Conjugation › Czech › Spát
Czech · Verb Tables · Advanced
spát means "to sleep" in Czech. Present (imperfective): já spím, ty spíš, on / ona / ono spí, my spíme, vy spíte, oni spí. Below: all 15 tenses we teach, with examples.
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).
| já | spím |
| ty | spíš |
| on / ona / ono | spí |
| my | spíme |
| vy | spíte |
| oni | spí |
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.
| já | spal / spala jsem |
| ty | spal / spala jsi |
| on / ona / ono | spal / spala / spalo |
| my | spali / spaly jsme |
| vy | spali / spaly jste |
| oni | spali / spaly |
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.
| já | spával / spávala jsem |
| ty | spával / spávala jsi |
| on / ona / ono | spával / spávala / spávalo |
| my | spávali / spávaly jsme |
| vy | spávali / spávaly jste |
| oni | spávali / spávaly |
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).
| já | budu spát |
| ty | budeš spát |
| on / ona / ono | bude spát |
| my | budeme spát |
| vy | budete spát |
| oni | budou spát |
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.
| já | spal / spala bych |
| ty | spal / spala bys |
| on / ona / ono | spal / spala / spalo by |
| my | spali / spaly bychom |
| vy | spali / spaly byste |
| oni | spali / spaly by |
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.
| já | byl / byla bych spal / spala |
| ty | byl / byla bys spal / spala |
| on / ona / ono | byl / byla / bylo by spal / spala / spalo |
| my | byli / byly bychom spali / spaly |
| vy | byli / byly byste spali / spaly |
| oni | byli / byly by spali / spaly |
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.
| já | abych spal / spala |
| ty | abys spal / spala |
| on / ona / ono | aby spal / spala / spalo |
| my | abychom spali / spaly |
| vy | abyste spali / spaly |
| oni | aby spali / spaly |
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').
| já | ať spím |
| ty | — |
| on / ona / ono | ať spí |
| my | — |
| vy | — |
| oni | ať spí |
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.
| já | — |
| ty | spi |
| on / ona / ono | — |
| my | spěme |
| vy | spěte |
| oni | — |
Ne- + the imperfective imperative. Negative commands normally use the imperfective, because a prohibition concerns an action in general.
| já | — |
| ty | nespi |
| on / ona / ono | — |
| my | nespěme |
| vy | nespěte |
| oni | — |
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.
| spát |
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).
| spal / spala / spalo / spali / spaly |
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.
| spící |
Formed with -ní/-tí. It names the activity: psaní, dělání, kupování. Neuter, declined like stavení.
| spaní |
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.
| spě / spíc / spíce |
| Spím osm hodin denně. | I sleep eight hours a day. |
| Spi dobře! | Sleep well! |
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