Please I beg you for help if you are able. How do you build the conditional mood in Czech? I'm Polish, so I guess it will something like 3rd person of past tense + by or something similar, but anyway I don't know how to make the past tense. What should I put into the stem and where can I find some list with irregular verbs if it ever exists. Future tense is kind of simpler but could someone write me the conjugation of the verb 'být' in the past and the future tense? Thank you in advance and please I really need help.
Hi Adder, Present conditional mood in Czech is basically "by" + PAST form of the main verb. "By", however, changes with the person and the main verb too: main verb: e.g. jít (perfective of "chodit") SINGULAR 1st) já bych šel 2nd) ty bys šel/šla 3rd) on by šel ona by šla to/ono by šlo PLURAL 1st) my bychom šli 2nd) vy byste šli 3rd) oni by šli ony by šly ta/ona by šla I'm afraid I am unable to explain formation of past tense forms off top of my head. It seems to me there's often a final "L" in place of the infinitive's final "T", but this is a very superficial observation and there certainly are irregularities. "být" in PAST: SINGULAR 1st) byl jsem 2nd) byl/byla jsi 3rd) byl byla bylo PLURAL 1st) byli jsme 2nd) byli jste 3rd) byli byly byla "být" in FUTURE: SINGULAR 1st) budu 2nd) budeš 3rd) bude bude bude PLURAL 1st) budeme 2nd) budete 3rd) budou budou budou The 3rd persons (both singular and plural) have three forms each, for the masculine, feminine, and neutral genders, respectively, usually listed in this order. Jirka
I don't mean to contradict a native speaker, but it seems to me that Jirka is incorrect in indicating that the verb "jit" is the perfective form of "chodit." I believe these are both imperfective. The test of a perfective verb is that, when conjugated, it has future meaning. For example, "znicit" is perfective, because "znicim" is future. But "jdu" is present tense, therefore "jit" is imperfective. The perfective form would be "zajit." As far as know, the forms of the verb "to go" in Czech look like this: zajit -- perfective - one time action as an event jit -- durative imperfective - one time action as an action chodit -- iterative imperfective - repeated, regular action chodivat -- frequentative imperfective - repeated, irregular action Examples: Zajdu na koncert. - I will go to a concert. Jdu domu. - I'm going home. Chodil jsem na univerzitu. - I used to go to university. Chodivam na koncerty. - I occasionally go to concerts. The frequentative form, as far as I can tell, is almost never used. The iterative form is equally rare except for chodit and jezdit. Theoretically, though, all (?) verbs have these forms. For example, I should be able to say: Piju pivo. I'm drinking beer. Pivam pivo. I drink beer. Pivavam pivo. I occasionally drink beer. ...although I've never encountered the latter two forms in reality. I think people would be much more likely to use the durative imperfective, combined with a clarifying adverb, as in "Piju pivo ted" versus "Piju pivo obcas." Which leads me into a quesion that perhaps someone here can answer. Excluding the verbs of motion, are the iterative and frequentative forms ever necessary or preferred? Or are they pretty much obsolete, along with the past conditional? Have you, personally, ever used a iterative verb other than chodit and jezdit? It's also worth noting that the imperfective durative "jit" (as well as most unprefixed durative verbs of motion) has an irregular future "pujdu" "pujdes" rather than the expected "budu jit" "budes jit." Please note that my information on this subject is rather sparse--the flavors of imperfective verbs in Czech is a frequently neglected subject. I naturally welcome correction, amplification, clarification. I expect that Bohaemus will have something to say on this subject.
Hi Wicker808, you are right about the imperfective aspect of "jít"; I've checked it in a dictionary. As a native speaker of Czech I understand English grammar better than my native language's. I'm always amazed how foreign learners of my language can explain grammatical points, like you have about the way of testing whether a verb is perfective or imperfective. I believe the method is widely unknown to Czech native speakers as well as many others like that. It's simply because you just speak the language as you hear it and take things for granted. I don't, however, recall anything like that from my school years either. Well, Czech grammar is also objectively much more difficult than English grammar. I'd rather get away from the thin ice of Czech grammar for now and let someone else contribute... Jirka
Wecker, I'm a Pole and I live in a neighbouring country, so I got it . Pujdes etc. is not a form of the verb 'jit' but a form of the verb like pujit i guess, but i am not sure. It's 'pójść' in Polish and it's not a verb called 'iść'. Their aspects are different.
You are right, the form pívat sounds strange. The durative verbs can express repeated actions as well. You have omitted many usual and frequent iterative/frequentative verbs: Iter.: nosím, vozím, vodím, házím, vídám, bodám, honím, vracím, létám, sedám, etc. Freq.: dávám, stávám, vstávám, bývám, mívám, zpívám, sedávám, etc. The iterative/frequentative verbs are often necessary in the negative sentences: Sedni si! -- Nesedej si! Lehni si! -- Nelehej si! Vrať se! -- Nevracej se! Vstaň! (Vstávej!) -- Nevstávej! Dej mi to! -- Nedávej mi to! Note that the prefixed verbs derived from frequentative verbs are also frequent: být - bývat - přebývat, pobývat, nabývat čekat - čekávat - očekávat, přečkávat, vyčkávat sedat - sedávat - posedávat, vysedávat mýt - (mývat) - umývat, omývat lít - (lévat) - zalévat, polévat krýt - (krývat) - zakrývat, skrývat, pokrývat Thus we cannot say that the iterative and frequentative verbs are obsolete.