Listening comprehension (Poslech s porozuměním)
The following guide supports understanding of short everyday Czech speech, including messages, announcements and dialogues. This bank provides written scripts rather than recordings; partner reading can add useful practice, but reading a script does not itself demonstrate listening competence. Follow the actual examiner’s instructions for recording repetitions, response formats and permitted materials.
Numbers, prices and quantities
Prices are where most marks disappear. Learn the spoken shape of numbers: 35 = třicet pět, 250 = dvě stě padesát, 1000 = tisíc. Hundreds take a special form - dvě stě, tři sta, čtyři sta - but pět set. Crowns change ending with the count: tři koruny and pět korun illustrate different counting constructions. Learn complete number phrases rather than extending one ending mechanically to every larger number.
Telling the time
Common Czech fractional clock expressions refer towards the next hour; numerical timetable expressions can use a different format. Půl osmé = 7:30, čtvrt na osm = 7:15, tři čtvrtě na osm = 7:45, za deset minut osm = 7:50, and on the hour simply v osm. Days take v/ve: v pondělí, ve středu, v pátek, v sobotu. Dates appear in the genitive: patnáctého května.
Register and negation
Vykání (Vy) versus tykání (ty) tells you who is speaking to whom: a doctor asking 'Jak se cítíte?' is not a friend asking 'Jak se máš?'. Negation is usually carried by one small word that is easy to miss - ne, nikdy, už ne, bohužel ne - and it reverses the entire answer, including answers that look correct from the numbers alone.
Worked example
Script: 'Dobrý den, kolik stojí to cappuccino?' - 'Espresso je třicet pět korun, cappuccino čtyřicet dva.' - 'Tak si dám cappuccino.' Question: Kolik zaplatí zákazník? Options 32 / 35 / 42. The answer is 42. Two prices are spoken, and the decisive information is which item the customer orders, not which number you heard first. The 35 belongs to the espresso and exists only as a distractor.
Traps that cost marks
- Taking the first number, name or time you hear as the answer, and ignoring a change of plan later ('Vlastně ne, přijdu v pět').
- Confusing how long with when: Jak dlouho? asks duration, Kdy? asks the point in time.
- Similar-sounding pairs: čtvrt (quarter) and čtvrtek (Thursday); šest and šest set.
- Answering from general knowledge about shops or trains instead of from the recording.
- Missing a negative inside a long sentence, so 'v neděli neotevíráme' becomes 'open on Sunday'.
Distinguish a plan from a confirmed change
When a speaker says “V úterý nemohu, přijdu ve středu”, Tuesday is explicitly rejected and Wednesday is the replacement. But if the speaker says they might come on Wednesday, preserve the uncertainty. Do not treat every second number as automatically correct or every hedge as a refusal. For independent listening, hide the written script, hear it read naturally, answer and then check the transcript. Pronunciation, length and Czech diacritics deserve separate practice beyond these written exercises.