žít — to live, to be alive (imperfective) | Czech Grammar

Žít means "to live" in the deepest sense — to be alive and to live a life. It is the verb you reach for to say someone is alive, to talk about a way of life, or to place yourself in a time and a world ("we live in interesting times"). It is not the verb for a postal address — that job belongs to bydlet. This page conjugates žít, sorts out its three case-governments, and pins down how it differs both from bydlet and from its meaning-shifting prefixed cousins prožít and přežít.

Conjugation

Žít is a Class III (-je-) verb of the krýt type: a monosyllabic stem with a long vowel, conjugating on a -j- stem (žij-). The present tense has the well-known literary/colloquial doublets in the first-person singular and the third-person plural — the -i / -í forms are the standard literary endings, the -u / -ou forms the everyday spoken ones.

Person	Spoken (colloquial)	Literary (standard)
já	žiju	žiji
ty	žiješ	žiješ
on / ona / ono	žije	žije
my	žijeme	žijeme
vy	žijete	žijete
oni / ony / ona	žijou	žijí

Notice the stem alternation built into the spelling: the bare infinitive shows ží-, but every present form, the imperative, and the budu-future run on žij-. The imperative is žij (singular), žijme (let's), žijte (plural/formal). For the full krýt-type pattern, see the -je- present class.

Žiju v Praze, ale pocházím z Ostravy.

I live in Prague, but I'm from Ostrava.

Dědeček už nežije.

Grandpa is no longer alive.

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Both žiju and žiji are correct. Use žiju / žijou in speech and informal writing — that's what you'll actually hear — and keep žiji / žijí for formal or literary registers. The middle four forms (žiješ, žije, žijeme, žijete) are identical in both.

Žít has no plain perfective partner

Like bydlet, žít names a state — being alive, living a life — and a state has no natural completion point. So žít is imperfectivum tantum: imperfective only, with no neutral aspect partner that would mean simply "to have lived." The prefixed perfectives that exist all add meaning rather than just perfectivizing:

Verb	Aspect	Meaning
žít	imperfective	to be alive, to live (a life)
prožít	perfective	to live through, to spend (a period)
přežít	perfective	to survive, to outlive
zažít	perfective	to experience, to go through
dožít se	perfective	to live to (an age, a moment)

Prožili jsme spolu krásných pět let.

We spent five lovely years together.

Ryba bez vody dlouho nepřežije.

A fish won't survive long without water.

Babička se dožila devadesáti let.

Grandma lived to ninety.

So when you want "to survive," don't hunt for a perfective of žít — switch to přežít. When you want "to spend / live through a stretch of time," switch to prožít. The bare verb žít itself stays imperfective in every tense.

Government 1: žít v + locative

The default "live in" — a country, a city, an era, a condition — uses v (or ve before clusters) plus the locative. This covers both literal places and figurative ones.

Žijeme v zajímavé době.

We live in interesting times.

Chci žít v míru, ne ve strachu.

I want to live in peace, not in fear.

Žil v Berlíně, než se vrátil domů.

He lived in Berlin before he returned home.

Government 2: žít s + instrumental

To share your life with someone — a partner, a family — use s (se before clusters) plus the instrumental. With a romantic partner, žít s někým specifically implies sharing a life or a household.

Žije s přítelem už tři roky.

She's been living with her boyfriend for three years.

Nechci žít sám.

I don't want to live alone. (male speaker)

For the case mechanics, see the preposition s and the instrumental.

Government 3: žít z + genitive (live off)

To say what you live on — what supports you financially — use z (ze before clusters) plus the genitive. This is the "live off / live on" of income.

Žijí jen z jejího platu.

They live just on her salary.

Z čeho vlastně žije?

What does he actually live on?

žít vs bydlet — be alive vs reside

English "live" splits into two Czech verbs, and confusing them is the classic beginner error.

bydlet = to reside — where your home physically is, your address. Answers Kde bydlíš?.
žít = to be alive and to live a life — existence, lifestyle, your place in time and the world.

You bydlíš at a concrete address (a flat, a floor, a street), but you žiješ a happy life, žiješ in the 21st century, and a grandparent who has passed away no longer žije. There is genuine overlap — for a country or city as the seat of your whole life, Žiju v Praze is perfectly natural with a broader "my life is here" flavour. But the moment you mean a housing situation or an address, switch to bydlet.

Bydlím ve třetím patře, ale žiju docela skromně.

I live on the third floor, but I live quite modestly.

Žili šťastně až do smrti.

They lived happily ever after. (set phrase)

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Quick test: if you could answer with a number, a floor, or a street name, you want bydlet. If you're talking about being alive, a lifestyle, an era, or a feeling, you want žít. See bydlet for the address side of the pair.

Past tense

The past participle is žil / žila / žilo; remember that the neuter plural ends in -a (žila), distinct from the feminine/inanimate plural in -y (žily).

Subject	Past form
já (m.) / (f.)	žil jsem / žila jsem
ty (m.) / (f.)	žil jsi / žila jsi
on / ona / ono	žil / žila / žilo
my (m.) / (f.)	žili jsme / žily jsme
vy (m.) / (f.)	žili jste / žily jste
oni (m. anim.) / ony (f., m. inan.) / ona (neut.)	žili / žily / žila

Za války žili v neustálém strachu.

During the war they lived in constant fear.

Future tense

Being imperfective, žít forms its future analytically with budu + the infinitive — never with the present-tense endings.

Person	Future
já	budu žít
ty	budeš žít
on / ona / ono	bude žít
my	budeme žít
vy	budete žít
oni / ony / ona	budou žít

Příští rok budu žít v zahraničí.

Next year I'll be living abroad.

Common mistakes

❌ Žiju Praze.

Wrong: 'live in' needs the preposition v + locative.

✅ Žiju v Praze.

Correct: 'I live in Prague.'

❌ Žije z důchod.

Wrong: z (live off) governs the genitive, not the bare nominative.

✅ Žije z důchodu.

Correct: 'He lives on his pension.'

❌ Žiju ve třetím patře.

Wrong: a floor/dwelling is an address — use bydlet.

✅ Bydlím ve třetím patře.

Correct: 'I live on the third floor.'

❌ Budu žiju v zahraničí.

Wrong: the imperfective future is budu + infinitive, not budu + a finite form.

✅ Budu žít v zahraničí.

Correct: 'I'll live abroad.'

Key takeaways

žít = "be alive / live a life"; Class III (-je-), present žiju/žiji … žijou/žijí; the answer to questions about existence and lifestyle, not addresses.
It is imperfective only — there's no plain perfective; the prefixed forms prožít (live through), přežít (survive), and zažít (experience) each add their own meaning.
Government: v + locative (a place, era, condition), s + instrumental (share a life with someone), z + genitive (live off an income).
Use žít for being alive and ways of life; use bydlet for a concrete address.

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