Czech -uji/-uješ Conjugation

In Brief

Many Czech verbs ending in -ovat form the present tense by replacing -ovat with -uji, -uješ, -uje, -ujeme, -ujete, or -ují: pracovat → pracuji, pracuješ, pracuje... In everyday speech, you will also often hear -uju and -ujou instead of the first-person -uji and third-person plural -ují.

Overview

The -uji/-uješ pattern is one of the most useful Czech present-tense conjugations. A conjugation is simply the set of forms a verb takes to show who is doing something. This pattern occurs in many common verbs ending in -ovat, including pracovat (to work), studovat (to study), cestovat (to travel), kupovat (to buy), and milovat (to love).

This is an A1 pattern because it lets you speak about work, study, shopping, travel, and everyday habits very early. Czech usually does not need a subject pronoun such as já (I) or my (we): the verb ending already identifies the person. Thus Pracuji doma is a complete sentence meaning “I work at home.”

English learners need to watch two differences. First, Czech does not use an extra verb equivalent to English do in questions or negatives: Pracuješ? means “Do you work?” and Nepracuji means “I do not work.” Second, one Czech present form can correspond to either the English simple present or present progressive. Depending on context, Kupuji mléko can mean “I buy milk” or “I’m buying milk.”

How It Works

The basic change

Start with the infinitive (the dictionary form, equivalent to English “to work”):

• pracovat — to work
• remove -ovat: prac-
• add the present-tense element -uj- and the appropriate person ending: pracuji, pracuješ, and so on

A practical shortcut is therefore:

-ovat → -uji, -uješ, -uje, -ujeme, -ujete, -ují

The full present-tense paradigm (the complete set of forms) is:

Person	Pronoun	Ending	pracovat	English
1st person singular	já	-uji	(já) pracuji	I work / I am working
2nd person singular	ty	-uješ	(ty) pracuješ	you work / you are working
3rd person singular	on, ona, ono	-uje	(on/ona/ono) pracuje	he/she/it works
1st person plural	my	-ujeme	(my) pracujeme	we work / we are working
2nd person plural	vy	-ujete	(vy) pracujete	you work / you are working
3rd person plural	oni, ony, ona	-ují	(oni/ony/ona) pracují	they work / they are working

The final -í in pracuji and pracují is long and must be written with an acute accent. In all the other forms, the sequence is -uje-: pracuješ, pracuje, pracujeme, pracujete.

Four common verbs side by side

Once you know the endings, you can apply them to many verbs. Notice that the original -ov- disappears from the present forms.

Person	kupovat (to buy)	cestovat (to travel)	studovat (to study)	milovat (to love)
já	kupuji	cestuji	studuji	miluji
ty	kupuješ	cestuješ	studuješ	miluješ
on/ona/ono	kupuje	cestuje	studuje	miluje
my	kupujeme	cestujeme	studujeme	milujeme
vy	kupujete	cestujete	studujete	milujete
oni/ony/ona	kupují	cestují	studují	milují

Do not assume that every Czech infinitive can be conjugated by removing its last letters. This rule is a strong pattern for the -ovat verbs taught here, not a universal rule for all verbs. Learn an unfamiliar verb with its first-person or third-person present form when a dictionary supplies one.

Pronouns are usually optional

Czech is a pro-drop language, meaning that an unstressed subject pronoun can normally be left out when the verb ending makes the subject clear:

• Studuji češtinu. — I study Czech.
• Cestujeme vlakem. — We are travelling by train.
• Pracujete tady? — Do you work here? / Are you working here?

Use the pronoun when it creates a contrast or clears up who you mean:

• Já pracuji, ale on studuje. — I work, but he studies.
• My cestujeme autem. A vy? — We are travelling by car. And you?

Questions and negation

A yes/no question can have the same words as a statement; your voice rises in speech, and writing uses a question mark:

• Pracuješ tady. — You work here.
• Pracuješ tady? — Do you work here?

To make the verb negative, attach ne- directly to it. There is no separate equivalent of English “do not”:

Positive	Negative	English
pracuji	nepracuji	I work / I do not work
studuješ	nestuduješ	you study / you do not study
cestuje	necestuje	he/she travels / does not travel
kupujeme	nekupujeme	we buy / we do not buy

Formal and plural “you”

Czech ty is singular and informal. Vy can address more than one person or one person politely. In either use, vy takes the -ujete form:

• Studuješ v Praze? — Do you study in Prague? (one friend)
• Studujete v Praze? — Do you study in Prague? (one person politely, or several people)

In formal correspondence, the polite singular or plural pronoun may be capitalized as Vy, but the verb form remains the same.

Examples in Context

Czech	English	Note
Kupuji mléko.	I’m buying milk.	First-person singular; kupuju is common in speech.
Pracuješ tady?	Do you work here?	Informal singular question.
Eva pracuje z domova.	Eva works from home.	An expressed noun is the subject.
Cestujeme po Evropě.	We travel around Europe.	First-person plural.
Studujete češtinu?	Do you study Czech?	Polite singular or plural “you.”
Moji rodiče cestují každý rok.	My parents travel every year.	Third-person plural and a repeated habit.
Milují se.	They love each other.	se gives a reciprocal meaning here.
Dnes nepracuji.	I’m not working today.	Negation is attached to the verb.
Co kupuješ k večeři?	What are you buying for dinner?	A question word; no equivalent of English “do.”
Petr studuje medicínu v Brně.	Petr studies medicine in Brno.	Third-person singular.
Každé ráno kontrolujeme e-mail.	We check our email every morning.	kontrolovat follows the same pattern.
Potřebujete pomoct?	Do you need help?	A useful polite question with potřebovat.
Já rezervuji hotel a ty plánuješ cestu.	I’m booking the hotel, and you’re planning the trip.	Pronouns mark a contrast.
Firma exportuje stroje do Německa.	The company exports machinery to Germany.	Many international-looking verbs use this pattern.

Common Mistakes

1. Keeping -ov- in the present tense

• Wrong: Já pracovuji doma.
• Right: Já pracuji doma.
• Why: Replace the complete infinitive ending -ovat. The present form is prac-uji, not pracov-uji.

2. Using one form for every person

• Wrong: My pracuje tady.
• Right: My pracujeme tady.
• Why: The ending must match the subject. Pracuje is singular “he/she/it works”; pracujeme is “we work.”

3. Adding English-style do or be

• Wrong: Děláš pracuješ tady? for “Do you work here?”
• Right: Pracuješ tady?
• Why: The Czech present verb forms the question by itself. Czech also does not add být (to be) to create an English-style progressive form.

4. Writing short i in the plural form

• Wrong: Oni pracuji.
• Right: Oni pracují.
• Why: Third-person plural ends in long -ují. The first-person singular pracuji has no accent on its final i; the spoken variant pracuju ends in -u.

5. Treating the pronoun as compulsory

• Less natural without emphasis: Já studuji češtinu každý den.
• Usually natural: Studuji češtinu každý den.
• Why: Czech verb endings normally identify the subject. Já is correct, but it often implies “I, as opposed to someone else.”

6. Mixing the infinitive and present stems

• Wrong: Chci studuji češtinu.
• Right: Chci studovat češtinu.
• Why: After a verb such as chtít (to want), use the infinitive studovat. Use studuji when it is the conjugated verb: Studuji češtinu (“I study Czech”).

Usage Notes

Standard -uji/-ují and spoken -uju/-ujou

For this verb type, Czech commonly has two forms in the first-person singular and third-person plural:

Person	More typical in careful or formal writing	Common in neutral conversation
I	pracuji, kupuji, studuji	pracuju, kupuju, studuju
they	pracují, kupují, studují	pracujou, kupujou, studujou

The shorter forms are not random mistakes; they are widespread spoken variants. As a beginner, learn to recognize both. The -uji/-ují forms are a safe default in formal writing, while -uju/-ujou will make everyday speech easier to understand. The other four persons do not show this contrast: pracuješ, pracuje, pracujeme, pracujete.

Present tense does not encode English simple versus progressive

English distinguishes “I work” from “I am working.” Czech normally uses the same present form for both and lets context show whether the action is habitual or happening now:

• Pracuji v nemocnici. — I work in a hospital.
• Teď pracuji. — I’m working now.
• Každé léto cestujeme po Česku. — Every summer we travel around Czechia.
• Tento týden cestujeme po Česku. — This week we’re travelling around Czechia.

Time expressions such as teď (now), každý den (every day), and tento týden (this week) often make the intended meaning clear.

Reflexive se belongs to the phrase

Some verbs occur with se, a short reflexive particle. It usually stands near the beginning of the clause rather than being permanently attached to the verb:

• Milují se. — They love each other.
• Jak se jmenuješ? — What is your name?
• Každý den se sprchuji. — I shower every day.

At A1, learn the verb together with se when the dictionary form includes it. Its exact placement follows broader Czech word-order rules.

Beyond the Basics: Stems, Aspect, and Other Tenses

You do not need to master this section yet, but it explains forms you will meet later.

The -uj- stem is not used everywhere in the verb. The infinitive and past tense normally restore -ova-:

Function	Form of pracovat	Example
infinitive	pracovat	Chci pracovat. — I want to work.
present	pracuji	Pracuji doma. — I work at home.
past, masculine singular	pracoval	Včera pracoval. — He worked yesterday.
past, feminine singular	pracovala	Včera pracovala. — She worked yesterday.
imperative	pracuj!	Pracuj pomalu. — Work slowly.
verbal adjective	pracující	pracující student — a working student

This alternation is easier to remember as two useful stems: pracova- for pracovat, pracoval, and pracuj- for pracuji, pracuješ, and pracuj!.

Czech verbs also have aspect, a distinction between viewing an action as ongoing/repeated and viewing it as a completed whole. Many basic -ovat verbs, including pracovat, studovat, cestovat, and kupovat, are imperfective (ongoing or repeated). Their present forms describe present time. A related perfective verb may belong to a different conjugation: compare kupovat (to be buying/to buy repeatedly) with koupit (to buy successfully or as one completed event).

This matters because a morphologically present form of a perfective verb normally refers to the future. Do not try to solve aspect simply from the English translation; learn common aspect pairs as vocabulary. For now, use the present forms in this article for activities happening now, habits, and general facts.

The pattern is also productive with many borrowed or internationally recognizable verbs: telefonovat → telefonuji, organizovat → organizuji, rezervovat → rezervuji. Their meanings may be easy to guess, but their spelling and the case required by any object still need to be learned.

Practice Tips

1. Build six-form chains. Choose five useful verbs, such as pracovat, studovat, cestovat, kupovat, and potřebovat. Say all six forms aloud in the same rhythm: pracuji, pracuješ, pracuje, pracujeme, pracujete, pracují.
2. Transform one sentence three ways. Start with Pracuješ doma. Change it into a question (Pracuješ doma?), a negative (Nepracuješ doma), and a different person (Pracujeme doma). This trains the ending without translating word by word from English.
3. Listen for both variants. In conversation, note pairs such as studuji/studuju and studují/studujou. Use the careful -uji/-ují forms in writing first, but practice recognizing the spoken forms immediately.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Personal Pronouns — learn já, ty, on/ona/ono, my, vy, and oni/ony/ona so you can match subjects to verb endings.