Lesson 16– Affirmative Sentences, Negative sentences, Questions In The Present Tense

We already know how to create an affirmative sentence.

Negative sentences in Czech

I chose the following one, as our model sentence:

Hledám své klíče.
(I'm looking for my keys.)

Now the same sentence in negative:

Nehledám své klíče.

In Czech you just add the prefix ne- to the verb you want to negate. A few examples:

Mám hlad. => Nemám hlad. (I'm not hungry.)
Zalévám kytky. => Nezalévám kytky. (I'm not watering/don't water the flowers.)
Dělá si úkoly. => Nedělá si úkoly. (She/he is not doing/doesn't do her/his homework.)
Kreslí obrázek. => Nekreslí obrázek. (They/she/he are/is not drawing a picture.)

When you use pronouns such as nikdo (no one), nic (nothing), žádný (none), etc., or adverbs like nikde/ nikam (nowhere), nikdy (never), etc., the verb still has to be negated. A couple of examples:

Nehledám nic. (I'm not looking for anything.)
Nemluvím s nikým. (I'm not talking to anyone.)
Nikam nejdeš. (You're not going anywhere.)  
Nemám nic. (I've got nothing.)

NOTE: All the pronouns mentioned above can be declined but the adverbs not– nikde is an exception. Nikde means a static place, even though it's basically "nowhere". Nikam means a movement. Nikde není (He/she's nowhere [to be found]) means that the person you're looking for should be in some place (you don't know where) and exist there. Nikam nejedeme (We're not going anywhere.) means that there is a place you should or want to go but you're not going there.

Questions in Czech

To create a question you have to basically do what is called the upward inflection. Your voice has to "go up" or "increase the pitch", if you know what I mean. Australians definitely do. 
What you do is saying the affirmative sentence in a different melody. Try it:

Jdeš s námi? (Are you coming with us?)
Spíš? (Are you sleeping? or Do you sleep?)
Je vysoká? (Is she tall?)

Another way to ask someone a question is to put a question word before an affirmative sentence. Some of our question words and their usage:

kolik (how many, how much)
Kolik dětí mají? (How many children do they have?)
Kolik vážíš? (How much do you weight?)

kde (where- static)
Kde jste? (Where are you?)

kdo (who)
Kdo má rád psi? (Who likes dogs?)

kam (where- movement)
Kam jedete? (Where are you going?)

kdy (when)
Kdy jsme se poznali? (When did we meet?) (Sorry, I couldn't work out a sentence with kdy in the present tense.) 

čí (whose)
Čí je toto pero? (Whose is this pen?)

který/která/které (which)
Který den v týdnu je osmý? (Which day of the week is eighth?)
Kterého psa chcete? (Which dog do you want?) (Chci psa– psa= 4th case. Explanation below.)

jaký/jaká/jaké (what...like, also French 'quel/le'= what)
Jaký je? (What is he like?)
Jaké je tvé mobilní číslo? (What is your phone number?)
Jaký je ten dort? (What is the cake like? or What does it taste like?)

jak (how)
Jak se máš? (How are you?)
Jak to děláš? (How do you do that?)

proč (why)
Proč chodíš plavat? (Why do you go swimming?)

co (what– asking in the accusative case)
Co říkáš? (What do you say?)
Co děláš? (What are you doing? or What do you do?)

koho (whom– asking in the accusative [the fourth] case, animate [= just people and animals])
Koho máte rádi? (Whom do you like?)

If you don't understand when to use kdo and when to use koho, read this:
In the previous lesson I told you when we use the accusative case. For example, our today's model sentence: 

Hledám své klíče. 

Klíče is in the accusative case. So when in English you ask this way: What are you looking for? in Czech, it must be: Co hledáš? (It's co because keys are not animate.) If you're not sure, just say it in the affirmative mood and then turn it into a question. 

If there's anything unclear, feel free to ask me. 

love & peace 
Ciray