Mít (to Have) in Czech

In Brief

The Czech verb mít means “to have.” Its present-tense forms are mám, máš, má, máme, máte, mají: Mám psa means “I have a dog,” and Máš čas? means “Do you have time?” Czech often leaves out the subject pronoun, and it makes questions without English do: simply say Máš…?, not the equivalent of “Do you have…?”

Overview

Mít is one of the essential Czech verbs introduced at A1. You use it to talk about possessions, family, time, plans, problems, and many physical or emotional states: mít auto (“to have a car”), mít sestru (“to have a sister”), mít čas (“to have time”), and mít hlad (“to be hungry”). It is irregular enough that its six present forms are worth learning as a complete set.

English and Czech often use “have” in the same situations, but not always. Czech uses mít in several expressions where English uses be, such as mít pravdu (“to be right”). In the other direction, English uses “have” as a helping verb in “I have seen,” but Czech does not: Viděl jsem means “I saw” or “I have seen.” Learning mít therefore means learning both its conjugation and the common phrases built around it.

The verb normally takes an object in the accusative case (the form used for the person or thing directly affected by a verb). Sometimes that form looks unchanged, as in mám čas; sometimes the ending changes, as in mám kávu or mám psa. You can begin by memorizing whole phrases and study the case patterns in more detail as your Czech develops.

How It Works

Present-tense forms

Mít is the infinitive (the dictionary form, equivalent to English “to have”). Its present conjugation is:

Person	Czech pronoun	Form	Basic meaning
1st person singular	já	mám	I have
2nd person singular	ty	máš	you have, informal singular
3rd person singular	on / ona / ono	má	he / she / it has
1st person plural	my	máme	we have
2nd person plural	vy	máte	you have, plural or formal
3rd person plural	oni / ony / ona	mají	they have

The long vowels matter: mám, máš, má, máme, máte all contain á, while mají has í. The infinitive itself has long í: mít.

Czech usually omits a subject pronoun when the verb ending already makes the subject clear:

• Mám čas. — “I have time.”
• Máme problém. — “We have a problem.”
• Mají dvě děti. — “They have two children.”

Use the pronoun when you need contrast or emphasis: Já mám čas, ale Petr ne (“I have time, but Petr does not”).

Informal and formal “you”

Use ty máš with one person you address informally. Use vy máte with more than one person and also with one person in a formal or respectful relationship. In letters and messages, formal Vy/Váš may be capitalized as a sign of respect, but the verb remains máte.

• Máš dnes čas? — to a friend: “Do you have time today?”
• Máte rezervaci? — to guests or politely to one guest: “Do you have a reservation?”

Objects after mít

What someone has is normally the direct object (the person or thing following the action directly), so Czech puts it in the accusative case. English nouns do not usually change here, but Czech nouns may.

Dictionary form	After mít	Example	English
káva	kávu	Mám kávu.	I have coffee.
sestra	sestru	Mám sestru.	I have a sister.
pes	psa	Mám psa.	I have a dog.
auto	auto	Má auto.	He/She has a car.
čas	čas	Máme čas.	We have time.

The change from pes to psa reflects an important Czech pattern: masculine animate nouns (male people and animals) often use a special accusative form. Do not try to solve every case rule while speaking. Learn useful chunks such as mám psa, mám otázku, and máme problém.

Czech has no indefinite article corresponding to English “a/an.” That is why Mám psa literally contains only “have + dog,” even though the natural English translation is “I have a dog.”

Negation

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

Positive	Negative	Meaning
mám	nemám	I do not have
máš	nemáš	you do not have
má	nemá	he/she/it does not have
máme	nemáme	we do not have
máte	nemáte	you do not have
mají	nemají	they do not have

For example, Nemám auto means “I do not have a car.” A noun after a negated verb normally stays in the accusative in contemporary Czech: Nemám kávu (“I do not have coffee”).

Questions and short answers

A yes/no question can have the same word order as a statement. Your voice rises in speech, and writing uses a question mark:

• Máš čas? — “Do you have time?”
• Má Jana auto? — “Does Jana have a car?”
• Máte děti? — “Do you have children?”

Do not add a word corresponding to English do/does. With a question word, place that information near the beginning: Co máš? (“What do you have?”), Kolik máte času? (“How much time do you have?”), Proč máš strach? (“Why are you afraid?”).

Natural short answers often repeat the verb:

• Máš čas? — Ano, mám. — “Do you have time? — Yes, I do.”
• Máte rezervaci? — Ne, nemáme. — “Do you have a reservation? — No, we don’t.”

English answers with “do”; Czech answers with the relevant form of mít.

High-frequency expressions

Many combinations with mít should be learned as complete units rather than translated word by word.

Czech expression	Natural English meaning
mít pravdu	to be right
mít hlad / žízeň	to be hungry / thirsty
mít strach	to be afraid
mít radost	to be glad; to be pleased
mít štěstí / smůlu	to be lucky / unlucky
mít čas	to have time
mít problém / otázku	to have a problem / question
mít chuť na něco	to feel like something; to have a taste for something
mít zájem o něco	to be interested in something
mít rád / ráda něco nebo někoho	to like something or someone

In mít rád, the form of rád describes the subject. A male speaker says Mám rád kávu; a female speaker says Mám ráda kávu. In the plural you will later meet forms such as rádi and rády. At A1, learn the singular form that matches you and recognize the other one.

Examples in Context

Czech	English	Note
Mám psa.	I have a dog.	Pes changes to accusative psa.
Máš čas?	Do you have time?	Informal singular question; no equivalent of “do.”
Máme problém.	We have a problem.	The subject pronoun my is unnecessary.
Má pravdu.	He/She is right.	Literally “has truth”; the subject comes from context.
Jana má novou práci.	Jana has a new job.	Feminine práce has the accusative form práci.
Máte rezervaci?	Do you have a reservation?	Plural or polite singular you.
Nemám dnes čas.	I don’t have time today.	Negation is attached to the verb.
Petr nemá auto.	Petr doesn’t have a car.	Czech does not use “doesn’t.”
Máme dvě děti.	We have two children.	A common way to talk about family.
Mají velký dům.	They have a large house.	Third-person plural mají.
Máš hlad, nebo žízeň?	Are you hungry or thirsty?	Czech uses mít, unlike English.
Mám strach z výšek.	I’m afraid of heights.	Fixed expression mít strach z….
Dnes máme štěstí.	We’re lucky today.	Literally “we have luck.”
Mám chuť na kávu.	I feel like having coffee.	Na introduces what you feel like.
Mám rád české filmy.	I like Czech films.	A male speaker; a female speaker says ráda.

Common Mistakes

Using the infinitive instead of a conjugated form

• Wrong: Já mít čas.
• Right: Mám čas.
• Why: A statement needs a form that matches its subject. Mít is only the dictionary form; with já, use mám.

Keeping one form for every person

• Wrong: My má problém.
• Right: My máme problém. / Máme problém.
• Why: The ending identifies the subject. Use má for one third-person subject, but máme for “we.”

Copying English do/does into questions or negatives

• Wrong: Děláš mít čas? or Děláš máš čas?
• Right: Máš čas?
• Why: Czech does not use dělat (“to do”) as a question helper. The conjugated verb and question intonation are enough.

Leaving the object in its dictionary form

• Wrong: Mám sestra.
• Right: Mám sestru.
• Why: The thing or person possessed is normally in the accusative. Feminine nouns ending in -a commonly change that ending to -u.

Translating every English “have” with mít

• Wrong: Mám viděl ten film.
• Right: Viděl jsem ten film. (male speaker) / Viděla jsem ten film. (female speaker)
• Why: In “I have seen,” English have is a helping verb, not possession. Czech forms the past tense differently and does not use mít there.

Using mít for age

• Wrong: Mám třicet let.
• Right: Je mi třicet let. / Je mi třicet.
• Why: Standard Czech expresses age with a construction that literally resembles “to me is thirty,” not with mít. This differs from both English “I am thirty” and languages that say “I have thirty years.”

Usage Notes

Word order changes the focus

Czech word order is flexible, but neutral beginner sentences often put the subject first when it is stated, then the verb, then the object: Petr má auto. Because the verb ending identifies the subject, Má auto can mean “He/She has a car” when the person is already known.

Moving an item can highlight or contrast it. Čas mám, ale peníze ne means roughly “Time I do have, but money I don’t.” This is not a new conjugation rule; it is a way of organizing information. Use neutral order until you have heard enough Czech to control the emphasis naturally.

Possession is broader than ownership

Mít can describe legal ownership, a temporary item in your possession, a relationship, or an experience:

• Mám byt. — “I have an apartment.”
• Mám tvoje klíče. — “I have your keys.”
• Mám bratra. — “I have a brother.”
• Mám schůzku. — “I have an appointment.”

For explicit legal ownership, Czech can use vlastnit (“to own”), but it sounds narrower and more formal. In normal conversation, mít is usually the natural choice.

Some English “be” expressions use mít—but not all

The expressions mít hlad, mít žízeň, mít pravdu, and mít strach all use mít. However, do not assume that every English adjective maps to mít. For “I am cold,” standard Czech says Je mi zima, not a normal mít expression. Treat each high-frequency phrase as a unit.

Mít rád is the everyday verb for liking

Mám rád Prahu means “I like Prague,” not “I have Prague gladly.” The object still takes the accusative, and rád/ráda matches the subject. For loving a person or strongly loving something, Czech also has milovat, but mít rád is extremely common and often warmer or less dramatic in everyday speech.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master the following forms at A1, but they show how this basic verb develops later.

Past, future, and conditional

The past tense uses měl and forms that change for gender and number, together with a form of “to be” in the first and second persons:

• Měl jsem čas. — “I had time.” (male speaker)
• Měla jsem čas. — “I had time.” (female speaker)
• Měli jsme problém. — “We had a problem.”

The future is regular: budu mít, budeš mít, bude mít, budeme mít, budete mít, budou mít. For example, Zítra budu mít čas means “I will have time tomorrow.” The conditional měl bych / měla bych often means “I should” or, depending on context, “I would have”: Měl bych odejít (“I should leave”).

Mít can express an expectation or assigned action

With another infinitive, mít can mean “to be supposed to” or “to be expected to,” rather than possession:

• Co mám dělat? — “What am I supposed to do?”
• Vlak má přijet v šest. — “The train is supposed to arrive at six.”
• Máš zavolat doktorovi. — “You are supposed to call the doctor.”

This is not the ordinary English “have to” of strong necessity. For “I have to leave” in the sense “I must leave,” Czech normally uses muset: Musím odejít. Context can bring the meanings close, but beginners should keep mám něco udělat (“I am supposed to do something”) separate from musím něco udělat (“I must do something”).

Useful later forms

The imperative (command form) is měj, mějme, mějte. You will hear it in Měj se! and polite or plural Mějte se!, common informal ways to say “Take care!” or “Bye!”

The related verb mívat means “to tend to have” or “to have regularly”: V pondělí mívám hodně práce (“I tend to have a lot of work on Mondays”). It presents possession or an experience as repeated rather than simply true now.

Practice Tips

1. Learn the six forms as a rhythm: mám, máš, má; máme, máte, mají. Then cover the table and produce a form from a random pronoun. Pay attention to the long-vowel marks.
2. Build short question-and-answer pairs: Máš čas? — Ano, mám. Máte auto? — Ne, nemáme. This trains conjugation, negation, and the absence of English do at the same time.
3. Keep an expression list, not only a word list: record mít hlad, mít pravdu, mít rád, and mít chuť na… with a complete personal example. Also record one contrasting non-mít phrase, such as Je mi zima or Je mi třicet, so that English does not choose the Czech structure for you.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Personal Pronouns — helps you connect já, ty, on/ona, my, vy, and oni/ony with the correct form of mít.