learning another language is always beautiful, no matter how long it takes. like, what do you mean you are crying because you had to read a sentence twice to get it, when at the beginning you had to do it five times? kicking yourself because you had to listen to an audio at .75x to understand it fully, when two months ago you could barely understand one or two words, even at your second try? getting mad because you had to research how to spell a word, when a few days back you didn't even know how to pronounce it? hell, that's amazing. keep going. you'll get there.
Resources for learning Czech
Textbook: Czech step by step
Duolingo vocab 🦉: Czech 🇨🇿 - Section 1: Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3, Unit 4, Unit 5, Unit 6, Unit 7, Unit 8
Alphabet & accents
How to pronounce Czech letters
Noun genders
Formal vs. informal speech
Accusative case (singular)
Pronouns in all grammatical cases
Czech prefixes
Grammar exercises:
Demonstrative pronouns - exercise sheet
Possessive pronouns - exercise sheets
Accusative case (demonstrative pronouns, adjectives & nouns) - exercise sheets
Possessive pronouns in the accusative case - exercise sheets
Reflexive possessive pronouns in the accusative case - exercise sheets
Iconic songs
Czech children's books
I just wanted to give my answer in the comments, but I thought that replying in another post would be more practical, and it might also help other people :) So, I'll try my best to explain, don't hesitate to tell me if it's not clear! First of all, in your list, only "Qui est-ce ?" can be used as a question in this form. For the others, you need to add other words. Also : - que = what and que + est = qu' - qui = who and qui + il = qu' • Qu'est-ce que... ? This is used to ask "What is..." with a direct object - Qu'est-ce que c'est ? — What is it?/What is this? - Qu'est-ce que tu fais ? — What are you doing? - Qu'est-ce que tu veux faire ce soir ? — What do you want to do tonight? → You can replace "qu'est-ce que" with "quoi" as a direct object (more informal form) - Qu'est-ce que c'est ?/C'est quoi ? - Qu'est-ce que tu fais ?/Tu fais quoi ? - Qu'est-ce que tu veux faire ce soir ?/Tu veux faire quoi ce soir ? • Qu'est-ce qui... ? This is used to ask "What..." where "what" is the subject - Qu'est-ce qu'il se passe ? — What is happening? - Qu'est-ce qui est rouge ? — What is red? - Qu'est-ce qui t'intéresse ? — What interests you?
→ You can replace "qu'est-ce que" with "quoi" as the subject (more informal form)
- Qu'est-ce qu'il se passe ?/ Il se passe quoi ? - Qu'est-ce qui est rouge ?/C'est quoi qui est rouge ? - Qu'est-ce qui t'intéresse ?/C'est quoi qui t'intéresse ? • Qui est-ce ? This is correct as it is, it's used when asking about someone's identity - (Knock on the door) Qui est-ce ? — Who is it? - (Showing someone in a photo) Qui est-ce ? — Who is he/sher? • Qui est-ce qui... ? This is used to ask "Who..." where "who" is the subject - Qui est-ce qui a fait ça ? — Who did this? - Qui est-ce qui chante ? — Who is singing? - Qui est-ce qui cuisine ? — Who is cooking? → You can replace "qui est-ce qui" with "qui" as the subject (more informal form) - Qui est-ce qui a fait ça ?/Qui a fait ça ? - Qui est-ce qui chante ?/Qui chante ? - Qui est-ce qui cuisine ?/Qui cuisine ? • Qui est-ce que... ? This is used to ask "Who..." with a direct object - Qui est-ce que tu as vu ? — Who did you see? - Qui est-ce que tu cherches ? — Who are you looking for? - Qui est-ce que tu écoutes ? — Who are you listening to? → You can replace "qui est-ce que" with "qui" as a direct object (more informal form) - Qui est-ce que tu as vu ?/T'as vu qui ? - Qui est-ce que tu cherches ?/Tu cherches qui ? - Qui est-ce que tu écoutes ?/Tu écoutes qui ?
• To sum up: - Qu'est-ce que... → What... (direct object) - Qu'est-ce qui... → What... (subject) - Qui est-ce ? → Who is it? - Qui est-ce qui... → Who... (subject) - Qui est-ce que... → Who... (direct object)
Hope this helps! Feel free to tell me if you still have questions!
French teachers, please help with these chaos of questions!!!!
Qu'est-ce que?
Qu'est-ce qui?
Qui est-ce?
Qui est-ce qui?
Qui est-ce que?
My poor head! Its crazy!
PLEASE explain me the meaning of all of these.
strangely common misconception that words have basically the same meanings in every langauge and that translation is just a matter of identifying which exact word in the target language corresponds to the word in the original language
affirmatives and filler words/sounds are my favorite thing in any language. i love that every language has various noises to make between words & thoughts and in pauses etc. i think they're also called "hesitation forms" (?)
growing up autistic i've always been very prone to language mirroring and i pick up hesitation forms so quickly i often explain upfront that it's not on purpose and i'm not mocking or purposefully mimicking someone in a conversation.
i also pick up affirmatives unintentionally and nearly immediately. in a lot of languages, people have a way of gently saying "yes, yes, yes, yes," repeatedly while receiving a list of instructions. in english this often is along the lines of "yes, mhm, okay, yep. got it. okay."
i took a kendo class in which everyone but me spoke Japanese as a first language and i was expected to answer instructions in Japanese and i began so formal but quickly fell into extremely casual, repeated affirmatives. i have very little experience with Japanese, so note this is only what i picked up in one particular place with this particular group, but it was fast nodding and repeated "ah. mm."
when i lived in norway and learned the language on the fly by immersion, i got completely stuck doing the affirmative H, which sounds like a gasp. i couldn't stop doing it for months after i moved home, and some of my friends near Oslo also used it as a hesitation form, so it was a double whammy.
no point to this, i just love languages and sounds.
Hi!
I'm a French ghost who has fallen in love with languages and who loves discovering new things :)
I want to use this blog to share my love for languages but also some vocab and other things related to the languages I'm learning. I think it can help me staying motivated and maybe it can help people too!
I'm also a conlanger, so I might post about some of my conlangs (I like to write songs for my Fantasy worldbuilding and translate them in my conlangs)
That's why this blog can be a bit messy, but I just want to have a nice place where I can share a bit of anything and everything :)
(I'll edit this post as I go along)
❈ French: N — it's my mother tongue, so feel free to ask me if you have questions or if you want to chat in french!
❈ English: B2/C1 — well, I don't now what's really my level, I'm not fluent but I understand most things (I just don't speak as well as I write xD)
→ Goal for 2025: practice!
❈ Spanish (Castellano): A2/B1 — I was B2 but I stopped having classes and I didn't practice so I lost my level x)
→ Goal for 2025: practice to get my level back, read and listen to more Spanish!
❈ Hungarian: A1? — my father's Hungarian but I did'nt learn the language as a child, so now I'm learning it :)
→ Goal for 2025: be able to speak with my father and my grandma in Hungarian! Even if it's only tiny sentences
❈ Russian: A1? — not much explanation here, it's just a language that interests me a lot x)
→ Goal for 2025: be able to have a simple conversation, to write simple sentences about my day etc.
❈ Others: as I said before, I love languages! So I really like discovering new things, including the culture! Listening to music, reading new authors, watching films/series, discovering history, traditions... Feel free to send me a message if you want to talk about those topics! I'm also open to learn with another person, even if it's a new language, especially if it's an Eastern-Europe one (czech, romanian, polish...) or a Native american one (I started learning Navajo/Diné Bizaad once but I struggled finding good resources :/)
Learning languages is a journey, it doesn't matter how long it takes you or how's your level after x time learning. Take your time, enjoy the process and celebrate your progress, even the tiniest!
And it's ok to sometimes take a break :)
Take care! ❈
You're doing great 🩵
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What's the difference between "por siempre" and "para siempre"?
Technically interchangeable, but you typically see/hear para siempre in everyday speech
In this particular case it's not really a por/para difference so much as what's poetic
There are a handful of words/expressions that in Spanish can change based on the intended (often poetic) tone/context - the best example is el mar "sea" which can be la mar feminine in specific settings or expressions
Outside of poetry and song lyrics you're not likely to be seeing/using por siempre
Roughly it's kind of like the difference between "forever" or "always", and then "for always" or "everlasting" or maybe more literally "in perpetuity"
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But again you will not be seeing por siempre in general. You might read it, but you'd rarely if ever say it
SEMANTIC CHANGES IN ENGLISH
Awful – Literally "full of awe", originally meant "inspiring wonder (or fear)", hence "impressive". In contemporary usage, the word means "extremely bad".
Awesome – Literally "awe-inducing", originally meant "inspiring wonder (or fear)", hence "impressive". In contemporary usage, the word means "extremely good".
Terrible – Originally meant "inspiring terror", shifted to indicate anything spectacular, then to something spectacularly bad.
Terrific – Originally meant "inspiring terror", shifted to indicate anything spectacular, then to something spectacularly good.[1]
Nice – Originally meant "foolish, ignorant, frivolous, senseless". from Old French nice (12c.) meaning "careless, clumsy; weak; poor, needy; simple, stupid, silly, foolish", from Latin nescius ("ignorant or unaware"). Literally "not-knowing", from ne- "not" (from PIE root *ne- "not") + stem of scire "to know" (compare with science). "The sense development has been extraordinary, even for an adj". [Weekley] -- from "timid, faint-hearted" (pre-1300); to "fussy, fastidious" (late 14c.); to "dainty, delicate" (c. 1400); to "precise, careful" (1500s, preserved in such terms as a nice distinction and nice and early); to "agreeable, delightful" (1769); to "kind, thoughtful" (1830).
Naïf or Naïve – Initially meant "natural, primitive, or native" . From French naïf, literally "native", the masculine form of the French word, but used in English without reference to gender. As a noun, "natural, artless, naive person", first attested 1893, from French, where Old French naif also meant "native inhabitant; simpleton, natural fool".
Demagogue – Originally meant "a popular leader". It is from the Greek dēmagōgós "leader of the people", from dēmos "people" + agōgós "leading, guiding". Now the word has strong connotations of a politician who panders to emotions and prejudice.
Egregious – Originally described something that was remarkably good (as in Theorema Egregium). The word is from the Latin egregius "illustrious, select", literally, "standing out from the flock", which is from ex—"out of" + greg—(grex) "flock". Now it means something that is remarkably bad or flagrant.
Gay – Originally meant (13th century) "lighthearted", "joyous" or (14th century) "bright and showy", it also came to mean "happy"; it acquired connotations of immorality as early as 1637, either sexual e.g., gay woman "prostitute", gay man "womaniser", gay house "brothel", or otherwise, e.g., gay dog "over-indulgent man" and gay deceiver "deceitful and lecherous". In the United States by 1897 the expression gay cat referred to a hobo, especially a younger hobo in the company of an older one; by 1935, it was used in prison slang for a homosexual boy; and by 1951, and clipped to gay, referred to homosexuals. George Chauncey, in his book Gay New York, would put this shift as early as the late 19th century among a certain "in crowd", knowledgeable of gay night-life. In the modern day, it is most often used to refer to homosexuals, at first among themselves and then in society at large, with a neutral connotation; or as a derogatory synonym for "silly", "dumb", or "boring".[2]
Guy – Guy Fawkes was the alleged leader of a plot to blow up the English Houses of Parliament on 5 November 1605. The day was made a holiday, Guy Fawkes Day, commemorated by parading and burning a ragged manikin of Fawkes, known as a Guy. This led to the use of the word guy as a term for any "person of grotesque appearance" and then by the late 1800s—especially in the United States—for "any man", as in, e.g., "Some guy called for you". Over the 20th century, guy has replaced fellow in the U.S., and, under the influence of American popular culture, has been gradually replacing fellow, bloke, chap and other such words throughout the rest of the English-speaking world. In the plural, it can refer to a mixture of genders (e.g., "Come on, you guys!" could be directed to a group of mixed gender instead of only men).
Silvio Pasqualini Bolzano inglese ripetizioni English insegnante teacher
more uncommon topics for vocab lists in your target language:
astronomy
mythology
folklore
obsolete professions
specialized medicine
linguistics
history and artifacts
botany
art styles and periods
oceanography
cryptozoology
esoteric hobbies
etymology
logical fallacies
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… it’s inewgh!
A shy little ghost who has fallen in love with languages and wants to become a polyglot. A jumble of discovery and random information. Oh, and also a conlanger :)
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