Learn Czech

Start at the alphabet

The Czech on-ramp is written by hand, not generated, and it is 485 cards long. Every card is spoken in a recorded Czech voice, and what you get right is scheduled for review rather than shown again at random.

• 42letters
• 10digits
• 13pronunciation rules
• 300core words
• 60everyday phrases
• 60sentences

Three of the pronunciation cards, exactly as the on-ramp teaches them:

• kamarád — stress falls on the FIRST syllable of every Czech word, with no exceptions to learn. Hit it and let the rest of the word fall awaynemocnice — a hospital
• malý — and here is the trap: an accent mark is LENGTH, not stress. In malý the stress is on ma and the long vowel is the ý — they are on different syllables, and both are right. Never push the accented vowel louderdobrý — good
• dě tě ně — ě after d, t or n does not add a vowel — it SOFTENS the consonant, turning it into ď, ť or ň. So dě is “dye”, tě is “tye”, ně is “nye”rozumět — to understand

Your first Czech phrases

The first phrase and sentence cards of the on-ramp, each spoken in a recorded voice:

• Jak se máš? YAK se MAASH — how are you? (informal)
• Jak se máte? YAK se MAA-te — how are you? (polite)
• Mám se dobře. MAAM se DOB-rzhe — I’m fine
• Jmenuji se Anna. YME-nu-yi se A-na — My name is Anna.
• Jsem student. SEM STU-dent — I am a student.

What Czech actually costs a beginner

Those two facts fight each other. Stress is always on the first syllable, with no exceptions to learn — and an accent mark is LENGTH, not stress, so in malý the beat is on ma while the long vowel sits at the far end. Push the accented vowel louder, as an English speaker's instinct says to, and the word stops sounding Czech. On top of that, ě after d, t or n adds no vowel but softens the consonant, and ř, the sound Czech is famous for, is a rolled r and a ž at the same time. Each is a card with a recorded voice, because none can be learned from the page.