This is the quick-reference aspect card for psát / napsat "to write" — the pair you reach for every time you write a message, a report, or a name. If you want the deep walkthrough of how the verb is built, the stem alternations, and every paradigm cell, go to the full psát / napsat page. This card distills the pair down to what you actually have to choose between in the moment: the imperfective psát (writing as an activity, in progress or repeated) versus the perfective napsat (writing as one finished act, with a result on the page).
The pair at a glance
| Imperfective | Perfective | |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | psát | napsat |
| Present stem | píš- (means "is writing") | napíš- (means "will write") |
| Past stem | psal- | napsal- |
| Imperative | piš | napiš |
| Aspect role | the activity, the process | the single completed act |
The s → š alternation (both halves have it)
Both psát and napsat hide a consonant alternation. The infinitive and past keep s (psát, psal, napsat, napsal), but the present and imperative switch to š and a long í: píš-, piš. This s → š swap is the signature of the mazat-type within Class I, and it is the thing learners most often get wrong — see stem alternations.
Present (imperfective) vs. future (perfective)
This is the heart of the card. The imperfective píšu is a genuine present ("I am writing"). The perfective napíšu looks like a present but means the future ("I will write / get written"), because perfective verbs have no present-tense meaning at all.
| Person | psát → present | napsat → future |
|---|---|---|
| 1st sg. | píšu (formal píši) | napíšu |
| 2nd sg. | píšeš | napíšeš |
| 3rd sg. | píše | napíše |
| 1st pl. | píšeme | napíšeme |
| 2nd pl. | píšete | napíšete |
| 3rd pl. | píšou (formal píší) | napíšou |
Zrovna píšu důležitý e-mail, dej mi chvilku.
I'm writing an important email right now, give me a minute.
Napíšu ti, jakmile přijedu.
I'll text you (write you) as soon as I get there.
To express an ongoing future ("I'll be writing all evening"), you can't use the perfective; you need the imperfective future budu psát.
Celý víkend budu psát referát.
I'll be writing my paper all weekend (process).
Past — same shape, different packaging
Both build the past on psa-, so the forms differ only in the na- prefix; the meaning difference is aspect. Mind the plural endings: psali (masc. anim.), psaly (fem. / masc. inan.), and psala for the neuter plural.
| Subject | psát | napsat |
|---|---|---|
| masculine sg. | psal jsem | napsal jsem |
| feminine sg. | psala jsem | napsala jsem |
| masc. animate pl. | psali jsme | napsali jsme |
| fem. / masc. inan. pl. | psaly jsme | napsaly jsme |
| neuter pl. | psala | napsala |
Celý večer jsem psala diplomku a stejně jsem to nedopsala.
I was writing my thesis all evening and still didn't finish it (said by a woman).
Napsal jsem mu dlouhý dopis a hned ho odeslal.
I wrote him a long letter and sent it off straight away (said by a man).
Imperative — choose the aspect on purpose
The command forms also split by aspect, and the choice is meaningful. Piš! urges the activity ("keep writing, write away"), while napiš! demands a finished result ("write it and get it done").
Piš čitelně, ať to po tobě přečtu.
Write legibly, so I can read it after you.
Napiš mi, až dorazíš domů.
Write to me once you get home.
Government: accusative thing + dative person
psát / napsat follows the write someone something pattern: the thing written is the accusative object, and the addressee is in the dative. English hides these roles; Czech spells them out with cases.
Napíšu ti e-mail.
I'll write you an email (ti = dative addressee, e-mail = accusative thing).
Píše babičce pohled z dovolené.
He's writing his grandma a postcard from holiday (babičce = dative, pohled = accusative).
Why English speakers stumble here
English "write" is aspect-neutral: the same word covers "I was writing" and "I wrote and finished," and you only disambiguate with extra words (was writing, have written, got it written). Czech makes you commit up front by picking the verb itself — psát or napsat — before you've even chosen a tense. That is the mental flip: in English the verb is one thing and you add nuance around it; in Czech the nuance is the choice of verb. So the question to ask yourself every time isn't "which tense?" but "do I mean the activity (psát) or the completed result (napsat)?" Answer that, and the right form follows. The two halves share a stem, a meaning, and a government pattern — they differ only in how they package the action in time, which is exactly what the na- prefix encodes.
Když jsi volal, zrovna jsem psal recenzi.
When you called, I was just writing a review (ongoing → imperfective).
Common Mistakes
❌ Právě psám zprávu.
Incorrect — the present uses the píš- stem; there is no *psám.
✅ Právě píšu zprávu.
I'm writing the report right now.
❌ Zítra budu napsat dopis.
Incorrect — napsat is perfective, so its present already means future; don't add budu.
✅ Zítra napíšu dopis.
Tomorrow I'll write the letter.
❌ Napíšu ti dopisem.
Incorrect — the letter is the accusative object, not an instrument.
✅ Napíšu ti dopis.
I'll write you a letter.
❌ Včera jsem ti psal e-mail a poslal ho.
Off — one finished, sent message is a completed act, so it wants the perfective napsal.
✅ Včera jsem ti napsal e-mail a poslal ho.
Yesterday I wrote you an email and sent it (said by a man).
❌ Celý den napíšu úkoly.
Incorrect — 'all day' is an ongoing activity; that calls for the imperfective future.
✅ Celý den budu psát úkoly.
I'll be writing assignments all day.
Key Takeaways
- psát = the activity (present píšu); napsat = the finished act (napíšu = future).
- na- is an empty prefix: napsat = na-
- every form of psát.
- s → š in the present/imperative stem (píš-, piš), s in infinitive/past (psa-).
- Governs accusative (what) + dative (to whom): napíšu ti e-mail.
- Imperfective future of process = budu psát; perfective future of result = napíšu.
Now practice Czech
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Start learning Czech→Related Topics
- psát / napsat — to writeA1 — Full conjugation of the aspect pair psát (imperfective) and napsat (perfective), a mazat-type verb with the s → š alternation.
- Consonant Alternations in the PresentA2 — Why the present stem of verbs like psát, mazat and péct doesn't match the infinitive — the palatalization that turns s into š, z into ž and k into č.
- 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 I: -e- Verbs (nést, brát)A2 — The -e- conjugation, where the present stem can look nothing like the infinitive and has to be memorised verb by verb.
- číst / přečíst — to read (aspect pair card)A2 — Quick-reference aspect card for číst (imperfective) and přečíst (perfective) — the reading verb that wears three different stems: číst, čtu, četl.