Verbs of Motion
Czech verbs of motion, also called determinate and indeterminate verbs, is a special grammar category which deals with verbs indicating movement. Such verbs have two different imperfective forms which work similarly like the English Present Simple and Present Continuous tenses.
Determinate verbs (běhat) usually behave like the Present Simple tense, expressing habitual situations or general always true facts.
Rád běhám v parku.
Každý den běhám na autobus.
Indeterminate verbs (běžet), on the other hand, work like Present Continuous tense, meaning the verb is being performed at the moment of speaking.
Je 8 ráno a běžím pozdě do práce.
Zrovna teď běžím kolem přehrady.
More verbs of motion: (determinate – indeterminate)
- chodit – jít
- jezdit – jet
- létat – letět
- nosit – nést
- vodit – vést
- vozit – vézt
- tahat – táhnout
The future tense is formed by adding po- prefix to the indeterminate form.
The past tense is also typically formed from the indeterminate verb, however, no prefix is used.
poběžím – běžel jsem
pojedu – jel jsem
poletím – letěl jsem
ponesu – nesl jsem
- Please note that this is a simplified version of the rules and you should ask your teacher for more details.
