As a globetrotting tourist to the Czech republic I was amazed at and confused by the survival of a culture in which the Czech men are so completely non-aggressive and peaceful, complimented by the truly breath-taking, stunning beauty of the Czech women. For a thousand years the Czechs have been living here and have been invaded and “conquered” a dozen times, yet the Czech language, culture, blood lines, and buildings appear to have survived for the most part completely unaffected. World history is littered with peaceful cultures that have been decimated by stronger aggressive invading forces. How could the Czech culture survive when so many other cultures have not? Eventually I came to realize that they survived because of the secret Czech National Defense System.
Perhaps Czech evolved in a manner similar to the children’s game of pig Latin, in which a word is made unintelligible to the uninitiated by changing a few letters. Delighting in the confusion this caused, the Czechs continued to add to the complexity of every imaginable aspect of a sentence until achieving a cryptographer’s nightmare.
I imagine that Czech was so difficult for the foreign invaders that they were unable to interact in a meaningful way with the Czechs. The foreign invaders eventually tired of not being able to communicate much of anything to anyone, so they left, leaving the culture unaffected. When the next invaders came, the Czechs realized that with the secret defensive power of their technically sophisticated language, being non-violent would do less damage to life and property. The Czechs laughed at the pretensions of the crude steel weaponry of the foreigners, and hosted the new temporary administrators in the big castle on the hill, knowing they too would tire of being here, and leave if they could not talk with anyone. The protection of the secrets of the Czech language has been a part of the culture for so long that it is done effortlessly by all, perhaps not even consciously.
This protection of the language is visible everywhere. A small example, one of the most common words in the language, “řict” (to say), is not listed in the pocket dictionaries that are bought by tourists.
On a much wider scale, there exists no written document listing the complete conjugations of the most commonly used verbs in the language! Some examples of verb conjugations can be found today in textbooks, but the complete information has always existed in memory, passed down orally from parent to child. Many of the definitions listed in Czech-English dictionaries do not provide clear translations as the language is currently used. Trying to find a conjugated verb in a dictionary is futile. In this book we have listed the conjugations of the most commonly used verbs, with precise definitions (colloquial as well as formal) and examples of usage. Another important feature is that each verb definition includes the case(s) and the prepositions most often used with that verb.
We have included an explanation of verb conjugation and the 7 cases from a new perspective which should make these complex topics easier to understand, and provide more clarity to English speaking people. There is a tourist survival guide which we hope will make the visit to Prague a much more enjoyable experience. Of course I realize that by divulging these secrets, my co-author and I run the risk of being thrown from the Clock Tower by the city fathers. But then ...perhaps by possession of this book, you run the same risk as well. Let the buyer beware!
