Language structures and vocabulary (Jazykové prostředky)
This paper is a set of short discrete items - multiple choice, cloze sentences with gaps, and matching - testing grammar and vocabulary in isolation from any long text. Each item has one clearly correct form, so the paper rewards knowing the paradigm rather than guessing by ear. Cases, verb conjugation, prepositions, agreement and counted nouns make up most of the items.
Cases: what triggers which
Nominative = subject. Accusative = direct object and direction after pro/na: Mám rád kávu, Jdu na poštu, pro tebe. Genitive = after do, z, od, bez, u and after quantities: do Prahy, sklenice vody, pět korun. Locative = location after v/na/o: v Praze, na nádraží, o víkendu. Dative = after pomáhat, rozumět, líbit se, and in age phrases: Pomáhám matce, Je mi dvacet let. Instrumental = after s: s mlékem, s kamarádem. Vocative = addressing: Petře! Jano! pane Nováku!
Endings worth memorising (singular)
Masculine animate: student → studenta (acc), studentovi (dat). Feminine -a: žena → ženu (acc), ženě (dat/loc). Feminine soft: restaurace → restauraci. Neuter -o: město → městě (loc). Nouns in -í do not change: nádraží. Consonant alternations appear constantly: Praha → v Praze (h→z), řeka → v řece (k→c), kniha → v knize.
Verbs
-ovat: pracovat → pracuju/pracuji. -it: mluvit → mluvím. Irregular high-frequency verbs: být, jít (jdu), jet (jedu), chtít (chci), moct (můžu), muset (musím), vědět (vím), jíst (jím), pít (piju). Past: dělal jsem, dělal jsi. Future: budu dělat, půjdu, pojedu.
Numbers with counted nouns
dva roky, dvě koruny, tři koruny, čtyři koruny - but pět korun, pět let. Hundreds: dvě stě, tři sta, čtyři sta, pět set. Thousands: tisíc, dva tisíce, pět tisíc.
Worked example
'Bydlím v ___.' Options: Praha / Prahy / Praze. The answer is Praze. The preposition v used for location requires the locative, and Praha shifts h→z in that case. Prahy would be the genitive, which belongs after do or z (do Prahy = direction). The item is really testing two things at once: which case the preposition governs, and the consonant change.
Traps that cost marks
- Putting the accusative after do: do Praha instead of do Prahy.
- Forgetting that na takes two cases: na poštu (direction, accusative) versus na poště (location, locative).
- Mít rád plus nominative instead of accusative: Mám rád káva is wrong.
- Age with být instead of the dative: say Je mi dvacet let.
- Counting errors: pět koruna instead of pět korun.
- Choosing between budu dělat and udělám without checking whether the sentence is about a process or a result.