Czech conjugation is the system of

conjugation Conjugation or conjugate may refer to: Linguistics * Grammatical conjugation, the modification of a verb from its basic form * Emotive conjugation or Russell's conjugation, the use of loaded language Mathematics * Complex conjugation, the chang ...

(grammatically-determined modifications) of

verb A verb () is a word ( part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descr ...

s in

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

. Czech is a

null-subject language In linguistic typology, a null-subject language is a language whose grammar permits an independent clause to lack an explicit subject; such a clause is then said to have a null subject. In the principles and parameters framework, the null subj ...

, i.e. the subject (including personal

pronoun In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun (abbreviated ) is a word or a group of words that one may substitute for a noun or noun phrase. Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the parts of speech, but some modern theorists would not c ...

s) can be omitted if known from context. The person is expressed by the verb: :''já dělám = dělám'' = I do :''on dělal = dělal'' = he was doing

Infinitive

The

infinitive Infinitive (abbreviated ) is a linguistics term for certain verb forms existing in many languages, most often used as non-finite verbs. As with many linguistic concepts, there is not a single definition applicable to all languages. The word is deri ...

is formed by the ending -t, formerly also ''-ti''; on some words -ct (-ci): :''být'' – to be, ''jít'' – to go, ''péct'' – to bake Somewhat archaically: :''býti'' – to be, ''jíti'' – to go, ''péci'' – to bake

Participles

Participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...

s are used for forming the past tense, conditionals and the passive voice in Czech. They are related to the short forms of

adjective In linguistics, an adjective (abbreviated ) is a word that generally modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives were considered one of the ma ...

s. Therefore unlike other verb forms, they also express

gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures ...

which must correspond with the gender of the subject.

Past participle

The past participle (also known as the "active participle" or "l-participle") is used for forming the past tense and the conditionals.

Passive participle

The passive participle is also called "n/t-participle" and is used for forming the passive voice. There are two types of endings:

Agreement between subject and predicate

The

predicate Predicate or predication may refer to: * Predicate (grammar), in linguistics * Predication (philosophy) * several closely related uses in mathematics and formal logic: **Predicate (mathematical logic) **Propositional function **Finitary relation, o ...

must always be in accordance with the subject in the sentence – in

number A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers c ...

and

person A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prope ...

(personal

s), and with past and passive

participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...

s also in

. This grammatical principle affects the orthography (see also

Czech orthography Czech orthography is a system of rules for proper formal writing (orthography) in Czech. The earliest form of separate Latin script specifically designed to suit Czech was devised by Czech theologian and church reformist Jan Hus, the namesake of ...

) – it is especially important for the correct choice and writing of plural endings of

s. Examples: The example mentioned shows both past (byl, byla ...) and passive (koupen, koupena ...) participles. The accordance in gender takes effect in the past tense and the passive

voice The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound producti ...

, not in the present and future tenses in active voice. If the complex subject is a combination of nouns of different genders, masculine animate gender is prior to others and the masculine inanimate and feminine genders are prior to the neuter gender. The neuter endings on the predicate are only used if all nouns in the subject are neuter and plural, otherwise the masculine inanimate/feminine forms are used. Examples: *''muži a ženy byli'' – men and women were *''kočky a koťata byly'' – cats and kittens were *''kotě a štěně'' byly – a puppy and a kitten were *''koťata a štěňata'' byla – puppies and kittens were *''my jsme byli'' (my = we all/men) vs. ''my jsme byly'' (my = we women) – we were Priority of genders: :masculine animate > masculine inanimate & feminine > neuter

Transgressives

The transgressive (''přechodník'') expresses an action which happens coincidentally with or foregoing some other action. The transgressive (''přechodník'') is an archaic form of the verb in

and Slovak. Nowadays, it is used only occasionally for

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

istic purposes or in unchanging expressions. Transgressives were still used quite widely in Czech literature in the beginning of the 20th century (not in the spoken language). For example,

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The Good Soldier Švejk ''The Good Soldier Švejk'' () is an unfinished satirical dark comedy novel by Czech writer Jaroslav Hašek, published in 1921–1923, about a good-humored, simple-minded, middle-aged man who pretends to be enthusiastic to serve Austria-Hungar ...

contains a lot of them. Czech recognizes present and past transgressives. The present transgressive can express present or future action according to the

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of the verb it is derived from. The past transgressive is usually derived from perfective verbs. Examples: * ''Usednuvši u okna, začala plakat.'' (Having sat down at a window, she began to cry.) – past transgressive (foregoing action) * ''Děti, vidouce babičku, vyběhly ven.'' (The children, seeing grandma, ran out.) – present transgressive (coincident action/process)

Aspect

Czech verbs are distinguished by

, they are either

perfective The perfective aspect ( abbreviated ), sometimes called the aoristic aspect, is a grammatical aspect that describes an action viewed as a simple whole; i.e., a unit without interior composition. The perfective aspect is distinguished from the i ...

imperfective The imperfective (abbreviated or more ambiguously ) is a grammatical aspect used to describe ongoing, habitual, repeated, or similar semantic roles, whether that situation occurs in the past, present, or future. Although many languages have a g ...

. Perfective verbs indicate the finality of the process. Therefore, they cannot express the present tense. Perfective verbs are usually formed adding prefixes to imperfective verbs: :''psát'' (imperf.) – to write, to be writing → ''napsat'' (perf.) – to write down Some perfective verbs are not formally related to imperfective ones: :''brát'' (imperf.) – to take, to be taking → ''vzít'' (perf.) – to take

Tenses

Czech verbs express three absolute tenses – past, present and future. Relativity can be expressed by the aspect, sentence constructions and participles. The present tense can be expressed in imperfective verbs only.

Present tense

The present tense is formed by special endings: Verbs are divided into 5 classes according to the way of forming the present tense. They are described in more detail below.

Past tense

The past tense is formed by the past participle (in a proper gender form) and present forms of the verb být (to be) which are omitted in the 3rd person. The following example is for the male gender (animate in plural): ''Dělat'' – to do For the choice of past tense form when the number or gender of the subject may not be clear, see .

Future tense

In imperfective verbs, it is formed by the future forms of the verb být (to be) and the infinitive: ''Dělat'' – to do ''Budu, budeš, ...'' with infinitive has the same meaning as "(I, you, ...) will" in English. If not followed by an infinitive, it means "(I, you, ...) will be" (i.e. I will be = ''budu'', not ''budu být''). In some verbs of motion, the future tense is formed by adding the prefix po-/pů- to the present form: :''půjdu'' – I will go, ''ponesu'' – I will carry, ''povezu'' – I will transport (in a vehicle) In perfective verbs, the present form expresses the future. Compare: :''budu dělat'' – I will be doing :''udělám'' – I will do, I will have done

Tenses in subordinate clauses

There is no

sequence of tenses The sequence of tenses (known in Latin as ''consecutio temporum'', and also known as agreement of tenses, succession of tenses and tense harmony) is a set of grammatical rules of a particular language, governing the agreement between the tenses o ...

in Czech. The types of clauses like in the

indirect speech In linguistics, indirect speech (also reported speech or indirect discourse) is a grammatical mechanism for reporting the content of another utterance without directly quoting it. For example, the English sentence ''Jill said she was coming' ...

use tenses that express the time which is spoken about. The tense of the subordinate clause is not shifted to the past even though there is the past tense in the main clause: :Říká, že nemá dost peněz. (present tense) – He says he doesn't have enough money. :Říkal, že nemá dost peněz. (present tense) – He said he didn't have enough money. :Říkal, že Petr přišel v pět hodin. (past tense) – He said Peter had come at five o'clock. :Říkal, že to udělá v pátek. (future tense) – He said he would do it on Friday.

Imperative

The

imperative mood The imperative mood is a grammatical mood that forms a command or request. The imperative mood is used to demand or require that an action be performed. It is usually found only in the present tense, second person. To form the imperative mood, ...

is formed for the 2nd person singular and plural and the 1st person plural. In the 2nd person singular, it takes either null ending or -i/-ej ending, according to the verb class. The 2nd person plural takes the ending -te/-ete/-ejte and the 1st person plural takes -me/-eme/-ejme. Examples: :''buď! buďte!'' (be!) ''buďme!'' (let's be!) :''spi! spěte!'' (sleep!) ''spěme!'' (let's sleep!) :''dělej! dělejte!'' (do!) ''dělejme!'' (let's do!)

Conditionals

The

conditionals Conditional (if then) may refer to: *Causal conditional, if X then Y, where X is a cause of Y *Conditional probability, the probability of an event A given that another event B has occurred *Conditional proof, in logic: a proof that asserts a co ...

are formed by the past participle and special forms of the verb být (to be). Following example of the present conditional is for the male gender (animate in plural): ''dělal bych'' – I would do There is also the past conditional in Czech but it is usually replaced by the present conditional. ''byl bych dělal'' – I would have done ''By'' also becomes a part of conjugations ''aby'' (so that) and ''kdyby'' (if). Therefore, these conjunctions take the same endings: :''Kdybych nepracoval, nedostal bych výplatu.'' If I didn't work, I would get no wages.

Passive voice

There are two ways to form the

passive voice A passive voice construction is a grammatical voice construction that is found in many languages. In a clause with passive voice, the grammatical subject expresses the ''theme'' or ''patient'' of the main verb – that is, the person or thing t ...

in Czech: 1. By the verb být (to be) and the passive participle: :''Město bylo založeno ve 14. století.'' The town was founded in the 14th century. 2. By adding the

reflexive pronoun A reflexive pronoun is a pronoun that refers to another noun or pronoun (its antecedent) within the same sentence. In the English language specifically, a reflexive pronoun will end in ''-self'' or ''-selves'', and refer to a previously n ...

se: :''Ono se to neudělalo.'' It has not been done. :''To se vyrábí v Číně.'' It is produced in China. However, the use of ''se'' is not exclusive to the passive voice.

Reflexive verbs

Reflexive pronoun A reflexive pronoun is a pronoun that refers to another noun or pronoun (its antecedent) within the same sentence. In the English language specifically, a reflexive pronoun will end in ''-self'' or ''-selves'', and refer to a previously n ...

s se and si are components of

reflexive verb In grammar, a reflexive verb is, loosely, a verb whose direct object is the same as its subject; for example, "I wash myself". More generally, a reflexive verb has the same semantic agent and patient (typically represented syntactically by the s ...

s (''se/si'' is not usually translated into English): :''posadit se'' – to sit down :''myslet si'' – to think, to suppose

Negation

Negation is formed by the prefix ne-. In the future tense and the passive voice it is added to the auxiliary verb ''být'' (to be). :''nedělat'' – not to do :''nedělám'' – I do not do :''nedělej!'' do not do! :''nedělal jsem'' – I did not do :''nebudu dělat'' – I will not do :''nedělal bych'' – I would not do :''byl bych neudělal'' or ''nebyl bych udělal'' – I would not have done :''není děláno'' – it is not done Unlike

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, a negative pronoun must be used with a negative verb (using a positive verb is ungrammatical) ( double negative): :''Nic nemám.'' – I have nothing. (literally ''I do not have nothing.'') :''Nikdy to nikomu neříkej.'' – Never say it to anybody. (literally ''Do not never say it to nobody.'')

Verb classes

Class I

In imperative, ''0/-te/-me'' endings are in most verbs, -''i/-ete/-eme'' or ''-i/-ěte/-ěme'' if two

consonant In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are and pronounced with the lips; and pronounced with the front of the tongue; and pronounced wi ...

s are at the end of the word-stem.

Class II

Class III

Class IV