Czech Verbs (100 Conjugated Verbs)

By Karibdis

Especially written for electronic devices, Czech verbs has an introduction to the formation of all verbal tenses in Czech, as well as 100 essential verbs fully conjugated with their meaning. This book allows the user to search in all the text because it has no images or vanishing or unreadable text.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Karibdis
• Release date: Jan 16, 2012
• ISBN: 9781466061682

Book preview

Especially written for electronic devices, Czech verbs has an introduction to the formation of all verbal tenses in Czech, as well as 100 essential verbs fully conjugated with their meaning. This book allows the user to search in all the text because it has no images or vanishing or unreadable text.

Editorial Karibdis

Czech verbs

100 verbs series - Volume 10

First edition

Karibdis 03.09.18

Original title: Czech verbs

© Editorial Karibdis, 2018

Cover design: Karina Martínez Ramírez

Vector cover image: Creative_hat / Freepik

Digital editor: Karibdis

First edition: September 2018

All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. The unauthorized reproduction of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the publishers permission.

If you find any misprint, mistake or typo in this book and you want to communicate it to us, please write us at the following email: [e-mail]. We will be very pleased to receive your comments, doubts or other observations in order to make this book better.

CZECH VERBS

1. Introduction

Czech language belongs to the Slavic languages, like Russian, Polish and Slovak. The main features of the Czech language are:

mood: indicative, conditional, imperative

tense: present, past, future

person: first, second, third

gender: masculine, feminine, neuter

number: singular, plural

voice: active, passive, reflexive

aspect: perfective, imperfective

2. Verbal aspect

One of the most characteristic features of the Slavic languages (Czech among them) is the representation of the aspect through verbal pairs. The aspect of a verb establishes whether the action is finished, is developing while the subject speaks, begins or is performed frequently. In English, verbal aspect has no external markers, but the endings, with the combination of the auxiliary verbs or periphrastic constructions, help us to determinate whether the action is finished or not.

However, Czech verbs have not as many tenses as English or Spanish verbs have, therefore they need external markers of the aspect and they gather in verbal pairs. In general terms, we can say that the meaning of an English verb can be equivalent to two Czech verbs and the speaker must choose one verb or another according to the aspect of the action.

For example, the verb write in English corresponds with two verbs psát and napsat. The first verb, psát, has an imperfective aspect, which denotes the process of the action. The imperfective aspect focuses on the development of the action, whether it be a durative action, a regular repetitive action or an irregular repetitive action. In English, this aspect can be translated with a present or a continuous tense like I write, I’m writing, I was writing, etc.

The second verb, napsat, gathers all tenses of the perfective aspect. The perfective aspect is centered in the conclusion or delimitation of the action. It always means a complete and finished process, therefore it is never used in the present tense. In English it is translated with a perfective tense like I wrote, I have written, I will write.

2.1. Formation of aspectual pairs

The main way to obtain an aspectual pair is by adding a prefix to the imperfective verb in order to form the perfective verb. Prefixes used to form perfective verbs are u-, po-, na-, pře-, při-, s-, vy-, z-, za-, ze-. Below we show some examples (imperfective verbs followed by their perfective counterparts):

dělat > udělat (do)

číst > přečíst (read)

pít > vypít (drink)

znát > poznat (know)

Another way to form perfective verbs is by changing the suffix of the imperfective verbs:

kupovat > koupit (buy)

dávat > dat (give)

uklízet > uklidit (clean)

Finally, there are verbs with irregular aspectual pairs:

brát > vzít (take)

říkat > říct (say)

klást > položit (put)

3. Classification of verbs

Czech verbs are divided into five conjugations, according to the third person singular:

1st conjugation: ends in -e

2nd conjugation: ends in -ne or -me

3rd conjugation: ends in -je

4th conjugation: ends in -í

5th conjugation: ends in -á

4. Present imperfective and future perfective

4.1. First conjugation

The present imperfective and future perfective of the first conjugation is formed with the root of the verb plus the endings -u, -eš, -e, -eme, -ete, -ou:

NÉST (carry)

nes-u

nes-eš

nes-e

nes-eme

nes-ete

nes-ou

4.2. Second conjugation

The present imperfective and future perfective of the second conjugation is formed with the root of the verb plus the endings -nu, -neš, -ne, -neme, -nete, -nou:

TISKNOUT (print)

tisk-nu

tisk-neš

tisk-ne

tisk-neme

tisk-nete

tisk-nou

4.3. Third conjugation

The present imperfective and future perfective of the third conjugation is formed with the root of the verb plus the endings -uju / -uji, -uješ, -uje, -ujeme, -ujete, -ujou / -ují:

KUPOVAT (buy)

kup-uju | kup-uji

kup-uješ

kup-uje

kup-ujeme

kup-ujete

kup-ujou | kup-ují

4.4. Fourth conjugation

The present imperfective and future perfective of the fourth conjugation is formed with the root of the verb plus the endings -ím, -íš, -í, -íme, -íte, -í / -ejí:

PROSIT (ask for)

pros-ím

pros-íš

pros-í

pros-íme

pros-íte

pros-í

4.5. Fifth conjugation

The present imperfective and future perfective of the fifth conjugation is formed with the root of the verb plus the endings -ám, -áš, -á, -áme, -áte, -ají:

DĚLAT (do)

děl-ám

děl-áš

děl-á

děl-áme

děl-áte

děl-ají

5. Compound future

The compound future of all imperfective verbs is formed with the auxiliary verb být (be) in future plus the imperfective infinitive of the main verb:

DĚLAT (do)

budu dělat

budeš dělat

bude dělat

budeme dělat

budete dělat

budou dělat

6. Past

The past of imperfective and perfective verbs is formed with the active past participle of the main verb plus the present of the verb být (be), except the third person singular and plural. The past participle agrees in gender and number with the person who speaks:

DĚLAT (do)

dělal jsem

dělal jsi

dělal

dělali jsme

dělali jste

dělali

7. Present conditional

The present conditional of imperfective and perfective verbs is formed with the active past participle of the main verb plus the conditional of the verb být (be). The past participle agrees in gender and number with the person who speaks:

DĚLAT (do)

dělal bych

dělal bys

dělal by

dělali bychom

dělali byste

dělali by

8. Past conditional

The past conditional of imperfective and perfective verbs is formed with the active past participle of the main verb plus the present conditional of the verb být (be). The past participle agrees in gender and number with the person who speaks:

DĚLAT (do)

byl bych dělal

byl bys dělal

byl by dělal

byl bychom dělali