This is the conjugation card for pomáhat / pomoci ("to help"), a verb you reach for constantly — offering a hand, asking for one, calling for help in an emergency. Two things make it worth a dedicated page. First, the two aspect partners conjugate in completely different shapes: the imperfective pomáhat is a tame regular verb, while the perfective pomoci runs the same h/ž velar alternation as moci — unsurprising, since pomoci is just moci with the prefix po-. Second, the government trips up every English speaker: the person you help goes in the dative, not the accusative.
The two paradigms, side by side
pomáhat is the imperfective — helping as an ongoing, repeated, or habitual action. It is a perfectly regular Class V (-á-) verb, conjugated exactly like dělat. pomoci / pomoct is the perfective — one completed act of helping — built on the velar stem; as with every perfective, its present-shaped forms carry future meaning.
| Person | pomáhat (impf.) — present | pomoci (pf.) — future meaning |
|---|---|---|
| já | pomáhám | pomůžu / pomohu |
| ty | pomáháš | pomůžeš |
| on / ona / ono | pomáhá | pomůže |
| my | pomáháme | pomůžeme |
| vy | pomáháte | pomůžete |
| oni / ony / ona | pomáhají | pomůžou / pomohou |
In the perfective, the colloquial ž-forms (pomůžu, pomůžou) dominate speech, while the literary h-forms (pomohu, pomohou) appear in writing — exactly the split you know from moci. The four middle forms (pomůžeš, pomůže, pomůžeme, pomůžete) are the same in both registers.
| Form | pomáhat (impf.) | pomoci (pf.) |
|---|---|---|
| infinitive | pomáhat | pomoci / pomoct |
| past (m. / f. / n.) | pomáhal / pomáhala / pomáhalo | pomohl / pomohla / pomohlo |
| past (anim. / fem. / neut. pl.) | pomáhali / pomáhaly / pomáhala | pomohli / pomohly / pomohla |
| future | budu pomáhat | pomůžu (no budu) |
| imperative | pomáhej / pomáhejme / pomáhejte | pomoz / pomozme / pomozte |
O víkendu pomáhám tátovi na zahradě.
At weekends I help my dad in the garden. (impf. — habitual)
Neboj, pomůžu ti, není to těžké.
Don't worry, I'll help you, it's not heavy. (pf. — one future act)
The government: dative for the person, s + instrumental for the task
This is the part to drill, because English and Czech part ways. In English you "help someone" — a plain direct object. In Czech the person helped goes in the dative: pomoct někomu. There is no logical reason; it is simply the case this verb governs, and you must wire it in.
| Slot | Construction | Case |
|---|---|---|
| the person helped | pomoct někomu | dative |
| the task | pomoct někomu s něčím | s + instrumental |
| the action | pomoct někomu + infinitive | — |
The dative shows up clearly in the short pronoun forms you will use most: pomůžu ti (I'll help you), pomoz mi (help me), pomáhá jí (he helps her), pomůžeme vám (we'll help you).
Pomůžu ti s tím úkolem z matiky, sedni si.
I'll help you with that maths homework, sit down. (ti = dative person, s úkolem = with the task)
Můžeš mi pomoct s těmi krabicemi? Jsou strašně těžké.
Can you help me with those boxes? They're terribly heavy.
The task rides on s + instrumental (s úkolem, s nákupem, s češtinou) — the same "with" you meet in accompaniment. Alternatively, the help can be spelled out with a bare infinitive:
Pomoz mi to přenést do kuchyně, prosím.
Help me carry it into the kitchen, please. (pomoz mi + infinitive)
Celý měsíc nám sousedi pomáhali s rekonstrukcí.
Our neighbours helped us with the renovation for a whole month. (ongoing — imperfective)
The imperative: Pomozte mi!
The perfective imperative pomoz (informal singular) / pomozte (formal or plural) is the natural way to ask for help on the spot, and the bare Pomoz! / Pomozte! is the word you shout in a crisis.
Pomozte mi, prosím, někomu se tady udělalo špatně!
Please help me, someone here has been taken ill!
Pomoz mi s tím, sám to neunesu.
Help me with this, I can't carry it on my own.
Aspect in the past: one act or an ongoing effort
The same English "helped" splits by whether it was a single completed act (pomohl) or a repeated/ongoing one (pomáhal).
Včera mi soused pomohl vynést starou skříň.
Yesterday my neighbour helped me carry out the old wardrobe. (one completed act — perfective)
Když jsem byl malý, často jsem mámě pomáhal v kuchyni.
When I was little, I often helped my mum in the kitchen. (repeated, habitual — imperfective; male speaker)
How this differs from English
English "help" is transitive and flat: help me, help my brother, help with the bags. Czech keeps a single verb pair but routes the meaning through cases — dative for the person, s + instrumental (or an infinitive) for the task — and it splits the act itself by aspect, pomoci for one completed rescue versus pomáhat for steady, repeated helping. The one error to stamp out first is the case of the person: it is pomůžu ti, never *pomůžu tě. Lock that single phrase in and the dative will start to feel automatic.
Common Mistakes
❌ Pomůžu tě s tím.
Incorrect — the person helped takes the dative: ti, not the accusative tě.
✅ Pomůžu ti s tím.
I'll help you with it.
❌ Budu ti pomoct zítra.
Incorrect — perfective pomoci has no budu-future; pomůžu is already future.
✅ Pomůžu ti zítra.
I'll help you tomorrow.
❌ Soused mi včera pomůže se stěhováním.
Wrong tense — for a finished past act use the past participle pomohl, not the present-future pomůže.
✅ Soused mi včera pomohl se stěhováním.
My neighbour helped me with the move yesterday.
❌ Pomož mi, prosím!
Misspelled — the perfective imperative is pomoz, with a hard z.
✅ Pomoz mi, prosím!
Help me, please!
Key Takeaways
- pomáhat = imperfective (ongoing/habitual), conjugated like dělat; pomoci / pomoct = perfective, running moci's h/ž velar alternation (pomůžu / pomohu … pomohl).
- pomoci has no budu-future — pomůžu already means "I will help."
- Government: the person helped is dative (pomůžu ti), the task is s + instrumental (s úkolem) or a bare infinitive (pomoz mi nést).
- The perfective imperative is the irregular pomoz / pomozte — the Pomozte! you shout for help.
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Start learning Czech→Related Topics
- moci — modal reference (full paradigm)A2 — Reference conjugation of the modal moci with both literary and colloquial forms, presented as the model verb of the velar-stem (-ci/-ct) class.
- Verbs That Govern the DativeA2 — The important class of Czech verbs whose only object stands in the dative, even though English uses a direct object.
- Forming Perfectives with PrefixesB1 — How a prefix turns an imperfective into its perfective partner.
- Aspect Pairs: The Core SystemA2 — How most Czech verbs come as a two-member aspect pair — one imperfective, one perfective — and how to learn, look up, and choose between them.
- Class V (-á-): the dělat patternA2 — Full reference table for the Class V -á- conjugation, modelled on the verb dělat, plus the -at infinitives that follow it and the ones that don't.