Yes/No Questions: Intonation Only | Czech Grammar

If you have ever wished a grammar point could be free, this is the one. To turn a Czech statement into a yes/no question, you do exactly nothing to the words. You take the sentence you already have and you let your voice rise at the end. That is the whole rule. Máš čas. ("You have time.") becomes Máš čas? ("Do you have time?") — the letters are identical, the word order is identical, and only the melody changes. For an English speaker this feels almost suspiciously easy, because English does so much machinery to ask a question.

The core rule: same words, rising voice

A Czech yes/no question is a statement spoken with a rising intonation contour. There is no equivalent of English do/does/did, there is no swapping the subject and verb, and you do not add any little question word. The grammar of the sentence stays put; the pitch does the work.

Mluvíš anglicky?

Do you speak English? (literally: You speak English — with rising pitch)

Přijdeš zítra?

Will you come tomorrow?

Je to daleko?

Is it far?

Compare each of these to its plain statement and you will see that nothing moved:

Statement	Yes/No Question	English
Mluvíš anglicky.	Mluvíš anglicky?	You speak English. / Do you speak English?
Přijdeš zítra.	Přijdeš zítra?	You'll come tomorrow. / Will you come tomorrow?
Je to daleko.	Je to daleko?	It's far. / Is it far?
Bydlíš tady.	Bydlíš tady?	You live here. / Do you live here?

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The only difference between a Czech statement and a yes/no question can be the punctuation mark. In writing, the question mark carries the whole signal; in speech, the rising melody does. Train your ear and your voice for that final lift — it is the entire grammar of asking.

Why Czech can do this and English cannot

English needs scaffolding to ask a question because English statement word order is rigid — subject must come before the verb, so to signal "this is a question" English either inverts (Are you...?) or props up a dummy auxiliary (Do you...?). Czech does not lean on word order to carry "question," so it has nothing to rearrange. Czech word order is already flexible and is governed by information flow rather than by sentence type, which leaves intonation free to do the asking. For a fuller picture of why the words stay in place, see Word Order in Questions, and for the melody itself see Intonation.

This is also why the most common English-speaker error here is importing English machinery that Czech simply does not have. There is no Czech word that behaves like do, and there is no inversion step.

Máte hlad?

Are you hungry? (literally: You have hunger?)

Umíš plavat?

Can you swim? / Do you know how to swim?

Je ti dobře?

Are you okay? / Are you feeling well?

Word order can shift focus — but it does not have to

Because Czech word order is flexible, you may move a word to the front to spotlight it, and the result is still a perfectly good yes/no question. Máš čas? is the neutral question. Čas máš? front-loads čas ("time") and carries a flavour like "Time — do you actually have any?" — useful when time specifically is in doubt. This reordering is an option for emphasis, never a requirement for forming the question.

Čas máš?

Do you have the time (specifically)? — emphasis on 'time'

Tady bydlíš?

Is it here that you live? — emphasis on 'here'

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If you are a beginner, just keep the statement order and let your voice rise. The fronted versions like "Čas máš?" are a stylistic tool you can pick up later; you never need them to be understood.

The colloquial tag "že"

In casual speech you will hear a tag že ("right?", "isn't it?") tacked onto the end. Přijdeš, že? means "You'll come, right?" — it is a confirmation-seeking question, not a neutral one, because it assumes the answer is probably yes. It is friendly and very common in conversation (informal). This is a tag question and is treated separately; for now, recognise it but do not confuse it with the basic intonation question.

Přijdeš, že?

You'll come, right? (informal — expecting 'yes')

Je to dobré, že jo?

It's good, isn't it? (informal, with the chatty 'že jo')

Common Mistakes

The errors here almost all come from English speakers reaching for tools their native language uses to build questions.

❌ Děláš ty mít čas?

Incorrect — invents a 'do'-helper and an extra infinitive; Czech has no do-support

✅ Máš čas?

Do you have time?

❌ Jsi ty unavený?

Awkward — forced English-style inversion with an added subject pronoun

✅ Jsi unavený?

Are you tired? (the verb form already shows 'you'; no pronoun needed)

❌ Mluvíš anglicky. (said flat, falling pitch, but meant as a question)

Incorrect intonation — with falling pitch this sounds like a statement, not a question

✅ Mluvíš anglicky?

Do you speak English? (rising pitch makes it a question)

❌ Zda máš čas?

Incorrect as a direct question — 'zda' (whether) belongs in indirect questions, not in face-to-face asking

✅ Máš čas?

Do you have time?

The takeaway: subtract, don't add. A Czech yes/no question is the statement plus rising intonation, nothing more. If you find yourself inserting a helper verb, flipping the subject and verb, or adding a pronoun "to make it a question," stop — you are speaking English with Czech words.

Key Takeaways

A yes/no question = the statement with rising intonation. The words do not change.
There is no do-support, no subject–verb inversion, and no obligatory question particle.
You may front a word (Čas máš?) to emphasise it, but this is optional styling, not the question rule.
The tag že ("right?") is a separate, confirmation-seeking construction (informal).
The single most important habit to build is the rising melody at the end — without it, your "question" lands as a statement.

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