It's been an odd kind of day, mostly exhausting because I had so much to prepare for my meet-ee this morning and then only an hour and a half in between to try to do some Czech homework, but my Czech lesson went quite well. I'm getting to a point where I know most of the main things necessary for a basic conversation in Czech, but I sometimes still don't know the perfective verb that pairs with the imperfective one I know. (I like how my spell check is currently underlining these words as if they don't exist. Obviously my spell check never had to learn about Czech grammar.)
Yes, perfective verbs exist. They are the ones which signify an activity done once, whereas the imperfective ones are used for regular activities. So if I want to say, "I have to go to the shopping centre," I would have to ask myself, "hmm, which verb do I need here - do I mean I have to go to the shopping centre every day for a meeting or I have to go to the shopping centre now, just once?" Not that hard, but the verbs for 'to go' (and I mean 'on foot' here) are 'jít' and 'chodit'. I go (once) carries the meaning 'I will go' and is 'jdu' but 'I go', every week, every day etc. is 'chodím'. Quite different aren't they?
It's quite complicated that there are two ways of saying future intentions, (though English sort of has three) you can either use a word that functions like 'will' or use the present tense of the perfective verb which is always future in meaning. But that requires you of course to know both the perfective and imperfective to have the choice. And I can't believe the number of verbs where I do know both but can't for the life of me remember which one is which. So I end up saying the equivalent of, "I'll be doing it" instead of, "I'll do it". (Actually, that one I know both forms of [dělám/udělám] like the back of my hand. And it's easier than in English anyway, because there isn't another verb like 'make' that requires you to know which nouns go with it and which don't. Hearing any foreigner say, "I do so many mistakes", highlights this difficulty rather well.) But I'm sure I've recently said something like, "I was remembering" instead of, "I remembered", or, worse still, "I'll try", instead of, "I'm trying". So, having told you all that, I imagine you're thanking your lucky stars that you don't have to learn Czech. Yes, well good for you. Hmmph. Some of us have to work hard to survive, you know.
The almost tragic thing is, however, that I know, in spite of Czech being a language that drives me insane with how "challenging" it is, I will miss speaking/hearing it when I come to London. I'll be dying to find some way of keeping in touch with it, so I'll probably have to read the online newspaper I always check (www.idnes.cz) in order to not feel too far from it. And when I come back, I'll feel pleased to be back in this quirky little country with its seemingly unintelligible language and it'll feel like home the first time I hear someone say something typically Czech, like, ,,to víš, že jo!" [you know it is! / of course it is!] or just, ,,ježiš marja" [=lit. "Jesus Mary!" = "oh my god!"] Which is utterly looney, is it not? But I kid you not, I do enjoy speaking Czech. I love the fact that it's so incomprehensible to most English speakers. It's like knowing a special code and I've always rather liked the idea of codes.
It's a way of having a secret club only for those who know the lingo. Except in this case, my secret club is a country of about 10 million, all of whom speak it a hell of a lot better than I do. And there's also the fact that Slovaks speak such a similar language, that they understand Czech perfectly too, so there's another 5 million. And when Slovaks move here, they adapt to saying things in Czech instead as and when necessary, so they speak it better than me too. I still find it really confusing listening to Slovak speakers on TV, as I start wondering why I can't understand as much, but think it has to be Czech, but then I realise it's a Slovak programme and that's why everything sounds sort of...skewed.
And with that, I'm feeling really rather tired now and must go to bed. I washed my hair this evening and it's already looking less than professional (it really does look like I dyed it myself with a cheap bottle of Wella hair dye or something) so I just hope the architect won't be totally disappointed tomorrow. It's his birthday and I want to make him feel happier, not make him feel ashamed that his girlfriend looks like someone who never grew out of henna-ed hair and tie-dyed dresses...
Wish me luck.
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