pít / vypít — to drink (aspect pair card) | Czech Grammar

This is the aspect-pair card for "to drink." The imperfective pít describes drinking as an activity ("I'm drinking," "I drink coffee"); the perfective vypít packages it as a finished whole — you drink it up, the glass goes empty. The third member of the family, the reflexive napít se ("to have a drink, to take a sip"), governs a case English speakers never expect: the genitive. For the full paradigm of pít — the future, the complete past, the literary-versus-spoken endings — see the dedicated pít verb page; here we drill the aspect contrast.

The pair at a glance

Both verbs run on the present stem pij- — the infinitive's pí- drops its long vowel and grows a -j-. The endings are the ordinary -u / -eš / -e set.

Person	pít (impf.) — present	vypít (pf.) — future meaning
já	piju / piji	vypiju / vypiji
ty	piješ	vypiješ
on / ona / ono	pije	vypije
my	pijeme	vypijeme
vy	pijete	vypijete
oni	pijou / pijí	vypijou / vypijí

The -u / -ou forms (piju, pijou) are the everyday spoken ones (informal); the -i / -í forms (piji, pijí) are literary/written (formal). Past: pil / pila / pilo / pili / pily / pila and vypil / vypila / vypilo / vypili / vypily / vypila. Imperative: pij / pijte and vypij / vypijte.

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The whole verb hangs on the disappearing-and-reappearing stem. The infinitive pít has a long í and no j; the instant you conjugate it in the present, the í shortens and a j appears: piju, piješ, pije. The past, by contrast, drops the j again: pil, never *pijl. Present = pij-, past = pi-.

What changes with aspect

Pít leaves the drinking open — in progress, or habitual, with no endpoint. Vypít seals it: a specific drink, finished completely, the container emptied. Since vypít is perfective, its present-tense forms point to the future — "I'll drink it (all)."

Ráno piju jenom vodu, kafe až v práci.

In the morning I only drink water, coffee not until I'm at work. (habit — imperfective)

Vypij to mléko, ať nezkysne.

Drink up that milk so it doesn't go off. (finish it — perfective)

Vypil celou sklenici naráz, měl hroznou žízeň.

He drank the whole glass in one go, he was terribly thirsty.

The contrast carries straight into the past, and choosing the wrong aspect changes what you've actually said:

Na svatbě jsme pili až do rána.

At the wedding we drank until morning. (activity, no endpoint — imperfective)

Vypil jsem celou láhev minerálky, byl jsem vyprahlý.

I drank the whole bottle of mineral water, I was parched. (finished it — male speaker)

What the verbs govern: the accusative

The drink is a plain accusative object — no preposition — with both pít and vypít. (See accusative verbs.)

Co budeš pít? Máme víno, pivo i džus.

What will you drink? We've got wine, beer and juice.

Babička pije bylinkový čaj každý večer.

Grandma drinks herbal tea every evening.

napít se — to have a drink (and its genitive)

The reflexive napít se (always with se) means "to have a drink, to take a sip, to quench one's thirst." Unlike pít and vypít, it does not take an accusative — it governs the genitive, because you drink of something, a partitive amount rather than the whole. Present-future napiju se, napiješ se, napijou se; past napil se, napila se.

Napij se vody, vypadáš hrozně.

Have some water, you look awful.

Můžu se napít tvého čaje? Mám sucho v krku.

Can I have some of your tea? My throat's dry.

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The case is the trap, and it is the same one as with eating. pít / vypít take the accusative — piju vodu, vypil jsem vodu ("the water," the whole object). But napít se takes the genitive — napiju se vody ("some water," a partitive amount). That genitive does real work: it signals "some of, a portion," which is exactly what "have a drink" means. More on this at the partitive genitive.

The imperative: pij vs vypij

The imperatives split by aspect too, and the difference is worth hearing. The imperfective pij / pijte is an open instruction — "drink, keep drinking, do drink (regularly)" — the kind of thing a doctor or a parent says about a habit. The perfective vypij / vypijte is "drink it up, finish it" — one bounded act ending in an empty glass.

Pij hodně vody, je hrozné vedro.

Drink lots of water, it's terribly hot out. (general advice — imperfective)

Vypij to do dna, ať můžeme jít.

Drink it down to the bottom so we can go. (finish it — perfective)

When you offer someone a sip, the reflexive imperative napij se is the friendly "have a drink," and it keeps its genitive:

Napij se trochu čaje, zahřeje tě to.

Have a bit of tea, it'll warm you up.

Common mistakes

❌ Pím vodu.

Wrong stem — there is no form pím; the present runs on pij-.

✅ Piju vodu.

I drink water.

The single most common error: conjugating off the infinitive's pí-. The present stem has the j — piju, never pím.

❌ Napiju se vodu.

Wrong case — napít se governs the genitive, not the accusative.

✅ Napiju se vody.

I'll have some water.

After the reflexive napít se, the drink goes in the genitive (vody), the partitive "some of." An accusative vodu would be the case for pít / vypít, not for napít se.

❌ Vypiju se kávu.

Wrong — vypít is not reflexive and takes no se.

✅ Vypiju kávu.

I'll finish the coffee.

Keep the two perfectives apart: vypít (accusative, no se) for finishing a whole drink; napít se (genitive, with se) for having some.

❌ Pořád vypiju kafe, jsem na něm závislý.

Aspect clash — a habit can't be perfective.

✅ Pořád piju kafe, jsem na něm závislý.

I drink coffee all the time, I'm addicted to it. (male speaker)

A recurring habit ("all the time") demands the imperfective piju. The perfective vypiju means one specific drink finished off, which can't describe an ongoing habit.

Key takeaways

pít = imperfective (drinking as activity or habit); vypít = perfective (drink it up, finish a specific drink).
Present stem is pij- (a j appears): piju/piji, piješ, pije, pijeme, pijete, pijou/pijí; the past drops the j: pil.
Both pít and vypít take the accusative for the drink.
napít se (reflexive) = "have a drink / take a sip" and governs the genitive (napiju se vody).
For the complete pít paradigm (future, full past, spoken vs literary forms), see the pít verb page.

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