In order to give you a taste of what does it mean to be a Czech, I am offering you a crash course on using (just) my name. I hope you will enjoy it.
Basic forms which my surname may take depend on whether it concerns a male, a female, a couple or a whole family. The following table should elucidate it. Audio WAV files with native speakers' pronounciation are available, too.
| gender | English | Czech (UTF-8) | Czech (GIF picture) |
| Male: | Mr. Sipr | pan Šipr | |
| Female: | Mrs. Sipr | paní Šiprová | |
| Couple: | Mr. and Mrs. Sipr | pan a paní Šiprovi | |
| Family: | Sipr family | rodina Šiprova | |
Now the really hard stuff: my name. In Czech it is Ondřej, or if your browser has got
problems with Czech accents, 
. Again, you may listen to the correct pronounciation by
following the links. The
strange sound you heard in the middle is the consonant ř, or maybe better 
. This consonant is a Czech
speciality we are very proud of. Allegedly, only three languages in
the world have got it. Apart from Czech also Polish and Tamil. I can
speak Polish and I can confirm that in Polish, there is indeed a
consonant which sounds very similar to the Czech ř or . However, I cannot speak Tamil
and I do not know anyone who can. So please: if you are Tamil - will
you kindly let me know whether you really have got this consonant or not?
Please note that so far we were dealing with the nominative case only, i.e., just with the basic form. In fact there are seven cases in Czech, you know...
| 1 | He is | Ondřej Šipr. |
| 2 | We can manage without | Ondřeje Šipra. |
| 3 | Give it to | Ondřeji Šiprovi. |
| 4 | I hate | Ondřeje Šipra. |
| 5 | Hello | Ondřeji Šipře. |
| 6 | Do not talk about | Ondřeji Šiprovi. |
| 7 | I am here with | Ondřejem Šiprem. |
You think that I am cheating when saying that there are seven cases in Czech? You noticed that some forms are identical? Well - sometimes they are but sometimes they are not. It depends on the particular word. You may study Czech more deeply and find it yourself or you may just believe me. The choice is yours.
Well, I think that enough is enough. Forget about Czech and rest
in peace.
Further reading: a Wikipedia article on Czech names.
Back to the home page of Ondrej Sipr.