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Letět Conjugation

letět means "to fly" in Czech. Present (imperfective): já letím, ty letíš, on / ona / ono letí, my letíme, vy letíte, oni letí. Below: all 17 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. Czech has no separate continuous tense, so 'I am writing' is also píšu. Perfective verbs have no real present (see Perfective present, below).

Past (imperfective) Minulý čas (nedokonavý)

L-participle plus jsem/jsi/jsme/jste; no auxiliary in the 3rd person. Shows a past action in progress, repeated, or without regard to the result: where English uses 'was doing', 'used to do' or 'did'. Masculine / feminine given; the neuter is -lo.

Past habitual (iterative) Opakovaný minulý čas (-val)

Imperfective verbs add -va- (or -íva-/-áva-) before the l-participle ending to say 'used to do', for repeated past actions. Literary and spoken, a little old-fashioned, and not available for every verb.

Future (imperfective) Budoucí čas (nedokonavý)

Budu, budeš, bude, budeme, budete, budou + infinitive of an imperfective verb. Describes an action in the future seen as continuing, repeated or as a process. Verbs of motion form it with po-/pů-: půjdu, pojedu, poletím, poběžím (see patterns).

Future (perfective present) Budoucí čas (dokonavý)

The present-tense endings on a perfective verb. Describes a single completed future action with a result. Never combine it with budu.

Conditional present (imperfective) Podmiňovací způsob přítomný

L-participle plus bych, bys, by, bychom, byste, by. Expresses a wish, a polite request or an unreal present or future situation: dělal bych, kdybych mohl.

Conditional past (imperfective) Podmiňovací způsob minulý

Byl/byla bych + l-participle. Hypothetical about the past: 'I would have been doing'. Formal and written; in speech, the present conditional with kdyby is used.

Aby clause (imperfective) Aby + l-participle

Czech has no separate subjunctive; the conditional particle by attached to the conjunction aby / abych / abys / abychom / abyste does the job, with the l-participle: abych dělal. It marks purpose, wish, request, command reported indirectly, and doubt. Imperfective: a process, an ongoing or repeated action.

Third-person wish / command (imperfective) Ať + přítomný čas

Ať + 3rd person present expresses a wish or a command directed at someone else ('let him ...', 'may he ...'). The forms for 1st person and 2nd person singular are rare and idiomatic ('ať dělám, co dělám').

Third-person wish / command (perfective) Ať + budoucí čas (dokonavý)

Ať + perfective present (future): 'let him finish it'.

Imperative (imperfective) Rozkazovací způsob (nedokonavý)

Formed from the present stem: 2nd sg. is the bare stem (dělej, piš, mluv, kupuj), 1st pl. adds -me, 2nd pl. adds -te. Imperfective is used for repeated or general commands, invitations and polite requests.

Imperative (perfective) Rozkazovací způsob (dokonavý)

The same on a perfective verb. Commands a single completed action: 'do it now'. Often sounds more direct.

Negative imperative Záporný rozkaz

Ne- + the imperfective imperative. Negative commands normally use the imperfective, because a prohibition concerns an action in general.

Infinitive (imperfective) Infinitiv (nedokonavý)

The dictionary form; ends in -t (-ct in a few verbs: moct, péct). Used after modal and phase verbs, with budu for the future and as the second part of the imperfective future.

L-participle (masculine / feminine / neuter / plural) L-ové příčestí

The base of the past tense and conditional; it agrees in gender and number: -l, -la, -lo, -li, -ly (the masculine plural -li for animate nouns, -ly otherwise).

Present active participle Přídavné jméno slovesné činné (přítomné)

Formed from the 3rd person plural + -cí (dělající, píšící). It works as an adjective, and is common in writing: studující student. It cannot form tenses.

Present transgressive (literary) Přechodník přítomný

LITERARY: mark as formal or archaic; masculine singular / feminine and neuter singular / plural: dělaje / dělajíc / dělajíce. Describes an action simultaneous with the main verb, from imperfective verbs.

Examples

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