Dvakrát měř, jednou řež — "measure twice, cut once" — is the carpenter's advice that exists in dozens of languages, and the Czech version is a tidy little grammar lesson in four words. It contains two imperatives, two number-adverbs, and a textbook example of the consonant change that happens when you turn a verb into a command. This page reads it word by word and uses it as a gateway to forming commands and counting repetitions.
The text
Dvakrát měř, jednou řež.
A single line of advice: think before you act, because measuring is cheap and a wrong cut is permanent. Naturally: "Measure twice, cut once."
Word by word
- Dvakrát — "twice," built from dva "two" + the multiplicative suffix -krát ("times").
- měř — "measure!", the informal singular imperative of měřit "to measure."
- jednou — "once," the suppletive adverb that goes with jeden "one."
- řež — "cut!", the informal singular imperative of řezat "to cut, to saw." Note the final ž, softened from the z you see in the infinitive.
Dvakrát měř, jednou řež.
Measure twice, cut once.
Než to podepíšeš, dobře si to rozmysli — dvakrát měř, jednou řež.
Before you sign it, think it over carefully — measure twice, cut once.
Grammar in action
Building the imperative from the present stem
Czech makes the informal singular command (ty-form) not from the infinitive but from the present-tense stem. You take the third-person form, strip the personal ending, and what is left is usually the command itself. The full procedure is on the imperative formation page; here is the proverb's pair:
| Infinitive | 3rd person (on/ona) | Imperative (ty) | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| měřit | měří | měř | measure! |
| řezat | řeže | řež | cut! |
For měřit you drop the -í of měří and are left with měř. For řezat you drop the -e of řeže and are left with řež. When the leftover stem ends in a single consonant, that bare stem is the command — no extra ending needed. (You add the longer plural endings to make měřte / řežte for vy, and měřme / řežme for "let's...".)
Řež opatrně, ať se neporaníš.
Cut carefully so you don't hurt yourself.
Pospěš si, ať nezmeškáme vlak.
Hurry up so we don't miss the train.
For English speakers the surprise is that the command does not start from the dictionary form. You cannot get řež by chopping the infinitive řezat; you have to go through the present stem řež-, which already carries the consonant change.
The consonant softening in řež
That brings us to the z → ž in řež. The infinitive řezat has a hard z, but the present tense palatalises it: řežu, řežeš, řeže... — and the imperative, built on that present stem, keeps the soft ž. This kind of alternation (z/ž as here, s/š in česat → češ, k/č in péct → peč, and the softening of a final t/d/n to ť/ď/ň in platit → plať, chodit → choď) is everywhere in Czech command forms, and it is why the imperative can look surprisingly different from the infinitive. The pattern is laid out on the consonant softening in imperatives page.
Maž si chleba sám, nejsi malý.
Butter your own bread, you're not a child. (mazat → maž)
Counting repetitions: the -krát adverbs
Dvakrát and jednou are multiplicative adverbs — they count how many times something happens. Most are formed transparently by adding -krát to a cardinal number; the -á- is always long, and they are written as one word. The odd one out is "once," which is the suppletive jednou rather than the regular jedenkrát (which exists but sounds emphatic or counting-aloud).
| Number | "X times" |
|---|---|
| jeden (one) | jednou |
| dva (two) | dvakrát |
| tři (three) | třikrát |
| pět (five) | pětkrát |
| (many) | mnohokrát |
| (how many?) | kolikrát |
The cardinals dva and jeden themselves are covered on the numbers zero to four page; here they are simply the stems these adverbs are built on.
Volal jsem ti třikrát, ale nikdo to nezvedal.
I called you three times, but nobody picked up.
Byl jsem tam jen jednou a stačilo mi to.
I was there only once and that was enough for me.
Pětkrát do týdne chodím běhat.
I go running five times a week.
Kolikrát ti to mám ještě říkat?
How many times do I have to tell you?
Why imperfective? Aspect in the proverb
Both měř and řež are imperfective, and that is a deliberate choice. A proverb gives general, repeatable advice, not a one-off order — and general or habitual instructions take the imperfective. If you were telling someone to measure one specific board right now and be done, you would switch to the perfective: Změř to "measure it (and finish)" or Uřízni to "cut it off." The proverb wants the timeless, do-it-as-a-rule flavour, so it stays imperfective. The affirmative-vs-general aspect choice in commands is on the aspect in commands page.
Změř mi prosím tu poličku, než ji koupíme.
Please measure that shelf for me before we buy it. (perfective, one specific act)
Usage and culture note
Dvakrát měř, jednou řež is alive and well in everyday Czech — you will hear it from a parent watching a child rush a decision, from a colleague urging caution before sending an email, and of course in any workshop. Its rhythm is part of the charm: two stressed monosyllabic commands, měř and řež, almost rhyming, with the numbers framing them. The lesson it teaches grammatically is just as practical as its woodworking advice — to give a command in Czech, go through the present stem, mind the softened consonant, and pick your aspect according to whether you mean "as a rule" or "right now."
Common Mistakes
❌ Dva krát měř.
Incorrect — multiplicatives are written as one word: dvakrát.
✅ Dvakrát měř.
Measure twice.
❌ Jedenkrát řež.
Unidiomatic for everyday 'once' — the normal word is jednou.
✅ Jednou řež.
Cut once.
❌ Měříš dvakrát!
Incorrect — that's the present tense 'you measure', not a command; the imperative drops the ending: měř.
✅ Měř dvakrát!
Measure twice!
❌ Řezej opatrně.
Incorrect — řezat's imperative is the soft stem řež, not a -ej form.
✅ Řež opatrně.
Cut carefully.
❌ Volal jsem ti tři krát.
Incorrect — write it as one word with a long á: třikrát.
✅ Volal jsem ti třikrát.
I called you three times.
Key Takeaways
- The informal command is built from the present stem, not the infinitive: měří → měř, řeže → řež.
- Imperatives often show a softened consonant carried over from the present (řezat → řež, mazat → maž).
- -krát turns a number into "X times" (dvakrát, třikrát, pětkrát), written as one word with a long á; "once" is the irregular jednou.
- Proverbs and general advice use the imperfective (měř, řež); a single specific act would switch to the perfective (změř, uřízni).
Now practice Czech
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Start learning Czech→Related Topics
- Forming the ImperativeA2 — How Czech builds the command forms (2sg, 1pl 'let's', 2pl/polite) from the present stem, with the zero-ending, -i, and -ej patterns.
- Consonant Softening in the ImperativeB2 — Palatalization changes that appear in imperative forms.
- Imperative Aspect: Commands vs ProhibitionsB2 — Choosing perfective for requests and imperfective for prohibitions.
- Cardinal Numbers 0–4 and Nominative Plural AgreementA1 — jeden/dva/tři/čtyři, their gender forms, and why they take the nominative plural noun.
- Proverb: Mluviti stříbro, mlčeti zlatoB2 — A close reading of 'Speech is silver, silence is gold', annotated for the archaic infinitive -ti and verbless predication.