I can say a Czech letter by its name for spelling aloud, hear a long vowel without moving the stress onto it (the stress is always on the first syllable), and type á, ě, ř, ů, or leave out the mark and still have the answer count.
Letters, stress, and length
Letters, stress, and length
The Czech alphabet has 42 letters; ch is one letter (after h). The audio table gives the names for spelling aloud.
There are three marks. The čárka ´, the length mark, makes a vowel long: á, é, í, ó, ú, ý. The kroužek ˚, a ring, goes only over u: ů is also long. The háček ˇ comes in lesson 2.
Stress is on the first syllable (short prepositions: lesson 4). The čárka marks length, not stress: in rozumím “I understand” ro- is stressed and -mím is long. A long vowel is twice as long, not stressed.
Length tells words apart: pas “passport” — pás “belt”. These pairs are practiced by ear, by choice, not in writing.
ů and ú sound the same, a long u as in “food”: dům “house”, úterý “Tuesday”.
i and y both sound [i], like a short ee in “see”; í and ý are a long [i]. y is never the y of English “my”: ty “you”, my “we”. Learn ů or ú, i or y with each word.
Every vowel stays full, stressed or not: in slovo “word”, daleko “far” o is [o], a is [a], never “uh”.
ou is one syllable, like ow in “low” (never “oo”): dobrou noc “good night”, houska “roll”; so is au (ow in “now”), in borrowed words: auto “car”.
Common mistakes:
• × stress on -mím in rozumím — ro- is stressed.
• × the čárka as a stress mark — it shows length.
• × y in my said like English “my” — it sounds [mi].
• × slovo, daleko with “uh” in them — every o and a is full.
Short and long vowels
A long vowel lasts twice as long, but it doesn't take the stress.
| Letter | Short | Long | How it sounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| a | ma | má | like a in “father”; á is held twice as long |
| e | me | mé | like e in “bet”; never “ay” |
| i | mi | mí | like ee in “see”, but short |
| y | my | mý | also [i]; never the y of “my” |
| o | mo | mó | a pure o, stressed or not; never “uh” |
| u | mu | mú, mů | like oo in “food”, short; ú and ů are one sound |
Where the stress is and where the long syllable is
The stress is always on the first syllable. The čárka (´) shows only length.
| Long syllable | Word | Stressed syllable | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| none | slovo | slo- | word |
| first (also the stressed one) and last | úterý | ú- | Tuesday |
| last | rozumím | ro- | I understand |
| last | dobrý | do- | good |
| last | malý | ma- | small |
Lesson notes
Letters, stress, and length
The Czech alphabet has 42 letters; ch is one letter (after h). The audio table gives the names for spelling aloud.
There are three marks. The čárka ´, the length mark, makes a vowel long: á, é, í, ó, ú, ý. The kroužek ˚, a ring, goes only over u: ů is also long. The háček ˇ comes in lesson 2.
Stress is on the first syllable (short prepositions: lesson 4). The čárka marks length, not stress: in rozumím “I understand” ro- is stressed and -mím is long. A long vowel is twice as long, not stressed.
Length tells words apart: pas “passport” — pás “belt”. These pairs are practiced by ear, by choice, not in writing.
ů and ú sound the same, a long u as in “food”: dům “house”, úterý “Tuesday”.
i and y both sound [i], like a short ee in “see”; í and ý are a long [i]. y is never the y of English “my”: ty “you”, my “we”. Learn ů or ú, i or y with each word.
Every vowel stays full, stressed or not: in slovo “word”, daleko “far” o is [o], a is [a], never “uh”.
ou is one syllable, like ow in “low” (never “oo”): dobrou noc “good night”, houska “roll”; so is au (ow in “now”), in borrowed words: auto “car”.
Common mistakes:
• × stress on -mím in rozumím — ro- is stressed.
• × the čárka as a stress mark — it shows length.
• × y in my said like English “my” — it sounds [mi].
• × slovo, daleko with “uh” in them — every o and a is full.
How to type á, ě, ř, ů, and how answers are checked
You only need to add the Czech keyboard once: the steps for phones and computers are in the table below. On a phone, just long-press the letter: a → á; e → é, ě; r → ř; u → ú, ů.
You can leave out the marks: “rozumim” for “rozumím” counts. The answer key shows the spelling with the mark: learn that one.
The checker does tell letters apart: i and y, h and ch, d and t. Another letter is a mistake. That is why words that differ only by a mark are practiced by choice, not in writing.
The tags in parentheses after the lesson words — (masc.), (fem.), (neut.), and others — give grammar information about the word; module 1 explains what they mean.