■ 3.3 The accusative singular
In this lesson you will learn the case which is called the accusative. In order to better understand how to use this case, compare the following sent which you know from the restaurant dialogue in the textbook. Ten černý čaj je dobrý, x Dám si černý čaj. Ta černá káva je dobrá, x Dám si černou kávu. To černé pivo je dobré, x Dám si černé pivo.
In the sentences on the left, dobrý čaj, dobrá káva and dobré pivo are the subject. The subject is the person or thing that performs an a possesses a quality or is in a certain state. In Czech the subject is expressed by the nominative. In the sentences on the right the same wo, the direct object (the direct object is the person or thing to which the action is done or which is affected by the action). In Czech the direct o expressed by the accusative. In the accusative singular only the feminine endings change, e. g.: černá káva x černou kávu (and also the ma animate endings, which you will meet later).
In the following table you can see an overview of the accusative singular. Notice that the nouns are divided into the 3 declension groups, should help you find your way better in the system of case endings and gradually master them. In this phase of your studies you will mainly c the endings for group I.
Accusative singular					
Gender	Pronoun ten	-ý a-l adjective	Nouns		
			Group 1 Nominative sg.ending in: -consonant, -a, -o	Group II Nominative sg.ending in: -e/-ě, " (=a hook), -o j, -tel, -el, -ev	Group III Nouns with a speciál declension.
	to h	dobr    1 kvalitního	studenta2	muže2	kolegu2
	ten	dobr 1 kvalitní	banán	čaj	—
F	tu	dobrou kvalitní	kávu	restauraci, kancelář	místnost
	to	dobr 1 kvalitní	auto	moře	kuře, nádraží
1 Incolloquial Czech you may also hear these accusative singular forms: dobryho studenta, dobrej banán, dobrý auto.
1 In this lesson you won't learn the accusative forms of the masculine animate. You'll meet them only in lesson 4, when you'll say, for example, Mám bratra a sestru. (I have and sister.) Mám psa a kočku. (I have a dog and cat.)
How do we know when to use the accusative?
You should learn the verbs (and later prepositions too) after which the accusative is used, e.g. dělat (to do), mít (to have), hledat (to look si (to take), mít rád (to like), jíst (to eat), pit (to drink). We call these verbs transitive. N.B.: After some verbs (we call them intransitive) w< use a direct object in the accusative. They are, for example: být (to be), pracovat (to work), spát (to sleep). To help you understand the d between transitive and intransitive verbs you should notice that, like in English, you cannot say, for example, "I sleep something" (the verb is intransitive), but you can say "I drink something" (the verb to drink is transitive).
Memorise this model sentence, which will help you to learn the accusative endings. Dám si černý čaj, černou kávu a černé pivo. ■ 3.4 The verb dát si
The verb dát si literally means "to give to oneself", but in a restaurant we translate it with the expression "to have/take." This verb is reflexi means that it always goes together with the reflexive pronoun sV (dám si, dáš si, dá si.. J. The reflexive pronoun si can't go at the beg a sentence but takes the second logical position in the sentence (see page 37 paragraph 6.4 for more.) Compare:
Co	si	dáte?
Dám	si	pomerančový džus.
"What yourself do you give?" What'll you have?
"I'll give myself orange juice" I'll have an orange juice.
1 In Czech there are two reflexive pronouns: si (to oneself) and se (oneself), see page 26 paragraph 4.1.
■ 3.5 Counting
Counting in Czech is quite complex.'' When you order food in a restaurant or buy things in a shop2, you can avoid unknown case endings bj expressions jednou once, dvakrát twice, třikrát three times...+ me accusative singular or plural. For example: Dám si jednou kávu. I'll have one coffee. Dáme si dvakrát čaj. We'll have two coffees.