Conjugation › Czech › Žít
Czech · Verb Tables · Advanced
žít means "to live" in Czech. Present (imperfective): já žiji, ty žiješ, on / ona / ono žije, my žijeme, vy žijete, oni žijí. 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 | žiji |
| ty | žiješ |
| on / ona / ono | žije |
| my | žijeme |
| vy | žijete |
| oni | žijí |
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 | žil / žila jsem |
| ty | žil / žila jsi |
| on / ona / ono | žil / žila / žilo |
| my | žili / žily jsme |
| vy | žili / žily jste |
| oni | žili / žily |
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 | žíval / žívala jsem |
| ty | žíval / žívala jsi |
| on / ona / ono | žíval / žívala / žívalo |
| my | žívali / žívaly jsme |
| vy | žívali / žívaly jste |
| oni | žívali / žívaly |
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 žít |
| ty | budeš žít |
| on / ona / ono | bude žít |
| my | budeme žít |
| vy | budete žít |
| oni | budou žít |
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 | žil / žila bych |
| ty | žil / žila bys |
| on / ona / ono | žil / žila / žilo by |
| my | žili / žily bychom |
| vy | žili / žily byste |
| oni | žili / žily 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 žil / žila |
| ty | byl / byla bys žil / žila |
| on / ona / ono | byl / byla / bylo by žil / žila / žilo |
| my | byli / byly bychom žili / žily |
| vy | byli / byly byste žili / žily |
| oni | byli / byly by žili / žily |
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 žil / žila |
| ty | abys žil / žila |
| on / ona / ono | aby žil / žila / žilo |
| my | abychom žili / žily |
| vy | abyste žili / žily |
| oni | aby žili / žily |
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 žiji |
| ty | — |
| on / ona / ono | ať žije |
| my | — |
| vy | — |
| oni | ať žijí |
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 | žij |
| on / ona / ono | — |
| my | žijme |
| vy | žijte |
| oni | — |
Ne- + the imperfective imperative. Negative commands normally use the imperfective, because a prohibition concerns an action in general.
| já | — |
| ty | nežij |
| on / ona / ono | — |
| my | nežijme |
| vy | nežijte |
| 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.
| žít |
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).
| žil / žila / žilo / žili / žily |
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.
| žijící |
Formed with -ní/-tí. It names the activity: psaní, dělání, kupování. Neuter, declined like stavení.
| žití |
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.
| žije / žijíc / žijíce |
| Žiji v Praze už pět let. | I have lived in Prague for five years. |
| Žij svůj život! | Live your life! |
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