vézt / vozit — to transport by vehicle (determinate/indeterminate)

Czech motion verbs come in determinate / indeterminate pairs, and vézt / vozit is the pair you use when something is being moved by a vehicle — driving the kids to school, hauling bricks in a wheelbarrow, delivering parcels by van. Both verbs are imperfective; they differ not in aspect but in manner of motion. vézt describes one trip, in one direction, happening now or framed as a single bounded journey. vozit describes habitual, repeated, or multidirectional transporting. This page gives the full paradigms, the case frame they govern, and — most importantly — how to keep vézt ("transport by vehicle") apart from its near-identical twin vést ("lead, take on foot"), which sounds almost the same but means something entirely different.

The core contrast

The first sentence is a single journey in progress; the second is a routine. That is the whole determinate/indeterminate distinction in miniature. For the general principle behind every such pair, see Motion Verbs: Determinate vs Indeterminate.

vézt — full paradigm (determinate)

vézt has a present stem in vez- (root final -z-). The infinitive vézt has a long é; the present-tense forms shorten it to e.

Like the other determinate motion verbs (nést → ponesu, jet → pojedu), vézt builds a synthetic future with the prefix po-: povezu, povezeš, poveze, povezeme, povezete, povezou ("I'll drive / transport …"). This is the standard form for a single future trip; budu vézt is also heard but the prefixed povezu is the default. The whole closed set lives at the motion futures. (Note this is unlike its near-twin vést, whose synthetic povedu clashes with the perfective povést se "to succeed" and so is usually avoided in favour of budu vést.)

Note the neuter plural past vezla (auta nás vezla — "the cars carried us"), distinct from the masculine-animate vezli and the feminine/inanimate-plural vezly. The imperative vez! is short; the long é belongs only to the infinitive.

vozit — full paradigm (indeterminate)

vozit is an ordinary Class IV -í- verb (the prosit type): stem voz-, soft endings.

The case frame: accusative object + instrumental of means

Both verbs take a direct object in the accusative (the person or thing being transported) and, optionally, the instrumental for the means of transport — the vehicle. No preposition on the vehicle; the bare instrumental does the work.

Here děti is accusative (the object), and autem / na kole express the means — autem is a plain instrumental, while na kole ("on a bike") happens to take a prepositional phrase by convention. The destination (do školy) is, as always, genitive after do.

Prefixed perfectives: přivézt, odvézt, navézt

Prefixing vézt makes it perfective and adds directional meaning. přivézt = "bring / deliver (by vehicle)", odvézt = "drive away / take away (by vehicle)", navézt = "haul in (a load)". The prefix attaches to the determinate vézt; the corresponding imperfective is built on -vážet (přivážet, odvážet).

Notice that in přivez the prefixed imperative keeps the short stem of vez-.

The dangerous twin: vézt vs vést

This is the part to slow down on. Czech has two near-homophonous determinate verbs:

• vézt = "to transport / carry by vehicle", present vezu, vezeš…, past vezl — root in -z-.
• vést = "to lead, to take on foot; to conduct, to run (a thing)", present vedu, vedeš…, past vedl — root in -d-.

In the infinitive they are told apart only by z vs s spelling (vézt vs vést) and a subtle pronunciation difference; in the present and past, the distinction is sharp and audible: vez- vs ved-.

Same dog, same English "taking" — but on foot it is vést (vedu), and in the car it is vézt (vezu). The indeterminate partners line up the same way: vodit (lead habitually, on foot) vs vozit (transport habitually, by vehicle). For the leading-on-foot pair in detail, see vést / vodit — to lead, to take.

Relationship to nést / nosit

vézt / vozit is the by-vehicle counterpart of nést / nosit, "to carry (in one's hands / on one's person)". The two families share the determinate/indeterminate logic exactly: nést (carrying now) : nosit (carrying habitually) :: vézt (transporting now) : vozit (transporting habitually). Use nést/nosit when you bear the load yourself, vézt/vozit when a vehicle does. See nést / nosit — to carry and the side-by-side treatment in nést vs nosit, vést vs vodit.

Common Mistakes

The single most common error: using vést (vedu) when a vehicle is involved. The car demands the vez- stem.

With každý den ("every day") you need the indeterminate vozit; the determinate vézt is for the single trip happening now.

For the one trip happening at this moment, use the determinate vézt (vezu), not the habitual vozit.

The vehicle goes in the instrumental (náklaďákem), not the nominative.

Key Takeaways

• vézt (vezu, vezeš, veze, vezou; past vezl; imp. vez!; future povezu) = transport by vehicle, one trip, now.
• vozit (vozím, vozíš, vozí; past vozil; imp. voz!) = transport by vehicle, habitually.
• Both are imperfective; the difference is single-trip vs habitual, not aspect.
• Frame: accusative object (who/what is moved) + instrumental of means (the vehicle).
• Do not confuse vézt (vez-, by vehicle) with vést (ved-, lead on foot/conduct). The z has the engine.