Brain Pain

Czech lessons re-commenced today. After two weeks off, it appears that I have lost some considerable ground. I found myself struggling to remember basic verbs that I thought I had committed to memory weeks ago. Thankfully my new teacher is very patient... even willing to remind me of some words multiple times throughout the course of my one hour lesson.

Here's yet another "little twist" on the very complex Czech language: coffee is "kava" in Czech. If I wanted to say "This is good coffee" I would be speaking in what the Czech language refers to as the NOMINATIVE CASE. Therefore, I would say "Ta je dobra kava". (Kava is feminine, so the word for "this" is "ta"; However, wine or "vino" is neutral, so the word for "this" would change to "to"; And, house or "dum" is masculine, so the word for "this" changes to "ten". Ugh. Ugh. and Ugh.)

Now, if I wanted to say "I have good coffee" I would be speaking in the ACCUSATIVE CASE. Therefore, it changes to "Mam dobrou kavu"... get that? The endings of both the words for "good" and "coffee" change when coffee is the direct object of the sentence. This is only scratching the surface. Keep in mind that I barely floundered my way through my high school junior year of grammar with Mr. Hoekema! My only consolation is that this can no longer affect my GPA and my teacher will NEVER ask me to diagram sentences on the blackboard. How do I know this? We meet at KFC and they don't have a blackboard!!! :-) Whew.

I think my patient teacher and I will be spending a couple more weeks on Lesson 2.... I guess she doesn't mind. She gets paid even if we spend the next 3 months plodding through Lesson 2!