Czech verb

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Czech verb describes the conjugations, or system of grammatically-determined modifications, in verbs in the Czech language.

Contents 1 Infinitive 2 Participles 2.1 Past participle 2.2 Passive participle 3 Transgressives 4 Aspect 5 Tenses 5.1 Present tense 5.2 Past tense 5.3 Future tense 6 Imperative 7 Conditionals 8 Passive voice 9 Reflexive verbs 10 Negation 11 Verb classes 11.1 Class I 11.2 Class II 11.3 Class III 11.4 Class IV 11.5 Class V 12 Irregular verbs 13 See also

Czech is null-subject language, i.e. the subject (including the personal pronouns) can be omitted if known from the context. The person is expressed by the verb:

já dělám = dělám = I do

on dělal = dělal = he did

[edit] Infinitive

The infinitive is formed by the ending -t, formerly also -ti; on some words -ct (-ci):

být - to be, jít - to go, péct - to bake

Somewhat archaically:

býti - to be, jíti - to go, péci - to bake

[edit] Participles

Participles are used for forming the past tense, the conditionals and the passive voice in Czech. They are related to the short forms of adjectives. Therefore unlike other verb forms, they express also the gender which must correspond with the gender of the subject. (See Czech orthography.)

[edit] Past participle

(more precisely "active participle") is also called "l-participle" and is used for forming the past tense and the conditionals.

Singular			Plural			English
Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine animate	Masculine inanimate & Feminine	Neuter
byl dělal	byla dělala	bylo dělalo	byli dělali	byly dělaly	byla dělala	was/were did

[edit] Passive participle

is also called "n/t-participle" and is used for forming the passive voice. There are two types of endings:

Singular			Plural			English
Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masculine animate	Masculine inanimate & Feminine	Neuter
bit dělán	bita dělána	bito děláno	biti děláni	bity dělány	bita dělána	beaten, battered done

[edit] Transgressives

Transgressive (přechodník) expresses an action which happens coincidently with or foregoing some other action.

Transgressive (přechodník) is an archaic form of the verb in the Czech and Slovak language. Nowadays, it is used only occasionally for artistic purposes or in steady expressions. Transgressives were used quite widely in the Czech literature yet in the beginning of 20th century (not in the spoken language). For example, Jaroslav Hašek's The Good Soldier Švejk contains a lot of them.

Czech language recognizes present and past transgressives. Present transgressive can express present or future action according to an aspect of the verb, which is derived from. Past transgressive is usually derived from perfective verbs.

	masculine	feminine + neuter	plural
present transgressive	–e –a	–íc –ouc	–íce –ouce
past transgressive	–v –Ø	–vši –ši	–vše –še

Examples:

• Usednuvši u okna, začala plakat. (Having sat down at a window, she begun to cry.) – past transgressive (foregoing action)
• Děti, vidouce babičku, vyběhly ven. (Children, having seen grandma, ran out.) – present transgressive (coincident action/process)

[edit] Aspect

Czech verbs are distinguished by the aspect, they are either perfective or imperfective. Perfective verbs indicate the finality of the process. Therefore, they cannot express the present tense.

Perfective verbs are usually formed adding prefixes to imperfective verbs:

psát (imperf.) - to write, to be writing -> napsat (perf.) - to write down

Some perfective verbs are not formally related to imperfective ones:

brát (imperf.) - to take, to be taking -> vzít (perf.) - to take

[edit] Tenses

Czech verbs express three absolute tenses - past, present and future. Relativity can be expressed by the aspect, sentence constructions and the participles.

Present tense can be expressed in imperfective verbs only.

[edit] Present tense

The present tense is formed by special endings:

Person	Singular	Plural
1.	-m/-i/-u	-me
2.	-š	-te
3.	-á/-í/-e	-ají/-(ej)í/-ou

The verbs are divided into 5 classes according to the way of forming the present tense.

[edit] Past tense

The past tense is formed by past participle (in a proper gender form) and present forms of the verb být (to be) which are omitted in the 3rd person. Following example is for the male gender (animate in plural):

Person	Singular	Plural
1.	dělal jsem	dělali jsme
2.	dělal jsi	dělali jste
3.	dělal	dělali

Dělat - to do

[edit] Future tense

In imperfective verbs, it is formed by the future forms of the verb být (to be) and the infinitive:

Person	Singular	Plural
1.	budu dělat	budeme dělat
2.	budeš dělat	budete dělat
3.	bude dělat	budou dělat

Dělat - to do

Budu, budeš, ... with infinitive has the same meaning as "(I, you, ...) will" in English. If not followed by infinitive, it means "(I, you, ...) will be" (i.e. I will be = budu, not budu být).

In some verbs meaning the motion, the future tense is formed by adding the prefix po-/pů- to the present form:

půjdu - I will be going, ponesu - I will be bearing, povezu - I will be carrying

In perfective verbs, the present form expresses the future. Compare:

budu dělat - I will be doing

udělám - I will do, I will have done

[edit] Imperative

The imperative mood is formed for the 2nd person singular and plural and the 1st person plural.

In the 2nd person singular, it takes either null ending or -i/-ej ending, according to the verb class.

The 2nd person plural takes the ending -te/-ete/-ejte and the 1st person plural takes -me/-eme/-ejme.

Examples:

buď! buďte! (be!) buďme! (let's be!)

spi! spěte! (sleep!) spěme! (let's sleep!)

dělej! dělejte! (do!) dělejme! (let's do!)

[edit] Conditionals

The conditionals are formed by the past participle and special forms of the verb být (to be). Following example of the present conditional is for the male gender (animate in plural):

Person	Singular	Plural
1.	dělal bych	dělali bychom
2.	dělal bys	dělali byste
3.	dělal by	dělali by

dělal bych - I would do

There is also the past conditional in Czech but it is usually replaced by the present conditional.

Person	Singular	Plural
1.	byl bych dělal	byli bychom dělali
2.	byl bys dělal	byli byste dělali
3.	byl by dělal	byli by dělali

byl bych dělal - I would have done

By also becomes a part of conjugations aby (so that) and kdyby (if). Therefore, these conjunctions take the same endings:

Kdybych nepracoval, nedostal bych výplatu. If I didn't work, I would get no wages.

[edit] Passive voice

There are two ways to form the passive voice in Czech:

1. By the verb být (to be) and the passive participle (as in English):

Město bylo založeno ve 14. století. The town was founded in the 14th century.

2. By adding the reflexive pronoun se:

Ono se neudělalo. It has not been done.

To se vyrábí v Číně. It is produced in China.

However, using se not alway means the passive voice.

[edit] Reflexive verbs

Reflexive pronouns se and si are components of reflexive verbs (se/si is not usually translated into English):

posadit se - to sit down

myslet si - to think, to suppose

[edit] Negation

Negation is formed by the prefix ne-. In the future tense and the passive voice it is added to the auxiliary verb být (to be).

nedělat - not to do

nedělám - I do not do

nedělej! do not do!

nedělal jsem - I did not do

nebudu dělat - I will not do

nedělal bych - I would not do

byl bych neudělal or nebyl bych udělal - I would not have done

není děláno - it is not done

Unlike English, more negative words can be in a Czech sentence:

Nic nemám. I have nothing.

Nikdy to nikomu neříkej. Never say it to anybody.

[edit] Verb classes

[edit] Class I

Infinitive	nést	číst	péct	třít	brát	mazat
English	carry	read	bake	rub	take	lubricate
Present tense	nesu neseš nese neseme nesete nesou	čtu čteš čte čteme čtete čtou	peču pečeš peče pečeme pečete pečou	třu třeš tře třeme třete třou	beru bereš bere bereme berete berou	mažu mažeš maže mažeme mažete mažou
Past participle	nesl	četl	pekl	třel	bral	mazal
Passive participle	nesen	čten	pečen	třen	brán	mazán
Imperative	nes! neste! nesme!	čti! čtěte! čtěme!	peč! pečte! pečme!	tři! třete! třeme!	ber! berte! berme!	maž! mažte! mažme!

In imperative, 0/-te/-me endings are in most verbs, -i/-ete/-eme or -i/-ěte/-ěme if two consonants are at the end of the word-stem.

[edit] Class II

Infinitive	tisknout	minout	začít
English	print, press	miss	begin
Present tense	tisknu tiskneš tiskne tiskneme tisknete tisknou	minu mineš mine mineme minete minou	začnu začneš začne začneme začnete začnou
Past participle	tiskl	minul	začal
Passive participle	tisknut/tištěn	minut	začnut
Imperative	tiskni! tiskněte! tiskněme!	miň! miňte! miňme!	začni! začněte! začněme!

[edit] Class III

Infinitive	krýt	kupovat
English	cover	buy
Present tense	kryji, kryju kryješ kryje kryjeme kryjete kryjí, kryjou	kupuji, kupuju kupuješ kupuje kupujeme kupujete kupují, kupujou
Past participle	kryl	kupoval
Passive participle	kryt	kupován
Imperative	kryj! kryjte! kryjme!	kupuj! kupujte! kupujme!

[edit] Class IV

Infinitive	prosit	čistit	trpět	sázet
English	beg	clean	suffer	plant in
Present tense	prosím prosíš prosí prosíme prosíte prosí	čistím čistíš čistí čistíme čistíte čistí	trpím trpíš trpí trpíme trpíte trpí	sázím sázíš sází sázíme sázíte sázej, sází
Past participle	prosil	čistil	trpěl	sázel
Passive participle	prošen	čištěn	trpěn	sázen
Imperative	pros! proste! prosme!	čisti! čistěte! čistěme!	trp! trpte! trpme!	sázej! sázejte! sázejme!

In imperative, 0/-te/-me endings are in most verbs, -i/-ete/-eme or -i/-ěte/-ěme if two consonants are at the end of the word-stem.

[edit] Class V

Infinitive	dělat
English	do
Present tense	dělám děláš dělá děláme děláte dělají
Past participle	dělal
Passive participle	dělán
Imperative	dělej! dělejte! dělejme!

[edit] Irregular verbs

Infinitive	být	mít	jít	jíst sníst	vidět	vědět	chtít
English	be	have	go, walk	eat eat up	see	know	want
Present tense	jsem jsi je jsme jste jsou	mám máš má máme máte mají	jdu jdeš jde jdeme jdete jdou	jím, sním jíš, sníš jí, sní jíme, sníme jíte, sníte jedí, snědí	vidím vidíš vidí vidíme vidíte vidí	vím víš ví víme víte vědí	chci chceš chce chceme chcete chtějí
Past participle	byl	měl	šel, šla, šlo šli, šli, šla	jedl, snědl	viděl	věděl	chtěl
Passive participle	(-byt)	---	(-jit)	jeden, sněden	viděn	věděn	chtěn
Imperative	buď! buďte! buďme!	měj! mějte! mějme!	jdi, pojď! jděte, pojďte! jděme, pojďte!	jez, sněz! jezte, snězte! jezme, snězme!	viz! vizte! vizme!	věz! vězte! vězme!	chtěj! chtějte! chtějme!

Irregular future tense have:

• jít - půjdu, půjdeš, půjde; půjdeme, půjdete, půjdou
• být - budu, budeš, bude; budeme, budete, budou

Irregular negation:

• být - 3rd person sg: není (not neje)

[edit] See also

• Czech declension
• Czech orthography
• Czech language