Present and past tense of the verb být ‘to be’. Long vowels

Letters I, Y, P, R, V, Z

The letters I i and Y y represent the exact same sound — similar to the short English [i] in sit or [ee] in see. All consonants (except d, t, n) are pronounced the same before i and y.

Important rule: The consonants d, t, n become soft (palatalized) before i/í, sounding somewhat like the d in duty, t in tube, and n in onion (e.g., divadlo [dyivadlo], ticho [tyikho], nic [nyits]). However, before y/ý they always remain hard (e.g., dým [deem], ty [tih], syn [sin]).

Matka myla Emu. (Mother was washing Ema.) Dej mi to! (Give me that!) Kdo tam byl? (Who was there?) My oba. (Both of us.) Kde je ten byt? (Where is that apartment?) To je syn tety Emy. (This is aunt Ema’s son.) Byli jste dnes u matky? (Were you at your mother’s today?) Byli jsme u Ely. (We were at Ela’s.)

The combination ji is pronounced like the English yee: myji (I wash), biji (I beat).

Long vowel sounds

A unique feature of the phonetic system of the Czech language is the presence of short and long vowels. Long vowels are pronounced approximately twice as long as short ones. Vowel length in writing is indicated by an acute accent (čárka).

The length of vowels is not related to the position of the stress. Both stressed and unstressed sounds can be long or short: salám, také, bílý.

Note: The letter ó is almost never found in native Czech words — examples like móda, tón, sólo are loanwords.

The long u has two written forms:

The letter ú is written at the beginning of a word or after prefixes, while the letter ů is written in the middle or at the end of a word. The letter ů in the middle of a word often corresponds to an historical o (when compared to other Slavic languages, e.g., dům — dom).

Máte sýr a mléko? (Do you have cheese and milk?) Dejte nám deset deka salámu. (Give us 100 grams of salami.) Kolik stojí kilo sádla? (How much does a kilo of lard cost?) Kolik stojí máslo? (How much does butter cost?) Jdu domů. (I am going home.) To je můj syn. (This is my son.) Jaké je to mýdlo? (What kind of soap is this?)

Máte pivo? (Do you have beer?) Ano. (Yes.) Máme známé pivo „Prazdroj“. (We have the famous beer “Prazdroj” — Pilsner Urquell.) Kdo vám poslal ten dopis? (Who sent you this letter?) Marta. Kde je? V Praze. (Marta. Where is she? In Prague.) Znáte Karlovy Vary? (Do you know Karlovy Vary?) Znám, byl jsem tam v únoru. (I do, I was there in February.)

Milý Tondo! (Dear Tonda!)

Zasílám vám pozdravy z Ostravy. (Sending you greetings from Ostrava.) Mám pro Tebe dopis od tety Emy. (I have a letter for you from aunt Ema.) Byla s námi na Slovensku. (She was with us in Slovakia.) Pozdravuj matku a sestru. (Say hello to your mother and sister.)

Tvůj Ivan

Present tense of the verb být ‘to be’

Just like the English verb to be, the Czech verb být has fully conjugated forms and is used in all persons.

 

je

jsou

In the Czech language, personal pronouns are usually omitted before verbs: I am an Englishman. — Jsem Angličan.

Jsem dnes doma. (I am at home today.) Jsme na Slovensku dva roky. (We have been in Slovakia for two years. — In conversational speech, the word už (already) is often added: Jsme na Slovensku už dva roky.) Jan a Ivan jsou u tety. (Jan and Ivan are at their aunt’s.) Jsi spokojen? (Are you satisfied?) Jste v úterý doma? (Are you at home on Tuesday?)

Past tense of the verb být

Byl jsi dnes doma? (Were you at home today?) Ne, byl jsem u tety. (No, I was at my aunt’s.) A kde byla matka? (And where was mother?) Byla tam také. (She was there too.) Byli jste na Slovensku? (Were you in Slovakia?) Byli jsme tam letos. (We were there this year.) Kde jste byli v sobotu? (Where were you on Saturday?) Byli jsme u sestry. (We were at our sister’s.)

Unlike English, where the past tense relies heavily on pronouns (e.g., I was, you carried), the Czech past tense is formed using a compound structure. In the 1st and 2nd persons, the past participle (the ‘l-form’) of the main verb is combined with the corresponding present tense form of the verb být (to be). For example, I was — byl jsem, you knew — znala jsi, we washed — myli jsme, you carried — vezli jste. In the 3rd person, the past tense is formed solely by the past participle: he was — byl, she knew — znala, they carried — nesli.

Furthermore, Czech past participles change according to gender and animacy in the plural as well: byli — masc. animate, byly — masc. inanimate or feminine, byla — neuter: Jan a Ivan byli doma. Traktory jely na pole. Vlasta a Marta byly na Slovensku. Kola stála u domu.

When addressing one person politely using the formal ‘you’ (Vy), the past tense is formed by combining the plural auxiliary verb (jste) with the singular past participle: Četl jste tu knihu, Pavle? — Have you read this book, Pavel? Četla jste tu knihu, Marie? — Have you read this book, Marie?

The auxiliary verb forms in the past tense are enclitics and are never placed first in a sentence. They typically take the second position, right after the first logically stressed word or phrase: Kde jste byli? Byli jsme doma. Dali jste mu dopis? Znali jste Ivana? Kam jste jeli?

Exercises

1. Read aloud, paying special attention to correct pronunciation. Always place the stress on the first syllable of individual words:

a) Ten byt. Byl bit. My oba. Dej mi to. Myl okno. Umyla okna. U Ostravy. K Janovi. Syn mojí sestry. Jdu do kina.

b) Mám málo sádla. Máte mák? Nalijte mu teplé mléko. To je bílé víno. Máme dobré máslo. To je známé jméno. Tam je velký závod. To je nová móda? Máte nový úkol? Jdu domů. Dobrý den! Znám vás. Zná nás.

c) Lak, Labe, vlas; lom, Londýn, lovit; klub, luna, Ludmila; lípa, lít, list; lyra, lýko, lysý; les, lev, Lenka.

2. Read to yourself, paying attention to the conjugated forms of the verb být:

Dnes jsem sám doma. Jsi s námi spokojen? Matka je na Slovensku. V sobotu jsme u tety Ludmily. Jste u sestry? Jsou Tatry daleko? Byl u bratra. Byl jsi u Evy? Jan byl v Omsku. Byli jsme v Praze. Byli jste tam v sobotu? Jan a Ludvík byli u tety Marty.

3. Fill in the correct present tense forms of the verb být:

Sestra Lenka dnes doma. My oba na Slovensku už dva roky. Teta a matka u nás. Kde , Pavle? Kde tvůj syn? Vlasta v Praze, já v Omsku.

4. Say the following in the past tense:

Jsem v Praze u tety Ludmily. Jsi dnes doma? Vlasta je u syna. Letos jsme na Krymu. Jste oba na Slovensku? Jsou sestry doma? Jsem spokojen. Jsi u Marty? Jan a Tonda jsou u bratra nedaleko Ostravy. Kde jste? Kde jsou?

5. Answer the following:

Kde jste byli? (at aunt’s, at sister’s, at brother’s); Kde jsi byl v sobotu? (at home, at mother’s, in Slovakia); Kde jste letos byl? (in the Tatras, in Crimea, in Prague); Kam jdete? (home, to the orchard, to the cinema).

6. Translate into Czech:

I am at home today. I was at home on Saturday. Where were you? Where were you (plural)? We were at our aunt’s.

7. Answer:

Kdo je tam? Kde jste byl? Kde jste letos byli? Byl jste dnes doma? Budete v sobotu doma? Kde budete? Jste spokojen? Znáte Ostravu? Kam jdete?

8. Ask your friend (in Czech):

Where he was this year, whether he will be at home on Saturday, where he is going, whether his sister has a bicycle, whether he has been to Prague, whether he knows the Tatras.