Czech Language/Verbs
Learn and practice the following, frequently-used, Czech verbs. In many languages, the most important verbs are often completely irregular, and so must be learned individually and carefully. Many of these verbs, particularly být, are frequently used as auxillary verbs, and are thus doubly important.
Být - To Be
[edit | edit source]"To be" is the most irregular verb in the Czech language, as indeed it is in English and many other languages. It is also the most important, because it is used as an auxillary verb to form both the past and future tense, and features in other grammatical constructions as well.
Present conjugation
[edit | edit source]Být has an irregular present-tense conjugation, in that both the stem (js-) and the conjugal suffixes don't follow any of the usual, regular rules for present conjugation in Czech.
| 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | jsem = I am | jsi = you are | je = he/she/it is |
| Plural | jsme = we are | jste = you are | jsou = they are |
Past participle
[edit | edit source]byl, byla, bylo; byli, byly, byla. When talking about a singular subject, you need only know the (grammatical) gender of the subject...
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | byl = he was | byla = she was | bylo = it was |
... but things are a little different when you want to say "they were".
| Masculine animate | Feminine & masc. inanimate |
Neuter | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plural | byli | byly | byla |
Future tense
[edit | edit source]budu, budeš, bude; budeme, budete, budou. For the future imperfect ("I will do such-and-such") aspect, one uses the infinitive (dictionary) form of the verb with the appropriate future tense form of být, which functions like the English future auxillary verb "will".
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sing. | budu = I will | budeš = you will | bude = he/she/it will |
| Plu. | budeme = we will | budete = you will | budou = they will |
Predictably, the future tense of být by itself, expresses "I/you/he/etc. will be".
Imperative mood
[edit | edit source]buď, buďte, buďme! There are three ways to order people about in Czech. When it comes to být, the stem for the imperative, buď-, is irregular. If you're talking to one person, you can use the second-person-singular: buď! If there are more than one person, or you wish to be more formal, use the plural: buďte! Finally, if you want to include yourself in the group, there's the first-person-plural: buďme!
Conditional mood
[edit | edit source]The conditional mood in Czech is constructed from the past participle and special forms of být. We use conditionals whenever we use the phrase "I would..." to say what might have occured had things been otherwise (had some condition prevailed). The most familiar and useful of conditional expressions is "I would like... ": Chtěl bych...
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sing. | bych = I would | bys = you would | by = he/she/it would |
| Plu. | bychom = we would | byste = you would | by = they would |
Passive voice
[edit | edit source]One of two ways to form the passive voice in Czech involves the verb být. English speakers also use "to be" when forming a passive sentence, such as the following one. A passive sentence is formed from the approriate tense of být, followed by the passive participle of the main verb. Být does not itself have such a participle, as it cannot meaningfully be used in the passive voice.
Dávat - To Give
[edit | edit source]Present conjugation
[edit | edit source]| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sing. | dávám = I give | dáváš = you give | dává = he/she/it gives |
| Plu. | dáváme = we give | dáváte = you give | dávají = they give |
Past participle
[edit | edit source]| Masculine (animate) |
Masculine (inanimate) |
Feminine | Neuter | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sing. | dával = he gave | dával = it gave | dávala = she gave | dávalo = it gave |
| Plu. | dávali | dávaly | dávaly | dávala |
Future tense
[edit | edit source]| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sing. | budu dávat = I'll give | budeš dávat = you'll give | bude dávat = he/she/it'll give |
| Plu. | budeme dávat = we'll give | budete dávat = you'll give | budou dávat = they'll give |
Dělat - To Do or Make
[edit | edit source]Dělat is not an irregular verb (is is in fact a class-V or á-type verb), but it is a very frequently used and useful one.
Present conjugation
[edit | edit source]| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sing. | dělám = I do | děláš = you do | dělá = he/she/it does |
| Plu. | děláme = we do | děláte = you do | dělají = they do |
Past participle
[edit | edit source]| Masculine (animate) |
Masculine (inanimate) |
Feminine | Neuter | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sing. | dělal = he did | dělal = it did | dělala = she did | dělalo = it did |
| Plu. | dělali | dělaly | dělaly | dělala |
Future tense
[edit | edit source]| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sing. | budu dělat = I'll do | budeš dělat = you'll do | bude dělat = he/she/it'll do |
| Plu. | budeme dělat = we'll do | budete dělat = you'll do | budou dělat = they'll do |
Chtít - To Want
[edit | edit source]Present conjugation
[edit | edit source]| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sing. | chci = I want | chceš = you want | chce = he/she/it wants |
| Plu. | chceme = we want | chcete = you want | chtějí = they want |
Past participle
[edit | edit source]| Masculine (animate) |
Masculine (inanimate) |
Feminine | Neuter | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sing. | chtěl = he wanted | chtěl = it wanted | chtěla = she wanted | chtělo = it wanted |
| Plu. | chtěli | chtěly | chtěly | chtěla |
Future tense
[edit | edit source]| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sing. | budu chtít = I'll want | budeš chtít = you'll want | bude chtít = he/she/it'll want |
| Plu. | budeme chtít = we'll want | budete chtít = you'll want | budou chtít = they'll want |
Jít & Jet - To Go
[edit | edit source]Present conjugation
[edit | edit source]| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sing. | jdu = I go | jdeš = you go | jde = he/she/it goes |
| Plu. | jdeme = we go | jdete = you go | jdou = they go |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sing. | jedu = I go | jedeš = you go | jede = he/she/it goes |
| Plu. | jedeme = we go | jedete = you go | jedou = they go |
Past participle
[edit | edit source]šel, šla, šlo; šli, šli, šla. Jít has an irregular set of past participles.
| Masculine (animate) |
Masculine (inanimate) |
Feminine | Neuter | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sing. | šel = he went | šel = it went | šla = she went | šlo = it went |
| Plu. | šli | šly | šly | šla |
jel, jela, jelo; jeli, jely, jela. Jet has a rather more regular past tense.
| Masculine (animate) |
Masculine (inanimate) |
Feminine | Neuter | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sing. | jel = he went | jel = it went | jela = she went | jelo = it went |
| Plu. | jeli | jely | jely | jela |
Future tense
[edit | edit source]půjdu, půjdeš, půjde; půjdeme, půjdete, půjdou. Jít like some other verbs expressing movement, possesses an irregular future tense, instead of using auxillary být. The future tense is constructed from the prefix pů-, and the present conjugation, as shown below.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sing. | půjdu = I'll go | půjdeš = you'll go | půjde = he/she/it'll go |
| Plu. | půjdeme = we'll go | půjdete = you'll go | půjdou = they'll go |
pojedu, pojedeš, pojede; pojedeme, pojedete, pojedou. Jet, similarly, posesses a future tense constructed from the present tense, preceded by the prefix po-.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sing. | pojedu = I'll go | pojedeš = you'll go | pojede = he/she/it'll go |
| Plu. | pojedeme = we'll go | pojedete = you'll go | pojedou = they'll go |
Mít - To Have
[edit | edit source]Present conjugation
[edit | edit source]| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sing. | mám = I have | máš = you have | má = he/she/it has |
| Plu. | máme = we have | máte = you have | mají = they have |
Past participle
[edit | edit source]| Masculine (animate) |
Masculine (inanimate) |
Feminine | Neuter | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sing. | měl = he had | měl = it had | měla = she had | mělo = it had |
| Plu. | měli | měly | měly | měla |
Future tense
[edit | edit source]| 1 | 2 | 3 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sing. | budu mít = I'll have | budeš mít = you'll have | bude mít = he/she/it'll have |
| Plu. | budeme mít = we'll have | budete mít = you'll have | budou mít = they'll have |