Dialogue: Greetings and Introductions

Almost the first thing you will ever say in Czech is a greeting and your name, and that tiny exchange already contains three of the language's defining features: a reflexive verb where English has none, a clitic word (se) that has to land in a precise slot, and a formal/informal split baked into the verb endings. This page takes a four-line first-meeting dialogue and reads it slowly, word by word, so that the machinery underneath becomes visible.

The text

A: Dobrý den, jak se máte? B: Děkuji, dobře. A vy? A: Já se jmenuji Petr.

Three short turns: a formal greeting plus "how are you," a polite reply that bounces the question back, and a self-introduction. Translated naturally: "Good day, how are you? — Thank you, well. And you? — My name is Petr."

Word by word

Line 1 — Dobrý den, jak se máte?

• Dobrý — adjective "good," masculine singular, agreeing with den. The long ý matters: dobrý (good, hard masculine) is a different ending from dobré or dobrá.
• den — masculine noun "day." Dobrý den literally is "good day," but treat it as one frozen unit meaning roughly "hello" in any situation that isn't intimate. (formal)
• jak — "how." The question word that opens the clause.
• se — the reflexive clitic belonging to mít se. It is not a separate "yourself" you can move around; it is part of the verb's lexical identity here, and it must sit in second position.
• máte — mít "to have," 2nd person plural. The -te ending is doing double duty: it is the plural ending and the polite "you." (formal)

So jak se máte? is, morpheme for morpheme, "how yourself have-you?" — and that literal reading is the key to the whole construction, as we will see below.

Line 2 — Děkuji, dobře. A vy?

• Děkuji — děkovat "to thank," 1st person singular: "I thank." The slightly more colloquial form is děkuju; both are correct, děkuji a touch more careful. (informal/neutral)
• dobře — adverb "well." Note it is dobře (the adverb), not the adjective dobrý/dobrá. You answer "how are you?" with an adverb, exactly as English answers "I'm doing well."
• A — "and," here used to pivot the question back: "And you?"
• vy — the long-form pronoun "you" (formal singular or plural). It appears here precisely because it is being contrasted — "and what about you?" — which is one of the few moments a Czech subject pronoun is not dropped. (formal)

Line 3 — Já se jmenuji Petr.

• Já — "I." This pronoun is optional; the ending -i of jmenuji already means "I." It appears here only because the speaker is presenting themselves and gently spotlighting who they are.
• se — again the reflexive clitic, this time belonging to jmenovat se "to be called." In second position once more: after Já it slots straight in.
• jmenuji — jmenovat se "to be called/named," 1st person singular. Colloquially jmenuju.
• Petr — the name, in the nominative. (Czech male names like Petr, Pavel, Tomáš stay in the nominative when you state them as "I am X.")

Grammar in action

"How are you" is literally "how do you have yourself"

The single biggest surprise for an English speaker is that mít se — the verb behind jak se máte? — is mít "to have" plus the reflexive se. Word for word it is "how do you have yourself." There is no way to drop the se: jak máte? on its own is broken Czech, because mít without se means plain "to have" and the sentence would be asking "how do you have?" with no object.

The same logic runs through the reply. To say "I'm fine" you say mám se dobře — "I have myself well." And jmenovat se, "to be called," is built the same way: the se is welded on. You can read the full family of these verbs on the reflexive se/si introduction page.

Where se has to sit: second position

Czech is strict about where little unstressed words like se go: they cluster in the second position of the clause — right after the first stressed word or phrase. That is why the se moves around depending on what comes first:

When já is dropped, the verb itself becomes the first word, so se follows the verb (jmenuji se Petr). When já is present, it takes first slot, and se tucks in behind it (já se jmenuji Petr). The clitic never starts a clause and never drifts to the end. The dedicated second-position clitics page lays out the full ordering rules.

Formal máte/vy versus informal máš

Czech forces you to choose, every time you address someone, between vykání (the polite vy) and tykání (the familiar ty). The dialogue is in the polite register throughout: jak se máte?, a vy?. With a friend, a child, or a family member, the very same exchange becomes the ty-form:

Crucially, the polite vy uses the plural verb ending even for one person — máte, not máš. This is the same move French makes with vous. Getting it wrong is not just a grammar slip; using máš with a stranger sounds startlingly familiar, like back-slapping someone you just met.

The optional, emphatic já

In já se jmenuji Petr, the já is grammatically unnecessary — jmenuji already means "I am called." A Czech speaker drops it most of the time: Jmenuji se Petr is the neutral default. The já is added here only to gently put the spotlight on the speaker as they introduce themselves, which is natural at a first meeting. Pile up já everywhere else and you sound self-absorbed.

A note on the vocative

Greetings very often pull in a name, and when they do, Czech does something English never does: it puts the name into a special address case, the vocative. Petr becomes Petře, pan Novák becomes pane Nováku, Anna becomes Anno. So a warmer version of our opening line is Dobrý den, pane Nováku or, between friends, Ahoj, Petře. Leaving the name in the dictionary (nominative) form — Ahoj, Petr — instantly marks you as a learner. The vocative overview page is worth reading right alongside this dialogue.

Usage note

Dobrý den is your safe default with anyone you don't know or don't address as ty — shopkeepers, officials, colleagues, neighbours you greet but aren't close to. Reserve ahoj and čau for friends, family, and anyone who has invited you onto ty-terms. The reply Děkuji, dobře is a near-automatic formula; Czechs, unlike Americans, do not usually treat "how are you?" as a throwaway, but in a brief formal exchange the short polite answer is perfectly normal. For the wider system of greetings and politeness formulas, see greetings and politeness; for the full repertoire of self-introduction, see introducing yourself and others.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• Mít se and jmenovat se are reflexive verbs: the se is part of the verb and can never be dropped.
• Se is a clitic that lands in second position — after the verb when the subject is dropped, after já when it is present.
• The polite vy uses the plural ending (máte) for one person; the familiar ty uses máš. Choosing wrong sends a strong social signal.
• The subject pronoun já is optional and emphatic; the neutral form is Jmenuji se Petr.
• Answer "how are you?" with the adverb dobře, and address people by name in the vocative (Petře, pane Nováku).