One of the largest parts of Czech grammar deals with verb conjugation. Conjugation means that the verb endings change depending on the person who the sentence is about. There are four ways how verbs in the Present Tense can be conjugated in relation to their ending in the infinitive.

-AT Ending

For example: dělat, dívat se, obědvat , odpočívat , poslouchat , zpívat , prodávat , snídat …

-OVAT Ending

For example: pracovat, studovat , telefonovat, malovat, jmenovat se, tancovat, nakupovat …

The -uju and -ujou forms are widely used in everyday language and are considered colloquial. The -uji and -ují are typically used in more formal occasions and in the written form.

-EI, -ĚT, -IT Ending

For example: myslet, mluvit, rozumět, večeřet, sedět, vařit, vidět, platit, viset, uklízet, bydlet …

Irregular Verbs

The group of irregular verbs includes verbs with various infinitive endings (át, -ít, -ýt, -ét, -íst, -ést, -ást, -ůst). However, the conjugation endings are exactly the same for all of them. What makes the verbs irregular is the fact that the ones with -át, -ít, -ét endings are not conjugated in their typical way but differently. Moreover, there are usually some additional modifications to the verb (brát -> beru, bereš…, číst -> čtu, čteš…) which have to be memorised.

For example:  psát, číst, plavat, smát se, brát, pít, klást, nést, lít, mýt, prát, šít …

Also, there is a group of three verbs stát, spát and jíst which are conjugated like -ím, -íš, -í...

-NOUT Ending

-nout ending verbs are typical for Perfective Verbs used in the Past Tense and Future Tense. However, there are a few limited -nout verbs also used in the Present Tense (tisknout).

For example:  poslechnout, zapomenout, vyzvednout, rozhodnout se, prohlédnout si, tisknout …

Personal Pronouns

Personal Pronouns are almost always omitted as the person is already indicated by the conjugated verb. See our grammar reference for more information.