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Začínat / začít Conjugation

začínat / začít means "to begin" in Czech. Present (imperfective): já začínám, ty začínáš, on / ona / ono začíná, my začínáme, vy začínáte, oni začínají. Below: all 36 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 (perfective) Minulý čas (dokonavý)

The same form built on a perfective verb. Shows a single completed past action with a result: English simple past or present perfect ('I wrote it', 'I have written it').

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.

Pluperfect (perfective, rare) Předminulý čas

Past of být + the perfective l-participle (byl jsem napsal). It marks an action completed before another past action, but is rare and archaic; today Czech uses the plain past, often with 'předtím' or 'už'.

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 present (perfective) Podmiňovací způsob přítomný (dokonavý)

The same conditional on a perfective verb: a single completed action in a hypothetical or polite context.

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.

Conditional past (perfective) Podmiňovací způsob minulý (dokonavý)

Byl/byla bych + perfective l-participle: 'would have done'. Used in the main clause of a third-conditional sentence.

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.

Aby clause (perfective) Aby + dokonavé l-participle

The same with a perfective verb: a single completed action, the result.

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.

Negative imperative (perfective, warning) Záporný rozkaz (varovný)

Ne- + the perfective imperative: a warning against an accidental result ('mind you don't ...'). Rare compared to the imperfective.

Passive present (být + participle) Trpný rod (přítomný)

Present of být + the passive participle (-n/-t) of a perfective verb. Often describes the result: 'the book is written'. Participle agrees with the subject: -n, -na, -no, -ni/-ny. Not available for every verb (mluvit has none).

Passive past Trpný rod (minulý)

Past of být + the passive participle: 'was done'. Used in written, formal Czech, in the news, law and science.

Passive future Trpný rod (budoucí)

Budu + participle: 'will be done'.

Passive conditional Trpný rod (podmiňovací)

Byl bych + passive participle: 'would be done'.

Reflexive passive (present) Zvratné pasivum (přítomný)

Se with the 3rd person: the usual, natural way to express the passive in everyday Czech, especially for things done in general, for rules and for notices. No agent is named.

Reflexive passive (past) Zvratné pasivum (minulý)

The same in the past: the l-participle with se, neuter in the singular, -ly/-la with plural subjects.

Reflexive passive (future) Zvratné pasivum (budoucí)

Bude/budou se + infinitive.

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.

Infinitive (perfective) Infinitiv (dokonavý)

The perfective partner; used after modal verbs when a single completed action is meant, and for polite requests.

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.

Past active participle (literary) Přídavné jméno slovesné činné (minulé)

Perfective stem + -vší: napsavší, udělavší. Literary and rare in speech.

Passive participle (imperfective) Přídavné jméno slovesné trpné (nedokonavé)

From the infinitive stem with -n/-t. As an adjective: psaný, tištěný, kupovaný. Describes a thing on which something is done.

Passive participle (perfective) Přídavné jméno slovesné trpné (dokonavé)

Perfective participle: napsaný, udělaný, koupený. Gives a result: the product of the action.

Verbal noun Podstatné jméno slovesné

Formed with -ní/-tí. It names the activity: psaní, dělání, kupování. Neuter, declined like stavení.

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.

Past transgressive (literary) Přechodník minulý

LITERARY: from perfective verbs: napsav / napsavši / napsavše (m. sg. / f. and n. sg. / pl.). Describes an action completed before the main verb. Only found in formal and literary writing.

Examples

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