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Help[Facts] Czech pronounciation
How would you pronouce -ie names like Silvie, Olivie, Lucie, and Cecilie? I'm especially interested in the accent
For example is Silvie SEEL-vi-e, sil-VEE-e or sil-vi-E? Or maybe SEEL-vi?
Secondly, is Livie really a masculine name? My Czech friend says it's feminine. (I'd ask her about the pronounciation as well, but at the moment she is far away from Europe, and I can't talk to her)
Thanks! :)
...................
'Not causing trouble, not touching anything, fixing the primus'
Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita
For example is Silvie SEEL-vi-e, sil-VEE-e or sil-vi-E? Or maybe SEEL-vi?
Secondly, is Livie really a masculine name? My Czech friend says it's feminine. (I'd ask her about the pronounciation as well, but at the moment she is far away from Europe, and I can't talk to her)
Thanks! :)
...................
'Not causing trouble, not touching anything, fixing the primus'
Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita
1
Replies
I'm Czech and my sister's name is Marie, so I know very well. :-)
It's on the contrary: names ending "-ia" sound rather archaic to us and we tend to change them to "-ie", though the "-ia" is sometimes used, too. And that is feminine, never masculine. So Livie is feminine! Always!
We do the same with all foreign words originally ending with "-ia". Melody is melodiE, history is historiE...
Masculine names of this type end just like in Latin, -ius - but they aren't very common. Sometimes they're turned into Czech much more and look completely different; I can't think of any example now...
Though Shellac is right in a way, because all the other feminine names really end with -a in Czech.
(With other small exceptions like Zoe, Noemi, Rút... but that's a minority and always of foreign origin. Well, then there's Kazi, legendary Czech name, but there are really few people named so and since it was recorded for the first time in a latinised text, I really am not sure what it actually was...)
Accent is ALWAYS on the first syllable in Czech. That's an easy rule. :-)
You should keep in mind that accents ("á") above vowels in Czech don't mean word accent, it means the vowel is prolonged.
And "ie" is always pronunciated as two syllables.
It's on the contrary: names ending "-ia" sound rather archaic to us and we tend to change them to "-ie", though the "-ia" is sometimes used, too. And that is feminine, never masculine. So Livie is feminine! Always!
We do the same with all foreign words originally ending with "-ia". Melody is melodiE, history is historiE...
Masculine names of this type end just like in Latin, -ius - but they aren't very common. Sometimes they're turned into Czech much more and look completely different; I can't think of any example now...
Though Shellac is right in a way, because all the other feminine names really end with -a in Czech.
(With other small exceptions like Zoe, Noemi, Rút... but that's a minority and always of foreign origin. Well, then there's Kazi, legendary Czech name, but there are really few people named so and since it was recorded for the first time in a latinised text, I really am not sure what it actually was...)
Accent is ALWAYS on the first syllable in Czech. That's an easy rule. :-)
You should keep in mind that accents ("á") above vowels in Czech don't mean word accent, it means the vowel is prolonged.
And "ie" is always pronunciated as two syllables.
This message was edited 2/2/2008, 2:13 PM
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Dekují! :)
As you may see, nemluvím cesky.
As a "somewhat" Czech-fan I know rules you mentioned (thanks a lot though!), but I was so stupid that thought about name pronounciation as a some kind of exeption - of course there cannot be any abnormalities. It's all exactly like in Finnish, where every name (and word) is stressed in on the first syllable. :D
But you told me so much information I didn't know, like about the -ie ending and -a ending - I can't thank you enough for it, I'm always glad to learn somthing new!
You should be proud of the wonderful language you speak, really!
As you may see, nemluvím cesky.
As a "somewhat" Czech-fan I know rules you mentioned (thanks a lot though!), but I was so stupid that thought about name pronounciation as a some kind of exeption - of course there cannot be any abnormalities. It's all exactly like in Finnish, where every name (and word) is stressed in on the first syllable. :D
But you told me so much information I didn't know, like about the -ie ending and -a ending - I can't thank you enough for it, I'm always glad to learn somthing new!
You should be proud of the wonderful language you speak, really!
1
You wouldn't find names like these in Czech because almost all feminine names end in the letter A in Czech. You could of course read them phonetically but they would have different forms in the language.
I've never seen Livie as either a masculine or feminine name. Livia would be the feminine form in Czech although Livie would be an inflected form(nouns in the Slavic languages change forms depending on how they are used in a sentence, there are usually 14 forms for a noun whereas in English there are only two-the singular and the plural).
I've never seen Livie as either a masculine or feminine name. Livia would be the feminine form in Czech although Livie would be an inflected form(nouns in the Slavic languages change forms depending on how they are used in a sentence, there are usually 14 forms for a noun whereas in English there are only two-the singular and the plural).
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I'm sure you know those things better than me...
... because I haven't ever lived for a longer time in any eastern European countries, exept Russia - and there mostly baceuse my realtives live there.
One more link. I don't speak much Czech, but I think that everyone who speaks slavic languages will understand at least the main idea.
I tried, but I didn't find Maria in M-names. :S
http://www.vestirna.com/www2/_jmena/jmena.php?pismeno=M&jmeno=Marie
... because I haven't ever lived for a longer time in any eastern European countries, exept Russia - and there mostly baceuse my realtives live there.
One more link. I don't speak much Czech, but I think that everyone who speaks slavic languages will understand at least the main idea.
I tried, but I didn't find Maria in M-names. :S
http://www.vestirna.com/www2/_jmena/jmena.php?pismeno=M&jmeno=Marie
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Very strange. Maybe I'm confusing Czech and Slovak. I hope someone else knows something more and posts.
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I really think you are confusing them. Slovaks use the "-ia" forms, I think, but Czechs tend not to.
Example: According to statistics, there are 332 918 MariEs and 3 826 MariAs in the Czech Republic. So it's hundred to one for "-iE".
You can find the statistics for females here:
http://www.mvcr.cz/sprava/informat/cetnost/2007/jmena_zeny/cet_jmena_zeny_vsechny.xls
Example: According to statistics, there are 332 918 MariEs and 3 826 MariAs in the Czech Republic. So it's hundred to one for "-iE".
You can find the statistics for females here:
http://www.mvcr.cz/sprava/informat/cetnost/2007/jmena_zeny/cet_jmena_zeny_vsechny.xls
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Anyway, thanks for your symphaty to my "problem"! :)
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Well, I'm not Czech, but I may be able to help with -ie male names. In Croatian Latin male names ending in -us have the enging -ije (pr.'ee-ye'), like Julius = Julije, Silvius = Silvije, Livius = Livije, Polonius = Polonije, etc. I think it's the same in Czech just with the ending -ie.
So I guess Livie would be pronounced 'lee-vee-e'. Not sure how they stress the name though.
Hope that helped:-)
So I guess Livie would be pronounced 'lee-vee-e'. Not sure how they stress the name though.
Hope that helped:-)
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Thank you!
I'll be so glad, if you could also explain, is it LEE-vee-e, lee-VEE-e or lee-vee-E? Sorry, my questions should be rather irritating. :P
I'll be so glad, if you could also explain, is it LEE-vee-e, lee-VEE-e or lee-vee-E? Sorry, my questions should be rather irritating. :P
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