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Číst Conjugation

číst means "to read" in Czech. Present (imperfective): já čtu, ty čteš, on / ona / ono čte, my čteme, vy čtete, oni čtou. Below: all 11 tenses we teach, with examples.

Present (imperfective) Přítomný čas

Imperfective verbs in the present describe what is happening now, what happens regularly, or general facts. Perfective verbs have NO real present: their present-tense forms mean the future (see below). The same forms also serve for 'I am doing' (Czech has no separate continuous tense).

Past, imperfective (ongoing or repeated) Minulý čas (nedokonavý)

Formed with the l-participle of the imperfective verb (dělal, mluvil, kupoval, psal) plus jsem / jsi / jsme / jste in the 1st and 2nd person (no auxiliary in the 3rd). The participle agrees in gender and number: masculine / feminine / neuter, plural masculine animate -li and other -ly. Use it for actions in progress, repeated or habitual actions and for the fact that something took place. It covers both English 'I was doing' and 'I used to do'.

Past, perfective (completed) Minulý čas (dokonavý)

Same formation as the imperfective past, but with the perfective partner (udělat, promluvit, koupit, napsat). It presents the action as one completed whole with a result: 'I did it / I have done it'. Czech has no separate present perfect or pluperfect in everyday use, so this form translates both 'I wrote' and 'I have written'. Spoken Czech often drops jsem and jsi.

Future, imperfective (budu + infinitive) Budoucí čas (nedokonavý)

For imperfective verbs: the future of být (budu, budeš, bude, budeme, budete, budou) plus the infinitive. Use it for ongoing, repeated or unbounded future actions: 'I will be writing / I will write regularly'.

Future, perfective (present-tense forms) Budoucí čas (dokonavý)

For perfective verbs the future is made with the normal present-tense endings on the perfective verb (napíšu, koupím, udělám). Never use budu with a perfective infinitive. Use it for single completed actions in the future: 'I will write it / I will buy it'.

Conditional, present Kondicionál přítomný

The l-participle plus bych / bys / by / bychom / byste / by. It expresses polite requests, wishes and unreal or unlikely situations in the present or future ('I would write'). Spoken Czech often contracts it (psal bych, psal bys).

Conditional, past Kondicionál minulý

byl / byla bych (bys, by …) plus the l-participle: 'I would have written'. Used for situations that did not happen in the past, mainly in the main clause of a 'if I had …' sentence (kdybych byl psal / napsal …).

Clause with aby (purpose, wishes, requests) Spojka aby + kondicionální tvary

The conjunction aby (abych, abys, aby, abychom, abyste, aby) is followed by the l-participle. Use it after chtít, potřebovat, přát si, říct, doporučit and for purpose ('in order to') when the subject changes. If the subject is the same, use aby only for purpose with 'abych' (Jdu domů, abych odpočíval) or simply the infinitive after chtít (Chci psát). Both imperfective and perfective participles occur; shown with the imperfective.

Imperative, imperfective Rozkazovací způsob (nedokonavý)

Take the 3rd person plural present, remove the ending to leave the stem and add -ej (dělej), nothing (mluv, piš) or -uj (kupuj); then -me for 'let's' and -te for plural/formal 'you'. Imperfective imperatives are used for ongoing, repeated or polite-invitation commands. The 3rd persons are made with ať + present tense ('let him / let them').

Imperative, perfective Rozkazovací způsob (dokonavý)

Made the same way from the perfective verb (udělej, promluv, kup, napiš). Use it for a single action to be done once and completed: 'do it now'.

Negative imperative Záporný rozkaz

Prohibitions are normally made with ne- plus the IMPERFECTIVE imperative (nepiš, nekupuj). A perfective negative imperative is rare and only warns against an accident ('mind you don't drop it': Nespadni!).

Examples

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