Czech News Language: říká se, bylo otevřeno, podle průzkumu
News Czech is a dialect of its own: no one does anything, everything is done, and every claim has a source. This lesson is deliberately receptive — you need to read it, not write it.
Nobody Did It: se-Impersonals
The se makes verbs subjectless: říká se, že… — it is said that…; staví se nová trať — a new line is being built; mluví se o tom — there is talk of it.
Říká se, že zima bude dlouhá.
They say the winter will be long.
Note: Who says? Nobody. Everybody. The se absorbs the actor.
Was Opened, Will Be Closed
Officialese runs on the short passive participles: bylo otevřeno — was opened; bude uzavřeno — will be closed; je zakázáno — is forbidden. You met their cousins on signs (zavřeno, otevřeno); the news conjugates them through time.
| Czech | English |
|---|---|
| bylo otevřeno | was opened |
| bude uzavřeno | will be closed |
| je zakázáno | is forbidden |
| bylo rozhodnuto | it was decided |
According to…
podle + genitive — according to: podle vlády (the government), podle policie, podle průzkumu (a survey — the newsroom's favourite crutch). Attribution is the skeleton of every Czech news item.
Podle průzkumu chce většina Čechů na chatu.
According to a survey, most Czechs want to go to the cottage.
Note: podle průzkumu — trust calibrated, story launched.
Headline Grammar
Headlines drop verbs and stack nouns: Zdražení energií od ledna — energy price rise from January. Reading strategy: find the head noun (zdražení), hang the rest off it, guess the verb, move on. Don't translate — triangulate.
Common Mistakes
- Producing se-impersonals in speech. Říká se sounds stiff at the pub — decode it in print, answer in living Czech.
- Hunting for the subject. Bylo rozhodnuto has none — that's the point.
- podle + dative. According to runs on the genitive: podle vlády.
What You Can Do Now
You can read short news items, decode headlines by their head noun, track who-said-what through podle — and summarize a story in your own, living Czech.