Krátký medailonek investigativní novinářky Pavly Holcové

How do you greet people politely in Czech?

Asked what she’d teach someone in three minutes, investigative journalist Pavla Holcová answers without hesitating: slušně pozdravit, “to greet politely”: «Slušně pozdravit». In Czech the greeting is not optional. You say “Dobrý den” entering a shop, a lift, a doctor’s waiting room, even to strangers, and skipping it reads as rude.

The verb pozdravit (“to greet”) covers the whole ritual: “Dobrý den” by day, “Dobrý večer” at night, “Ahoj” or “Čau” with friends, “Na shledanou” on the way out. Holcová’s point is quietly Czech: manners first. Get the greeting right and doors open.