Cheat sheet: How to learn Czech in just 15 easy phrases

I’m sure most of us know “Dobrý den” and “Ahoj”. For more formal situations, use “Těší mě”. It is the equivalent of – though not literally the same as – “Pleased to meet you.”

Introducing yourself often requires the following sentence “Jmenuji se [YOUR NAME]”. In colloquial Czech “Jmenuju se [YOUR NAME]” is more common. Of course, you can use the following “Jsem [YOUR NAME].” It’s not quite proper but it is easy.

The Czech equivalent of “How are you?” is “Jak se máš?” (informal) and “Jak se máte?” (for formal interactions or when asking more than one person). However, as I’m sure your Czech friends have told you, this question is not so common with strangers. To close friends “Co ty?” also works.

The standard response to the question “Jak se máš?” is “Mám se dobře/špatně,” whether you’re feeling respectively good or bad. Alternatively, if you’re unwell you can use “Je mi blbě /špatně.”

When asking for something one important phrase you need is “Chtěl/Chtěla bych…”. The sentence is the equivalent of “I would like…”. Stick what you want on the end of the phrase, e.g “Chtěl bych prosím jídelní lístek,” (I would like a menu please.) When ordering food, it is more appropriate to use “Dám si…”, or if you want to be extra polite, say “Dal/Dala bych si…”.

So you’re on the train and need to disembark but there is a person in your way, the phrase “s dovolením” is a polite way to request that he/she lets you pass.

“Líbí se mi to” means “I like it.” “Souhlasím” means “I agree” (shorten that to souhlas for the Czech version of “yep”).

One way to disagree is to use the negatives of the sentences above – “Nesouhlasím” – “I don’t agree”, and “Nelíbí se mi to” – “I don’t like it.” A little stronger is the exclamation “Ani náhodou!”, i.e.“No way!” It is not very formal and more appropriate amongst close friends.

Most of us know “děkuji” (or its slightly more informal sibling “děkuju”). If you want to lay the gratitude on a bit thicker, the following will work: “To je skvělý.” (which means “That’s great.”)

In public places our “děkuji” is met with a “prosím”. But there are other ways of acknowledging a person’s gratitude. Try the expression – “Není zač.” An even shorter option is “za málo” – though it is informal.

If you want to apologize, the following two expressions “Promiňte” or “Omlouvám se” should do the trick. The former is used for example if you bump into someone; the latter is if you’re late, forget something or jump the queue.

Sometimes we’re on the receiving end of a bump or some other minor inconvenience. To show that it is not a problem, we can say, “Nic se nestalo.” It literally means “Nothing happened.” Another possibility is “Nevadí,” which in this context is something like “no bother.”

Here is a very useful sentence. You can use “Nezlob se” (or “Nezlobte se” when being formal or speaking to more than one person) when you want to defuse a situation or show you are not willing to do something, e.g. “Nezlob se, ale neudělám to” (Don’t be upset, but I won’t do it.)

But life’s not all bad. Good things happen…sometimes. And on those occasions you may want to tell your friend, “Gratuluju” (or gratuluji if you want to be formal). This sentence is ideal at weddings or after the birth of a child. For birthdays or name days, nothing works better than a simple “všechno nejlepší”.

When saying goodbye “na shledanou” is fine for formal situations, but among friends it’s better to use “Měj se/Mějte se”. You can even add “dobře” or “pěkně” to end to have “Měj se dobře/pěkně”. To this you can also add “Uvidíme se” which is close to “See you” (literally it means “we will see each other”).

When visiting Czech in-laws “stačí” and/or “dost” (enough) is useful when a second or third helping is headed your way!

Need time to come up with a word, or can’t follow the conversation and want to appear to understand or bring a painfully awkward interaction to an abrupt end? The interjection “tak”/“tak no” (so) followed by a shrug will alway suffice.