Jak se máš? You've surely heard this question many times! In today's 5-minute Czech for beginners, you'll learn how to respond and react to it, and how to ask other people how they are doing.

5-minute Czech - beginner

Do you remember how to greet people in Czech? You are right: It differs according to people we speak with.

If we speak with a doctor or boss, we use formal Czech, if we speak with a friend or family member (or with child), we use informal Czech.

When it comes to greeting people, it means:

Formal: „Dobrý den.“ (Hello., literally Good day.)

Informal: „Ahoj!“ (Hello. / Hi.)

(We have mentioned this amongst other information in our second 5-minute Czech worksheet called “Introducing to others”, so if you want, check it out!)

We know now how to say “Hello” in Czech, that is perfect! The next step is to learn how to ask “How are you”?

The most frequent Czech equivalent is:„Jak se máš?“ (informal)„Jak se máte?“ (formal interactions / talking to more people)

You don’t have to smile and throw „Skvěle!“ (Excellent!) to everyone, feel free to answer negatively as well or to be ironic (especially in informal interaction).

You can answer shortly by these words (and then add some details):

„Perfektně.“/ „Skvěle.“ (Perfect. / Excellent.)

„Dobře.“ (Good.)

„Nic moc.“, „Ujde to.“ (So-so.)

„Špatně.“ (Bad.)

„Hrozně.“ / „Strašně.“ / „Příšerně.“ (Terribly / awfully/ horribly.)

You can hear other questions from your friends, which can be answered the same way:

„Jak se vede?“ (How are you doing? / How are things?)

„Jak to jde?“ (How is it going?)

After answering, ask the same question „Jak se máš ty?“/„Jak se máte vy?“ or use these phrases to do so:

Formal: „A vy?“ (And you?)

Informal:„A ty?“ (And you?)

If you are eager to hear more from your Czech friend, you can use the phrase „A co…?“ (And how about…?):

„A co práce?“ / „A co rande?“ / „A co víkend?“ (And how about your job/date/weekend?)

And that is all for today – and we have a question for you: „Jak se máte?“ :-)