Dialogue: Making Plans

Three short lines of small talk hide the single most important fork in the Czech verb system: there are two completely different ways to talk about the future, and they are not interchangeable. One is built with the auxiliary budu; the other is just a present-tense form that happens to point forward. Getting this right is what separates a learner who "knows the future tense" from one who actually sounds Czech. The same exchange also drills a destination phrase (do kina) and the pronoun trap se mnou.

The text

— Co budeš dělat zítra? — Půjdu do kina. Nechceš jít se mnou?

"What are you doing tomorrow? — I'm going to the cinema. Don't you want to come with me?" Two speakers arranging an evening — and three different future-referring verb forms in barely a dozen words.

Word by word

Grammar in action 1: budeš dělat — the imperfective future

Budeš dělat is the imperfective future, and it is built exactly like English "will be doing": the future of být (budu, budeš, bude, budeme, budete, budou) plus an imperfective infinitive. This construction describes a future that is ongoing, habitual, or open-ended — an activity viewed as a process, with no built-in finish line. "What will you be up to tomorrow?" is open-ended by nature, so the imperfective is exactly right.

The full pattern is on the imperfective future with budu.

Grammar in action 2: udělám — the perfective present that means future

Now the twist that has no English equivalent. A perfective verb has no separate future tense at all. Its present-tense form already means the future, because a perfective verb describes a single, completed whole, and you can't be "in the middle of" completing something right now — so the only place it can point is forward.

So dělat (imperfective) → budu dělat "I'll be doing," but its perfective partner udělat → just udělám "I'll do / I'll get done." You must never put budu in front of a perfective verb.

How aspect steers the choice of future form is treated on aspect in the future and choosing the future form.

Grammar in action 3: půjdu — the special future of motion verbs

So which bucket does půjdu fall into? Neither, quite. Jít ("to go on foot") is an imperfective verb, yet you do not say budu jít for a single planned trip. Motion verbs like jít and jet form their future with the prefix po- (which fuses with jít into pů-), giving a form that looks like an ordinary present conjugation but means the future — exactly the way a perfective present does.

This is genuinely a special case worth memorising on its own — there's no logical shortcut, you just learn that jít → půjdu and jet → pojedu are the futures, sitting apart from both the budu future and the regular perfective present.

These forms have their own page: the motion futures půjdu and pojedu covers how a present-looking form carries future meaning.

Grammar in action 4: do kina — destination in the genitive

Do ("to, into") is one of the most common genitive prepositions, and it marks the destination you're heading into or to. Kino ("cinema") is neuter, its genitive singular is kina, so do kina = "to the cinema." The same frame gives you do školy (to school), do práce (to work), do Prahy (to Prague), do města (into town).

Grammar in action 5: se mnou — the long pronoun after a preposition

The invitation ends with se mnou ("with me"), and there are two things going on. First, já ("I/me") has a special long form mě/mně — but after a preposition it becomes mnou in the instrumental. Second, the preposition s picks up an extra vowel before this awkward consonant cluster and becomes se: hence se mnou, never s mnou. After a preposition you always reach for the full, stressed pronoun, never a short clitic.

Notice the n- that appears after a preposition (s ním, s ní, s nimi) — third-person pronouns grow an n- whenever a preposition precedes them. That whole pattern is on pronoun n-forms after prepositions.

Grammar in action 6: Nechceš…? — the polite negative invitation

English makes offers by going negative: "Won't you join us?", "Wouldn't you like a coffee?" Czech does exactly the same. Nechceš jít se mnou? is literally "Don't you want to go with me?", but it functions as a warm, low-pressure invitation, not a real negative question. Phrasing the offer in the negative hands the other person an easy out, which is precisely what makes it polite.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• Imperfective future = budu + infinitive (budu dělat): an ongoing or open-ended activity.
• Perfective future = the bare present form (udělám, zavolám): a single completed result. Never budu udělat.
• Motion verbs get a special po- future: jít → půjdu, jet → pojedu. Not budu jít for one trip.
• do + genitive marks a destination: do kina, do práce, do Prahy.
• After a preposition use the long pronoun, and watch the vocalised preposition: se mnou, not s mnou.
• A negative question (Nechceš…?) is a standard polite invitation, just like English "Won't you…?"