gde,
• kdo, who, is pronounced as gdo,
• v Praze is pronounced as f Praze,
• bez prÁce is pronounced as bes prÁce.

The final sonant changes into a surd.

• v is pronounced as f, lev (lion) is pronounced lef,
• h is pronounced as ch, snÍh (snow) is pronounced snÍch,
• z is pronounced as s, lez (crawl!) is pronounced as les,
• is pronounced as Š, be (run!) is pronounced as beŠ,
• d is pronounced as t, lod (ship) is pronounced as lot.

When, however, a vowel follows the sonant, this will keep its full sound; lvi, lions; ve snehu, in the snow; lezu, I crawl; beÍm, I run; lode, ships.

Prepositions v, in; k, to, towards; s, with, are words. They must therefore be separated from words before which they stand but in speaking they are united to the following word and pronounced as one, e. g.: v lese, in the forest say vlese; k bratru, to the brother say kbratru, s pÁnem, with the gentleman, say spÁnem.

GRAMMAR.

Pronouns.—NÁmestky.

JÁ,	I,	my,	we,
ty,	thou (but translated you)	vy,	you,
on,	he,	oni, )	they
ona,	she,	ony, )
ono,	it;	ona, )

Notice that while in English the plural of all three he, she and it is they, each of these has its own plural form in Bohemian.

We have had so far two classes of verbs and the auxiliary to be, bÝti.

JÁ volÁm,		I call,		my volÁme,		we call,
ty volÁŠ,		you call,		vy volÁte,		you call,
on )	volÁ	he )	calls	oni )	volajÍ,	they call.
ona )		she )		ony )
ono )		it )		ona )

The personal pronoun is usually omitted, except in emphatic statements. The third person plural of the verbs of the first lessons: majÍ, they have, znajÍ, they know (the same as volajÍ) and jsou, they are.

Gender.—Rod.

All nouns in Bohemian belong to either the masculine, feminine or neuter gender. Jsou bud rodu muskÉho, enskÉho nebo strednÍho. This distinction is called grammatical gender.—Nouns ending in the nominative singular in a are of feminine gender.

Declension of the feminine nouns ending in -a.

	Singular.	Plural.
Nominative	Škola, school;	Školy, schools,
objective	Školu, school;	Školy, schools,
possessive	Školy, of the school;	Škol, of the schools.

Feminine nouns of this declension:

• Škola, school,
• kniha, book,
• teta, aunt,
• ryba, fish,
• sestra, sister,
• matka, mother.

Ve Škole, in the school (locative case).

Exercise I.

Translate into English:

Kdo jest ve Škole? My jsme ve Škole. PÁn jest doma. Kde jsou vojÁci? Oni jsou zde. MÁm knihu. MÁ sestra mÁ knihy. NeslyŠÍm sestry. Sestry volajÍ hocha. Kde jest hoch? Hoch jest ve Škole. VolÁme tetu, ona jest doma. Knihu Áka mÁ vojÁk. VidÍm dum sedlÁka. ChvÁlÍte Áky? Ano, chvÁlÍme Áky.

Exercise II.

Answer in Bohemian:

Kde jest sestra? MÁte knihy? SlyŠÍte pÁna, znÁte vojÁky? Kde jest hoch? Co mÁ ona? Koho volajÍ ony? VidÍte stromy?

Exercise III.

Translate into Bohemian:

We don’t hear the gentleman. She has an aunt. The pupils are in the school. Where is the sister of the soldier? The bread of the farmer is here. She doesn’t hear. They (masc.) don’t hear. They (feminine) don’t see. What do you see? I have books. We have books in the school.

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LESSON V. ÚLOHA V.

Review of the Phonetics.—OpakovÁnÍ hlÁskovÁnÍ.

Vowels.—SamohlÁsky.

• Short, krÁtkÉ: a, e, e, i, o, u, y;
• long, dlouhÉ: Á, É, Í, Ó, Ú, u, Ý.

Consonants.—SouhlÁsky.

• Soft consonants, mekkÉ souhlÁsky: , Š, c, c, d, t, n, r, j, followed by i or Í.
• Hard consonants, tvrdÉ souhlÁsky: h, ch, k, d, t, n, r, followed by y or Ý.
• Soft syllables, mekkÉ slabiky: di, ti, ni, de, te, ne, be, pe, ve, me, fe.
• Hard syllables, tvrdÉ slabiky: dy, ty, ny, de, te, ne, be, pe, ve, me, fe.

• Diphthong, dvojhlÁska: ou.

The remaining consonants: b, p, v, l, m, s, z, f, are called neutral consonants—obojetnÉ souhlÁsky. These consonants become hard or soft in certain cases or verb ending as will be shown in the grammar or they are soft or hard in certain words to be taken up latter on. The proper use of y or i after neutral consonants is one of the difficulties of the Bohemian grammar.

Long vowels—dlouhÉ samohlÁsky.—It is very important to employ the long mark ´ over long vowels and to give sufficient length in pronouncing them. The beginner especially should prolong them to acquire the habit. Many quasi-homonyms are distinguished by the length sign: e. g. pata, heel, pÁtÁ, fifth, pece, bakes, pÉce, care, pÁra, steam, pÁrÁ, ripping, psi, dogs, psÍ, of the dog, kul, post, pillar, kul, forged.

GRAMMAR.

THE DATIVE CASE.

The indirect object is expressed by the dative case. It answers to the question to whom? Komu?

I give a book to the boy.—DÁm knihu hochovi.

I give what? The book. The book is the direct object.

To whom do I give the book? To the boy, hochovi. The boy is the indirect object expressed in Bohemian by the dative case. The preposition k, to or towards, (ke or ku before word beginning with k, b, v, p) is used only to denote direction, when the verb implies motion. Jdu ke stolu. I go to (towards) the table.

The forms of the dative.

	Singular.	Plural.
Masculine animate	pÁnu, or pÁnovi,	pÁnum,
Masculine inanimate	stromu,	stromum,
Feminine	Škole,	ŠkolÁm.

Adjectives.—PrÍdavnÁ jmÉna.

In Bohemian the adjectives agree with the noun they modify in gender, number and case.

Nominative singular and plural of the masculine and feminine forms of the adjectives.

Singular.
Masculine animate	velkÝ vojÁk, big soldier,
masculine inanimate	novÝ kabÁt, a new coat,
feminine	dobrÁ Škola, a good school.
Plural.
Masculine animate	velcÍ vojÁci, big soldiers,
Masculine inanimate	novÉ kabÁty, new coats,
Feminine	dobrÉ Školy, good schools.

The adjective ends in the nominative singular for the masculine in -Ý.

The adjective ends in the nominative singular for the feminine in -Á.

The adjective ends in the nominative plural for the masculine anim. in -Í.

The adjective ends in the nominative pl. for the masculine inanim. in -É.

The adjective ends in the nominative plural for the feminine in -É.

Vocabulary.

• dal, gave;
• malÝ, -Á, small;
• velkÝ, -Á, big; (-Á is abbreviation for velkÁ);
• starÝ, -Á, old;
• novÝ, -Á, new;
• zelenÝ, -Á, green;
• dobrÝ, -Á, good, used both with objects and persons.
• ŠpatnÝ, -Á, bad;
• jakÝ, -Á, of what kind (adjective);
• nenÍ, is not.

Exercise I.

Translate into English:

HodnÝ sedlÁk dal hochovi knihu. HodnÍ sedlÁci dali hochum knihy. Stromy jsou zelenÉ. MalÝ Ák jest ve Škole. Kde jest hodnÝ hoch? HodnÝ hoch jest doma. PÁn dal hochovi klobouk. SlyŠÍm sestru. Jest Ák hodnÝ? Ano, Ák jest hodnÝ. Jest kniha starÁ? Ne, kniha nenÍ starÁ, kniha jest novÁ. SedlÁk dal chleba pÁnovi. StarÝ pÁn jest doma. HodnÁ matka jest zde. StarÝ dum jest velikÝ. KabÁt hocha jest novÝ.

Exercise II.

Translate into Bohemian:

The old gentleman knows the boy. The old gentlemen know the boys. Is the small boy in the school? Yes, he is in the school. No, he is not in the school, he is at home. The coat is old. Where is the big soldier? We have coats and hats. The good pupils are in school. Where is the big sister? The aunt is good. The tree is big and green.

Reading exercise.

KMOTR MATEJ.

Kmotr Matej Šel navŠtÍvit kmotra JÍru. Nedaleko statku potkal kmotrova chlapce.

“Co delÁ tÁta, JosÍfku?” ptÁ se ho.

“PrÁve chtel jÍst, ale kdy vÁs videl prichÁzet, vstal a nechal jÍdla bÝt,” odpovedel pravdomluvnÝ hoch.

“A proc pak?”

“Inu, tÁta povÍdal, e byste nÁm mnoho snedl, a mÁma to musela se stolu vŠecko uschovat.”

“A kam pak to schovala, JosÍfku?”

“Husu dala na pÍcku, kÝtu na kamna, klobÁsy se zelÍm do trouby, buchty na polici a dva dbÁny piva pod lavici.”

Kmotr se neptal dÁle, usmÁl se a v okamenÍ veŠel pres prÁh ke kmotrovi.

“Pozdrav te buh!” vÍtal ho kmotr JÍra. “Ale e pak jsi nepriŠel o chvilku drÍve, mohl jsi s nÁmi jÍst, prÁve dnes nÁm od jÍdla nic nezbylo, cÍm bychom te uctili.”

“Nemohl jsem, milÝ kmotrÍcku, drÍve prijÍt, prihodilo se mi na ceste neco neocekÁvanÉho.”

“A co, povÍdej!”

“Zabil jsem ti hada, a ten had mel hlavu tak velikou jako ta kÝta, co mÁte na kamnech, tlustÝ byl jako ta husa, co je na pÍcce, bÍlÉ masÍcko mel jako ty buchty, co jsou na polici, dlouhÝ pak byl jako ty klobÁsy, co leÍ otocenÉ na zelÍ v troube, krve ale bylo, co piva v tech dvou dbÁnech, co tamto pod lavicÍ stojÍ.”

Dobre to Matej vyvedl. Kmotr JÍra se za svou nehostinnost zastydel, ena musela jÍdlo a pitÍ na stul postavit, a oba teprv hosta castovali.

Boena NemcovÁ.

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LESSON VI. ÚLOHA VI.

MekcenÍ tvrdÝch souhlÁsek.—Softening of hard consonants.

It was stated in Lesson III. that the plural of the masculine animate nouns and their adjectives ends in -i—mekkÉ i. Since i, mekkÉ, cannot follow a hard consonant this must soften, that is change into corresponding soft consonant. In softening, pri mekcenÍ

h changes into z,	druh, comrade,	druzi, comrades,
ch changes into Š,	hoch, boy,	hoŠi, boys,
k changes into c,	vojÁk, soldier,	vojÁci, soldiers,
r changes into r,	bratr, brother,	bratri, brothers.

d, t, n soften automatically upon the addition of i—di, ti, ni.

Neutral consonants simply add -i.

This change, called softening, is very important, it also occurs after e.

GRAMMAR.

Locative and instrumental cases.

After the prepositions: o, about, v (ve), in, po, following, after, the locative case is employed in Bohemian.

After the prepositions: s (se), with, za, behind, further where in the English we employ the preposition by to signify instrumentality to some action, the instrumental case is used in Bohemian.

Note.—Prepositions s, with; v, in; k, to, towards, add -e for the sake of euphony, (k before k, b, v, p, v before v, f, s before s, z, Š, ).

Locative case.

	Singular.	Plural.
masc. anim.	pÁnu, pÁnovi,	pÁnech,
masc. inan.	stromu, strome,	stromech,
feminine	Škole,	ŠkolÁch.

Instrumental case.

masc. anim.	pÁnem,	pÁny,
masc. inan.	stromem,	stromy,
feminine	Školou,	Školami.

MluvÍm o hochovi. I speak about the boy. Locative case.

MluvÍm s hochem. I speak with the boy. Instrumental case.

Jdu, I go,	jdeme, we go,
jdeŠ, you go,	jdete, you go,
jde, he goes,	jdou, they go.

The following verbs form their present indicative like jdu: nesu, I carry, ctu, I read, beru, I take.

Exercise I.

Jdu s pÁnem. I go with the gentleman, jdeŠ s pÁnem, on jde s pÁnem, ona jde s pÁnem. My jdeme s pÁnem, vy jdete s pÁnem, oni jdou s pÁnem, ony jdou s pÁnem.

Continue orally as in the example above indicated throughout all three persons singular and plural:

• Nesu knihu …
• VolÁm Áka …
• Ctu ve Škole …
• MÁm kabÁt …
• SlyŠÍm ptÁka …
• VidÍm strom …

Vocabulary.

• dÍvka, girl;
• CeŠka, Bohemian girl;
• Americanka, American girl;
• zpÍvÁ (like volÁ), sings;
• Cech, Bohemian;
• American, American;
• les, forest;
• kam? where;
• ten, this one for masculine;
• ta, this one for feminine.

Do (preposition) is followed by possessive case.

Exercise II.

Translate into English:

Jdu do Školy. MÁŠ klobouk a kabÁt. Ta dÍvka jest CeŠka. Jest ten vojÁk Cech? Ne, on nenÍ Cech, jest American. Jdu do lesa. V lese jsou stromy. PtÁk zpÍvÁ v lese. Kdo mluvÍ o Škole? Hoch sedlÁka mluvÍ o Škole. Koho volÁ sestra? Sestra volÁ tetu. Co cte bratr? Bratr cte knihu. Co nese starÝ sedlÁk? StarÝ sedlÁk nese knihu. Ten sedlÁk jest Cech.

Exercise III.

Change the sentences in Exercise II. into plural (in Bohemian).

Exercise IV.

Translate into Bohemian:

A good pupil goes to school. She takes bread. They hear the soldiers. What are you hauling? The good aunt has a garden. A big sister reads a book. A gentleman goes with the soldier. Behind the soldier is a tree. The big house is the school. Where do you go? I go home. We speak about the school.

Vocabulary.

• ucitel, teacher;
• ucÍ se, they study;
• sedÍ, they sit;
• v lavicÍch, in benches;
• u stolu, at the table;
• stojÍ, stands;
• ostatnÍ, the others;
• dÁvajÍ pozor, they pay attention.

ŠKOLA.

Ve Škole jsou Áci a ucitel. MajÍ knihy. UcÍ se pilne. SedÍ v lavicÍch. Ucitel jest u stolu. Na stole mÁ velkou knihu. Jeden Ák stojÍ a cte, ostatnÍ dÁvajÍ pozor.

Jsme ve Škole a ucÍme se. Jsme Áci. SedÍme v lavicÍch. MÁme knihy a papÍr.

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