"To answer" is the aspect pair odpovídat / odpovědět. The imperfective odpovídat describes answering as a process or a habit ("she never answers my emails"); the perfective odpovědět is one completed reply ("I'll answer you in a minute"). The conjugation is the trap here: the two halves belong to completely different verb classes. Odpovídat is a textbook-regular Class V (-á-) verb, but odpovědět is athematic — it conjugates exactly like vědět ("to know"), so its present is odpovím, odpovíš, odpoví rather than the -ám forms you might expect. Get that asymmetry into your ear and the rest follows.
The two halves, side by side
| Person | odpovídat (impf.) — present | odpovědět (pf.) — future meaning |
|---|---|---|
| já | odpovídám | odpovím |
| ty | odpovídáš | odpovíš |
| on / ona / ono | odpovídá | odpoví |
| my | odpovídáme | odpovíme |
| vy | odpovídáte | odpovíte |
| oni | odpovídají | odpovědí |
Notice how the perfective tracks vědět at every step: vím → odpovím, víš → odpovíš, ví → odpoví, and in the third-person plural vědí → odpovědí (here the long stem -ovědí reappears). This is the same athematic conjugation covered for the athematic verbs; learning one gives you the other for free.
What the verb governs: dative person + na + accusative topic
This is where English speakers slip. You answer someone in the dative, and you answer a question with na + accusative:
- the person you answer → dative (odpovědět komu?)
- the question or letter you answer → na
- accusative (odpovědět na co?)
Odpovím ti na tu otázku hned, jak najdu ten dokument.
I'll answer your question as soon as I find the document.
Here ti is the dative of ty ("you"), and na tu otázku is na + accusative ("that question"). The dative person puts odpovídat in the large family of dative-governing verbs — the same case you use for pomáhat ("help"), věřit ("believe") and děkovat ("thank").
Pořád mi neodpovídá na zprávy, asi má moc práce.
He still isn't answering my messages, he's probably too busy.
The imperfective neodpovídá signals a repeated, ongoing non-answering; mi is the dative ("to me"), na zprávy the na + accusative topic.
Na e-mail od šéfa jsem zatím neodpověděl.
I haven't answered the boss's email yet. (male speaker)
The past tense
Both halves form the past from the l-participle plus the present-tense auxiliary, agreeing with the subject in gender and number.
| Subject | odpovídat | odpovědět |
|---|---|---|
| on (masc. sg.) | odpovídal | odpověděl |
| ona (fem. sg.) | odpovídala | odpověděla |
| ono (neut. sg.) | odpovídalo | odpovědělo |
| oni (masc. anim. pl.) | odpovídali | odpověděli |
| ony (fem. / inanim. pl.) | odpovídaly | odpověděly |
| ona (neut. pl.) | odpovídala | odpověděla |
Odpověděla mi až za týden.
She didn't answer me until a week later.
Děti odpovídaly na otázky učitelky jedno přes druhé.
The children were answering the teacher's questions all at once.
Note the neuter-plural ending: with the neuter plural subject auta or města the participle would end in -a (odpovídala, odpověděla), never -y — a spelling distinction Czech keeps even though it sounds identical to the feminine.
The imperative
The imperatives are worth memorizing separately, because the perfective is irregular. Imperfective odpovídej / odpovídejte is built regularly from the stem; perfective odpověz / odpovězte inherits the athematic imperative of vědět (věz → odpověz).
Odpověz mi, prosím tě, nemůžu čekat celý den.
Answer me, please, I can't wait all day.
Neodpovídej mu, on tě jen provokuje.
Don't answer him, he's just provoking you.
The perfective odpověz ("give me an answer now") is the everyday command for a single reply; the negated imperative naturally uses the imperfective neodpovídej ("don't keep answering / don't answer"), following the general rule that prohibitions take the imperfective.
odpovídat za — to be responsible for
The imperfective has a second life that the perfective does not share: odpovídat za + accusative means "to be responsible / answerable for." Here there is no perfective partner and no idea of replying — it is a fixed lexical use.
Za bezpečnost na stavbě odpovídá vedoucí.
The site manager is responsible for safety on the construction site.
Každý odpovídá za své činy.
Everyone is responsible for their own actions.
You can hear the metaphor underneath: to be responsible for something is to be the one who will have to "answer for" it. English uses the same image ("answer for your actions"), which makes this collocation easy to remember.
Common mistakes
❌ Odpovídám po e-mail.
Incorrect preposition — you answer na + accusative, not po.
✅ Odpovídám na e-mail.
I'm answering the email.
The topic you answer is introduced by na + accusative. There is no po here.
❌ Odpovím tě na otázku.
Incorrect case — the person answered is dative, not accusative.
✅ Odpovím ti na otázku.
I'll answer your question.
The person you answer stands in the dative (ti), not the accusative (tě). English "answer you" hides the indirect object; Czech makes it explicit.
❌ Zítra ti odpovídám.
Incorrect aspect — one future reply needs the perfective.
✅ Zítra ti odpovím.
I'll answer you tomorrow.
For a single reply at a definite future point, use the perfective present odpovím. The imperfective odpovídám describes the present moment or a habit, not a one-off future event.
❌ Neodpověděli se mi, tak jsem se jich znovu zeptal.
Incorrect — odpovědět takes no reflexive se; don't copy it from zeptat se.
✅ Neodpověděli mi, tak jsem se jich znovu zeptal.
They didn't answer me, so I asked them again.
Its partner verb ptát se / zeptat se ("to ask") carries an obligatory se, but odpovídat / odpovědět takes no reflexive — don't copy the se across.
Key takeaways
- odpovídat = imperfective (repeated/ongoing answering); odpovědět = perfective (one completed reply).
- The perfective is athematic, conjugating like vědět: odpovím, odpovíš, odpoví, … odpovědí. The imperfective is a plain Class V verb: odpovídám.
- Government: dative person
- na
- accusative topic — Odpovím ti na otázku.
- na
- Imperatives: imperfective odpovídej, perfective odpověz.
- odpovídat za
- accusative = "to be responsible for" — imperfective only, a separate lexical meaning.
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