Hi Agorans!

I hope this lasts enough to get some answers whatsoever. ;D

I would like the basics for initiating and finishing a letter up in Czech. I mean the typical "Dear…" "How’s life?" "Thank you for your letter" (...) "I look forward to hearing from you soon" "Best wishes".

Thanks a lot!!

           WS.

There are various ways of formality and initmacyfor an opening ‘Dear’ in a Czech letter.

There are no special vocative forms for adjectives, just use the nominative for these.  For nouns, WS, just let me know who you’re addressing the letter to, and I’ll put the name in the vocative for you.

Vážený (in case you don’t see the letter after the a, it should be a z with a hacek ‘an inverted circumflex accent’) ‘Respected’ is formal, while Milý ‘Dear’ is sutiable only for friends and relations.  Drahý ‘Dear’ is relatively rare, for loving respect.  An exclamation mark often follows:

Vážený pane Beneši!               Dear Mr Beneš,
Vážená paní Benešová!           Dear Mrs Benešová,
Vážená sleèno Kubíková!         Dear Miss Kubíková,
Vážený pane doktore/pane inženýre!   ‘Dear Mr doctor/engineer,’
Vážená paní doktorko/paní inženýrko!  ‘Dear Mrs doctor/engineer’

(Czechs regularly use academic titles in this way when addressing people formally.)

Milá Evo!                    Dear Eva,
Milý Petøe!                 Dear Petr,
Ahoj, Oldøichu/Oldo!    Hi, Oldøich/Olda,

Place and date can be given as:

V Praze (Prague) 10. dubna (April) 1996 or Praha 10.4.1996

‘You’ and ‘Your’ are habitually capitalized in the body of the letter:

Jak se máš/máte?
How are you?

Dìkuji za Váš dopis.
Thank you for your letter.

Dìkuji Vám srdeènì za milý dopis.
Thank you sincerely for your kind letter.

Odpovídám na Váš dopi9s ze dne/z 18. èervna t. r. (toho roku).
I am replying to your letter of 18th June this year.

Dìkuju Ti za pohled.
Thank you for your postcard.

Omlouvám se, že jsem Ti nenapsal(a) døív, jak jsem slíbil(a), ale…
I apologzie for not wrting to you sooner as I promised, but…

Promiòte, že jsem Vám nenapsal(a) døív, ale…
Sorry I didn’t write to you sooner but…

Nezlob se, že jsem tak dlouho nepsal(a).
Don’t be cross that I didn’t write to you for so long.

You often end with phrases such as:

Dìkuji Vám pøedem.
Thank you in advance.

Tìším se na Tvùj/Váš dopis.
I look forward to your letter.

S pozdravem.
Yours faithfully/sincerely

Se srdeèným pozdravem
Yours faithfully/sincerely (more friendly)

Srdeèné pozdravy
Sincere greetings

Srdeènì Vás (Tì) pozdravuje
‘Sincerely greeting you…’

Váš/Vaše or Tvùj/Tvoje
Yours

Ahoj!
Bye! (casual)

If you need anything, else, let me know.  Please note that the two forms separated by a slash don’t mean you can pick whichever one you like, there are degrees of formality or sex of the addressee involved, so if you are interested, let me know as well.

Srdeènì Tì pozdravuje

Brazilský kluk

P.S. If you can’t see the diacritics, let me know and I’ll send you this via email.

[quote author=Brazilian_dude link=board=translate;num=1096973337;start=0#1 date=10/05/04 at 22:53:19]
...

Vážený (in case you don’t see the letter after the a, it should be a z with a hacek ‘an inverted circumflex accent’)
...

Brazilský kluk, if you hold the «Alt» key depressed and write 0158 in quick succession on the numerical keys to the right on your keyboard (with the numerical lock on), you get «¸». Try it !...

Henri

Like so: ¸?

Bra¸ilian dude

Now I only need to know which words want these "¸"...

:D

Thanks!!

       WS.

I sent that to you by email, Wandering Spaniard.  Didn’t you get it?

Brazilian dude

No. Was it long ago? If so, I can say I either missed it or it actually didn’t get to me. If you sent it only recently, I’m not sure, for I haven’t checked my inbox -and cannot do it now. Could you resend it in a day or so?

Thanks anyway!!

         WS.

[quote author=Brazilian_dude link=board=translate;num=1096973337;start=0#3 date=11/03/04 at 19:00:35]Like so: ¸?

Precisely ! The upper case «´» can be found at «Alt + 0142», «¨» and «¦» at «Alt + 0154» and «Alt + 0138», respectively. Unfortunately, I have been unable to determine how to write «c» and «C» with the caron ; the system with «Alt + ...» doesn’t seem to support them….

Henri