Conjugation

= konjugace

What is conjugation? 

In simple terms, conjugation is a change of form of verbs. The basic function of conjugation in Czech is to indicate the person - who it is that does an activity. This article deals with conjugation of verbs in present tense. 

Let's take the example of the verb to work - pracovat. In English, we always have to use the personal pronoun and the verb if we want to express that someone does an activity (I work, you work, he works etc.). In Czech, when we want to express the same, we always have to change the ending of the verb. If we take the pracovat example, we drop the ending -ovat and and add an appropriate ending (see below). The forms for pracovat will be as follows: I work - pracuju, you work pracuješ, he works - pracuje etc. You can also use the pronouns (já pracuju, ty pracuješ, on pracuje) but as the ending for each person is different, it is not needed.

How to conjugate? 

We will cover 4 conjugation types: á-conjugation , í-conjugation , ovat-conjugation and irregular conjugation. Each verb belongs in one category. In order to decide which category the verb belongs to, we have to know its infinitive (the basic form, e.g. pracovat, dělat, být). Once we have the infinitive, we decide based on the ending of the verb. 

For example: dělat -> ending -at, pracovat -> ending -ovat, mluvit -> ending -it

Once we identify the ending, we remove it and what we are left with is the the stem as it is called. This is what we will need to make the desired conjugated verb. For example: 

infinitiv: dělat -> remove the ending at ->  stem: děl

infinitiv: pracovat -> remove the ending ovat -> stem: prac

infinitiv: mluvit -> remove the ending it -> stem: mluv

á-conjugation

Typically, verbs that end in -at belong in this category. For example: dělat, vstávat, poslouchat. To make the desired form, we drop the ending and work with the stem only.

Let's see the example of dělat. Column one shows personal pronouns, column two shows the stem and ending, column three shows the final conjugated form: 


í-conjugation

Typically, verbs that end in -it, -et, -ět belong in this category. For example: mluvit, uklízet,  rozumět.

Let's see the example of mluvit: 



ovat-conjugation

Verbs that end in -ovat belong in this category. For example: pracovat, studovat, nakupovat.

Let's see the example of pracovat:



irregular conjugation

This category does not have a typical ending, we have to remember which verbs belong here. These verbs are marked with an asterisk * in our course. These verbs are irregular because when we conjugate them, their stem changes. It is neccassary to memorise it for each verb separately. However, it is sufficient to only memorise the form for 1st person singular (), the rest can then be conjugated easily. For example: číst*, psát*, pít*. 

Let's see the example of číst* (já čtu):





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