A-Class Conjugation in Czech

In Brief

A common Czech present-tense pattern uses the endings -ám, -áš, -á, -áme, -áte, -ají: dělám, děláš, dělá, děláme, děláte, dělají. It is used by everyday verbs such as dělat (“to do; to make”), volat (“to call”), and čekat (“to wait”). The ending usually makes the subject clear, so Czech often leaves out words such as já (“I”) and my (“we”).

Overview

A conjugation is a set of changes to a verb that shows who performs the action. English has “I call” but “she calls”; Czech gives each grammatical person—the speaker, the listener, or somebody else—its own ending. Learning those endings lets you turn the dictionary form dělat into useful forms such as dělám (“I do” or “I am doing”) and děláte (“you do” or “you are doing”).

This is a core A1 pattern because it appears in many ordinary situations: making coffee, calling somebody, waiting for a bus, looking for a hotel, or asking what another person is doing. The infinitive (the dictionary form, usually translated with English “to”) of the main model verbs ends in -at: dělat, volat, čekat.

The most important contrast with English is that Czech does not build a separate progressive form with “be” plus “-ing.” Depending on the situation, čekám can mean either “I wait” or “I am waiting.” Czech also does not use an auxiliary like English “do” to make present-tense questions or negatives: Voláš? means “Are you calling?” and Nevoláš? means “Aren’t you calling?”

How It Works

The six basic forms

With the model verb dělat, remove the infinitive ending -at to get děl-, then add the endings below. A stem is simply the part of the verb to which an ending is attached.

Person	Subject pronoun	Ending	Form of dělat	Usual English equivalent
1st person singular	já	-ám	dělám	I do / I am doing
2nd person singular	ty	-áš	děláš	you do / you are doing
3rd person singular	on, ona, ono	-á	dělá	he/she/it does / is doing
1st person plural	my	-áme	děláme	we do / we are doing
2nd person plural	vy	-áte	děláte	you do / you are doing
3rd person plural	oni, ony, ona	-ají	dělají	they do / they are doing

Singular means one person or thing, while plural means more than one. The Czech pronouns show the forms clearly, but they are not normally required in every sentence.

The long vowel marks matter. Compare -á in dělá, -áme in děláme, and -áte in děláte. The plural form dělají ends in -ají, not -áji or -ají́.

Three model verbs

The same endings attach regularly to the stems děl-, vol-, and ček-.

Person	dělat (do, make)	volat (call)	čekat (wait)
já	dělám	volám	čekám
ty	děláš	voláš	čekáš
on/ona/ono	dělá	volá	čeká
my	děláme	voláme	čekáme
vy	děláte	voláte	čekáte
oni/ony/ona	dělají	volají	čekají

Other useful verbs following this pattern include hledat (“to look for”), poslouchat (“to listen to”), zpívat (“to sing”), snídat (“to have breakfast”), dávat (“to give”), říkat (“to say; to tell”), and ptát se (“to ask”). Their forms include hledám, posloucháš, zpívá, snídáme, dáváte, říkají, and ptám se.

This is a pattern to learn, not a rule for every infinitive ending in -at or -át. For example, psát (“to write”) has píšu, and brát (“to take”) has beru. Pracovat (“to work”) also belongs to another pattern: pracuji/pracuju. When learning a new verb, it is useful to record its first-person singular form along with its infinitive.

Leaving out the subject pronoun

Because every form has a recognizable ending, Czech commonly omits the subject (the person or thing doing the action) when context makes it clear:

• Dělám večeři. — “I’m making dinner.”
• Čekáme venku. — “We’re waiting outside.”
• Volají každý den. — “They call every day.”

Adding a pronoun often creates emphasis or contrast: Já čekám, ale ty odcházíš means “I’m waiting, but you’re leaving.” English normally requires “I” and “you”; Czech can let the endings carry that information.

Informal, plural, and formal “you”

Use ty and the -áš form for one person addressed informally: Voláš Petrovi? (“Are you calling Petr?”). Use vy and the -áte form for more than one listener: Čekáte na mě? (“Are you all waiting for me?”).

Czech also uses vy with the plural verb form when speaking politely to one person: Čekáte, pane Nováku? (“Are you waiting, Mr Novák?”). The sentence alone may not reveal whether vy means one person politely or several people; the situation usually does.

Negatives and questions

To negate one of these verbs, put ne- directly before the whole verb form:

Positive	Negative	Meaning
dělám	nedělám	I do not do / I am not doing
voláš	nevoláš	you do not call / you are not calling
čeká	nečeká	he/she is not waiting
hledáme	nehledáme	we are not looking for

There is no equivalent of English “do not” before the verb. The person ending stays in place: ne + ček + áme → nečekáme.

A yes/no question can have the same word order as a statement and be marked by intonation and a question mark: Čekáte na autobus? (“Are you waiting for the bus?”). A question word comes where the meaning requires it: Co děláš? (“What are you doing?”), Na koho čekáte? (“Who are you waiting for?”).

The words around the verb

Knowing the ending does not automatically tell you which form the following noun or pronoun needs. Czech uses cases—changes in a noun, adjective, or pronoun that show its role in the sentence. At A1, it is best to learn common verbs together with their typical partners:

• dělat něco — to do/make something: Dělám večeři.
• volat někomu — to call someone: Volám Petrovi.
• čekat na někoho / něco — to wait for someone/something: Čekáme na autobus.
• ptát se někoho — to ask someone: Ptám se učitele.

These surrounding forms belong to wider Czech case grammar; they do not change the -ám/-áš conjugation itself.

Examples in Context

Czech	English	Note
Dělám to.	I’m doing it.	1st person singular; no subject pronoun needed
Co děláš o víkendu?	What do you do at the weekend?	2nd person singular, informal
Anna dělá kávu.	Anna is making coffee.	3rd person singular
Děláme večeři.	We’re making dinner.	1st person plural
Děláte chyby.	You make mistakes.	Plural or polite “you,” according to context
Dělají chyby.	They make mistakes.	3rd person plural
Voláš mi?	Are you calling me?	mi identifies the recipient
Večer voláme rodičům.	We call our parents in the evening.	A repeated action
Proč nevoláte?	Why aren’t you calling?	Negative 2nd person plural/formal
Čekám před hotelem.	I’m waiting in front of the hotel.	Ongoing action in the present
Čekáme na autobus.	We’re waiting for the bus.	čekat na + the thing awaited
Na koho čekají?	Who are they waiting for?	Question with na koho
Hledáš klíče?	Are you looking for the keys?	Another verb with the same endings
Ráno snídáme doma.	We have breakfast at home in the morning.	Habitual present
Posloucháte českou hudbu?	Do you listen to Czech music?	Plural or polite “you”

The English translation depends on context. Ráno snídáme doma describes a routine, so the simple present is natural. Čekám před hotelem describes what is happening now, so English prefers the progressive “I’m waiting.” Czech uses the same present-tense form in both situations.

Common Mistakes

Using one unchanged form for every subject

• Wrong: Já dělá kávu.
• Right: Já dělám kávu.
• Why: Czech does not use one base form for most persons as English often does. The speaker “I” requires -ám.

Adding an English-style form of “be”

• Wrong: Jsem dělám večeři.
• Right: Dělám večeři.
• Why: Czech does not combine jsem (“I am”) with a present-tense verb to express “I am doing.” Dělám alone can describe an action happening now.

Building a negative with a separate word

• Wrong: Ne děláme to.
• Right: Neděláme to.
• Why: The negative prefix ne- is written as part of the verb.

Treating every verb in -at or -át as regular here

• Wrong: Já psám e-mail.
• Right: Píšu e-mail.
• Why: Psát does not follow the -ám/-áš pattern. Learn a new verb’s present form rather than guessing from the infinitive alone.

Using the singular informal form for polite address

• Wrong: Čekáš, paní Nováková?
• Right: Čekáte, paní Nováková?
• Why: Polite singular address uses vy grammar and therefore the -áte form.

Forgetting a verb’s usual partner

• Wrong: Čekáme autobus.
• Right: Čekáme na autobus.
• Why: Czech normally uses čekat na for “wait for.” Learning only čekám without na can lead to an English-shaped sentence.

Usage Notes

One Czech present, two common English translations

These forms cover both regular habits and actions in progress. Volám babičce každý pátek means “I call my grandmother every Friday,” while Teď volám babičce means “I’m calling my grandmother now.” Time expressions such as každý pátek (“every Friday”) and teď (“now”) often make the intended reading clear.

Pronouns sound marked when they are unnecessary

Repeating já, ty, my, vy in every sentence is grammatical in many contexts, but it can sound heavy or overly contrastive. A natural answer to Co děláš? is simply Čekám na autobus, not necessarily Já čekám na autobus. Keep the pronoun when correcting someone or drawing a contrast: Ne, já čekám na vlak (“No, I’m waiting for a train”).

Spoken and written forms

In informal Common Czech, especially in Bohemia, learners may hear shortened third-person plural forms such as dělaj or volaj. Standard Czech uses dělají and volají, which are the safe forms for writing, school, work, and careful speech. Recognize the colloquial forms, but use the standard -ají pattern while building your foundation.

In direct formal correspondence, Vy may be capitalized as a sign of respect. Capitalization does not affect the verb: Vy čekáte still takes -áte.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master verbal aspect at A1, but it explains an important later contrast. Aspect shows whether a Czech verb presents an action as an ongoing or repeated process, or as a complete result. The model verbs dělat, volat, čekat are imperfective (process-focused), so their present forms normally refer to the present.

Related perfective verbs can keep the same visible endings but refer to a completed event in the future:

Imperfective present	Meaning	Perfective future meaning	Meaning
dělám	I do / I am doing	udělám	I will do / complete
volám	I call / I am calling	zavolám	I will call
čekám	I wait / I am waiting	počkám	I will wait for a while

Thus Dělám to teď means “I’m doing it now,” but Udělám to zítra means “I’ll do it tomorrow.” The form udělám looks like an ordinary -ám present form, yet its perfective meaning points to a completed future action. This is not an exception to the endings; it is an interaction between conjugation and aspect.

Reflexive verbs add se or si, small words that form part of the verb’s dictionary entry. Ptát se follows the same endings: ptám se, ptáš se, ptá se, ptáme se, ptáte se, ptají se. The reflexive word usually occupies an early, unstressed position in the sentence: Ptám se učitele (“I’m asking the teacher”), but Dnes se ptám učitele (“Today I’m asking the teacher”). Its placement is a separate topic from choosing the person ending.

You will also meet verbs whose spelling or stem changes across their present forms. The safest long-term vocabulary habit is to learn at least three pieces together: the infinitive, the first-person singular, and the third-person plural—for example, dělat – dělám – dělají. Those forms quickly reveal whether a new verb belongs to this pattern.

Practice Tips

1. Build a six-line pattern from one real situation. Conjugate čekat as čekám, čekáš, čeká, čekáme, čekáte, čekají, then make two useful sentences such as Čekám venku and Čekáte na autobus? Saying forms in a meaningful phrase is more memorable than reciting endings alone.
2. Practice English pairs with one Czech form. Match both “I call every day” and “I’m calling now” to volám, adding každý den or teď. This prevents the common mistake of trying to construct an English-style progressive tense.
3. Record verbs as a three-part set. Write hledat – hledám – hledají, not just hledat. Mark verbs such as psát – píšu – píšou/píší separately so that a familiar-looking infinitive does not tempt you into the wrong pattern.

Related Concepts

• Next step: Negation — expands the use of ne- with verbs and other Czech words.
• Next step: Past Tense — shows how Czech talks about completed and ongoing actions in the past.
• Next step: Reflexive Verbs — explains verbs such as ptát se and the placement of se/si.
• Later topic: Imperative Mood — teaches command forms built from Czech verb stems.