A handful of Czech verbs do not fit any of the five present-tense classes. Linguists call them athematic — historically they attached their endings directly to the root, without the linking "theme" vowel that powers the regular classes. There are only five that matter, but they are, without exception, the most frequent verbs in the language: to be, to eat, to know, to have, to want. You will use them in nearly every sentence you ever speak, so the only sensible strategy is to memorise each one whole. This page lays all five out together so the shared logic — and the irregularities — jump out.
The master present-tense table
| Person | být (to be) | jíst (to eat) | vědět (to know) | mít (to have) | chtít (to want) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| já | jsem | jím | vím | mám | chci |
| ty | jsi | jíš | víš | máš | chceš |
| on / ona / ono | je | jí | ví | má | chce |
| my | jsme | jíme | víme | máme | chceme |
| vy | jste | jíte | víte | máte | chcete |
| oni / ony / ona | jsou | jedí | vědí | mají | chtějí |
Two patterns hold this group together
First, the 1st-person singular ends in -m. Look down the já row: jsem, jím, vím, mám — four of the five share that -m, which is the fossil of the old athematic 1sg. The odd one out is chtít, whose chci preserves an even older ending. So: four verbs in -m, plus chci to learn separately.
Second, the 3rd-person plural is irregular in every one of them. This is the cell you will get wrong if you try to "regularise" the verb: jsou, jedí, vědí, mají, chtějí. None of them is predictable from the singular — jí gives jedí (a different stem entirely), ví gives vědí, chce gives chtějí. Drill the oni row on its own.
Jsem unavená, jdu si lehnout.
I'm tired, I'm going to lie down. (female speaker)
Co jíš k snídani? Já obvykle jím jenom rohlík.
What do you eat for breakfast? I usually just have a roll.
Nevím, kde mám klíče.
I don't know where my keys are.
Máš drobné? Nemám u sebe žádnou hotovost.
Have you got change? I don't have any cash on me.
Děti nechtějí jít spát.
The kids don't want to go to sleep. (3pl chtějí)
být also has an irregular negative
For four of these verbs, negation is the regular ne- prefix: nejím, nevím, nemám, nechci. But být breaks the pattern in the 3rd-person singular: "is not" is není, not the expected neje. Every other person is regular (nejsem, nejsi, nejsme, nejste, nejsou) — only není is suppletive, and you meet it constantly.
| Person | být — negative |
|---|---|
| já | nejsem |
| ty | nejsi |
| on / ona / ono | není |
| my | nejsme |
| vy | nejste |
| oni / ony / ona | nejsou |
Šéf dneska není v kanceláři.
The boss isn't in the office today.
Past tense and imperative
The past tense is regular for all five — take the l-participle stem and add the být auxiliary (in the 1st and 2nd person). Note jíst's stem shift to jed-, mirroring its present 3pl jedí. The neuter plural participle, as always, ends in -a (byla, jedla, věděla, měla, chtěla), never -ly.
| past (m. sg.) | imperative (ty) | |
|---|---|---|
| být | byl | buď |
| jíst | jedl | jez |
| vědět | věděl | věz (literary) |
| mít | měl | měj |
| chtít | chtěl | — (barely used) |
Měj se hezky, ozvu se večer!
Take care, I'll be in touch tonight! (měj — imperative of mít, in the set phrase 'měj se')
Jez, ať ti to vystydne!
Eat up, before it gets cold! (jez — imperative of jíst)
These verbs do double duty
Part of what makes the athematic five so worth the effort is that three of them are not just ordinary verbs — they are grammatical machinery. být is the auxiliary that builds the past tense (dělal jsem) and the conditional (dělal bych); mít + infinitive expresses soft obligation ("be supposed to"); and chtít + infinitive is a core modal ("want to"). So every form in the table above pays for itself many times over.
Chci se tě na něco zeptat.
I want to ask you something. (chtít + infinitive = 'want to')
Máš zavolat domů, prý je to důležité.
You're supposed to call home, apparently it's important. (mít + infinitive = soft obligation)
How this differs from English
English has exactly one wildly irregular verb that everyone tolerates: to be (am / is / are / was / were). Czech has a small club of them, and crucially the membership is not the same as English. To have (mít) and to want (chtít) feel regular in English but are irregular in Czech; to eat (jíst) carries a stem change (jí → jedí → jedl) that has no English parallel at all. The payoff is that these five carry so much grammatical weight — být builds the past and conditional, mít expresses possession and obligation, chtít is a core modal — that nailing them down unlocks a huge share of everyday Czech.
Common Mistakes
❌ Oni jedou polévku.
Incorrect — 'jedou' is from jet (to go/ride); the 3pl of jíst (to eat) is jedí.
✅ Oni jedí polévku.
They're eating soup.
❌ Já chcu kávu.
Incorrect — the standard 1sg of chtít is chci (chcu is regional, Moravian).
✅ Já chci kávu.
I want a coffee.
❌ Šéf dneska neje v kanceláři.
Incorrect — the negative 3sg of být is suppletive: není.
✅ Šéf dneska není v kanceláři.
The boss isn't in the office today.
❌ Děti nechtí jít spát.
Incorrect — the 3pl of chtít is chtějí (so the negative is nechtějí).
✅ Děti nechtějí jít spát.
The kids don't want to go to sleep.
❌ Oni neví, kde to je.
Colloquial only — in standard/written Czech the 3pl of vědět is nevědí.
✅ Oni nevědí, kde to je.
They don't know where it is.
Key Takeaways
- Five athematic verbs sit outside the regular classes: být, jíst, vědět, mít, chtít — the highest-frequency verbs in Czech. Memorise each whole.
- The 1sg ends in -m in four of them (jsem, jím, vím, mám); chtít is the exception (chci).
- Every 3pl is irregular: jsou, jedí, vědí, mají, chtějí — drill this row separately.
- být has a suppletive negative 3sg, není; jíst shifts its stem to jed- (jedí, jedl).
Now practice Czech
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Start learning Czech→Related Topics
- být — to beA1 — Full conjugation of být, the irregular athematic copula and future/passive auxiliary.
- mít — to haveA1 — Full conjugation of mít (to have), its accusative object, the obligation construction mít + infinitive, and the everyday idioms mít se and mít rád.
- vědět — to know (facts)A1 — Conjugation and usage of the athematic verb vědět, and the key distinction between vědět (know a fact) and znát (be acquainted with).
- chtít — to wantA1 — Conjugation and usage of the irregular verb chtít, including the polite conditional chtěl bych ('I would like').
- jíst — to eatA1 — Full conjugation of the athematic verb jíst (to eat), its í-present versus d-stem alternation, and its perfective partners sníst and najíst se.