verb conjugation question

Discussion in 'Grammar & Pronunciation' started by allgonedead, Jul 16, 2002.

  1. allgonedead

    allgonedead New Member

    i don't understand 2 things:
    There are 4 classes A, I, E, UJE how do you know which class a verb fits into?
    And why is there 2 yous Ex. Znat-znas and znate both mean "you know"?

    thanx
     
  2. Anke

    Anke Well-Known Member

    Hi you,

    I may put some light onto verb conjugation. In Czech, there are 4 verb classes.

    To the first class belong verbs which end in -at or át, like delat (to do) or dát (to give). Those are conjugated like: delám, delás, delá, deláme, deláte, delají.

    The second verb class ends in -ovat or -ýt, like kupovat (to buy) or mýt (to wash). "ova" in words like kupovat changes into "u" in conjugation. Therefore, these verbs are conjugated: kupuji, kupujes, kupuje, kupujeme, kupujete, kupují or myji, myjes, myje, myjeme, myjete, myjí.

    The third group of verbs ends in -it or -et, like prosit (to ask for) or rozumet (to understand). There you find the conjugation scheme prosím, prosís, prosí, prosíme, prosíte, prosí.

    To the fourth class belong verbs ending in -out, -ci or other verbs like nést (to carry) and brát (to take). They are conjugated as nést: nesu, neses, nese, neseme, nesete, nesou.

    Of course, there are many exceptions to that. 2 famous irregluar verbs are:
    být (to be): jsem, jsi, je, jsme, jste, jsou
    mít (to have): mám, más, má, máme, máte, mají

    For most verbs you will either have a mark in the dictionary to tell you to which group it belongs or, more often, they are put into the categories by endings (as described above).

    There are two "you"- forms in Czech because there is one "you" referring to the singular (that is if you speak to or about one person you know) and the other one refers to plural (like in "you two over there") or is used in formally addressing people (adults) you don´t know (that is teachers, officers, parents of friends...).
    Znás then means: do you (one person) know?
    and znáte: do you (more than one person or a person you address formally) know?

    I hope this helps you a bit.
     
  3. allgonedead

    allgonedead New Member

    thanx it does help
     

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