My Step by Step book does not do a very good job of describing past tense. Does anyone know of a website that does a good job of describing how to speak in the past tense. My book translates one word, "byt" into the past tense and from that I'm suppose to know how to translate the rest of the verbs such as I walked, I worked, I talked, etc. Thanks in advance for your help.
Hi Try this. There is actually a book "401 Czech Verbs" by Bruce Davies and Jana Hejduková. "http://www.401czechverbs.com/" Not every verb is in this book, but it is a very handy reference. The best dictionary in my opinion is "Anglicko-Český Česko-Anglický" by Josef Fronek, published by Leda. This dictionary has all conjugations and declinations. According to Bohemica.com this is the dictionary to get if you are anyway serious about learning Czech. I obtained my copy from amazon.co.uk. I assume it's also available on amazon.com. As for irregular verbs like čtu, the best place to look is pravidla.cz. This will give you all the conjugations as well as the infinitive of the verb. Very handy also to find the gender of nouns if your dictionary isn't to hand.
The past tense is not so difficult. It is formed by auxiliary býti (to be) in the present tense and the past participle, which is formed from the infinitive stem. Note that the participle is like an adjective, it must agree with the subject of the sentence in number and gender. já jsem pracoval (pracovala, pracovalo) - I worked ty jsi pracoval (pracovala, pracovalo) - you (thou) worked on pracoval, ona pracovala, ono pracovalo - he/she/it worked my jsme pracovali (pracovaly, pracovala) - we worked vy jste pracovali (pracovaly, pracovala) - you (all) worked oni pracovali, ony pracovaly, ona pracovala - they worked The past participle of the majority of verbs is formed from the infinitive by replacing the -ti ending with -l (-la for feminine sing., -lo for neuter sing. etc.) Example: dělati -> dělal pracovati -> pracoval uměti -> uměl učiti -> učil very often the stem vowel is shortened: býti -> byl bíti -> bil píti -> pil krýti -> kryl spáti -> spal irregularities (like in English speak-spoke, find-found, read-read) vzíti -> vzal douti -> dul moci (< mogti) -> mohl téci (< tekti) -> tekl vésti (< vedti) -> vedl ...
Yeah, it's 65 U.S. $$ on Amazon. Quite an expensive dictionary. But probably quite worth it. The 401 verbs isn't on Amazon. There is a website for it though and an email contact person. The website doesn't list the price. Thanks every one for your help.
It will be worth saving up for. I have had this dictionary now for 2 or 3 years and it has been indispenable. I bought this book from the website about a year ago. It was 500Kč plus 200Kč shipping to UK. I Emailed the contact person, requesting the price of the book and shipping costs. I recieved a prompt reply from her.I Emailed my address and other details, but phoned her on her mobile with my credit card number (Safety reasons). I received the book at the end of the week. I was very pleased with their service. I hope this is of help.