Class I (-e-): the nést pattern | Czech Grammar

Class I is the -e- conjugation: in the present tense the personal endings attach with a connecting -e- directly to a consonant stem, giving nes-e-š, ber-e-š, peč-e. It is the oldest and most heterogeneous of the five conjugation classes, and it is where almost all of Czech's strong and irregular verbs live. This page uses nést ("to carry") as the clean model and then lays out the subtypes that share the present-tense endings but differ in the stem.

The model verb: nést

The defining feature of the nést-type is a stem that ends in a bare consonant (nes-). The present endings clip straight onto it, and the past tense adds -l directly to that same consonant: nes- + -l → nesl.

Present tense

Person	Form
já	nesu
ty	neseš
on / ona / ono	nese
my	neseme
vy	nesete
oni / ony / ona	nesou

Note the two endings that have no connecting -e-: the 1sg -u (nesu) and the 3pl -ou (nesou). Every other form shows the class-marking -e-.

Počkej, nesu to!

Wait, I'm carrying it over!

Neseš toho moc, dej mi jednu tašku.

You're carrying too much, give me one bag.

Past tense (the -l participle)

The past participle agrees in gender and number, exactly as everywhere else. Add -l to the consonant stem and then the gender/number endings:

	Singular	Plural
masculine	nesl	nesli
feminine	nesla	nesly
neuter	neslo	nesla

The neuter plural ends in -a (nesla) — the same shape as the feminine singular, but a different cell. Neuter-plural subjects (e.g. děvčata "girls/young ones") take this -a form.

Nesl jsem těžké tašky a rozbolela mě záda.

I was carrying heavy bags and my back started hurting. (male speaker)

Nesla domů celý ten nákup sama.

She carried the whole shopping home by herself.

Imperative

Because the stem already ends in a consonant, the singular imperative is the bare stem: nes. The plural forms add -me and -te.

Form	Imperative
ty	nes
my (let's)	nesme
vy	neste

Neste to opatrně, je to křehké.

Carry it carefully, it's fragile.

Don't confuse Class I (-e-) with Class III (-je-)

The trap is the third-person singular. A Class III verb like krýt ("to cover") makes kryje, and kupovat ("to buy") makes kupuje — with a -je-. The stem there ends in -j. A Class I verb makes nese, vede, peče — a plain -e clipped to a consonant, no j. The same split shows up at the edges: Class I has 1sg -u / 3pl -ou (nesu, nesou), while Class III has 1sg -ji/-ju / 3pl -jí/-jou (kryji, kryjí). When you hear a j before the ending, you are in Class III, not here.

	Class I (-e-)	Class III (-je-)
3sg	nese	kryje
1sg	nesu	kryji / kryju
3pl	nesou	kryjí / kryjou

The subtypes of Class I

Class I keeps a constant set of present endings but the stem behaves in several different ways. These are the families you need to recognize.

1. The pure consonant type (nést, vést, číst, růst)

Same as the model: the present stem is a bare consonant, and the past adds -l to it. The catch is that the infinitive often hides the real stem — you have to learn the present stem alongside it.

Infinitive	Meaning	3sg present	Past (m sg)
nést	to carry	nese	nesl
vést	to lead	vede	vedl
vézt	to transport (by vehicle)	veze	vezl
číst	to read	čte	četl
růst	to grow	roste	rostl
kvést	to bloom	kvete	kvetl

Watch vést vs vézt: same present -e- endings, but vést "to lead" gives vede / vedl and vézt "to transport" gives veze / vezl. And číst is the wild one: the present stem contracts to čt- (čtu, čteš, čte) while the past inserts a vowel (četl).

Tahle cesta vede přímo k řece.

This path leads straight to the river.

Čtu zrovna jednu skvělou detektivku.

I'm reading a great detective novel right now.

Děti rostou tak rychle, že jim nestíhám kupovat boty.

The kids grow so fast that I can't keep up buying them shoes.

2. The brát-type (vowel/stem shift)

Here the infinitive and the present stem look unrelated. brát ("to take") conjugates on the stem ber-: beru, bereš, bere, bereme, berete, berou; past bral. The present -e- endings are perfectly regular — it is only the stem vowel that jumps.

Beru si jen malé espresso, díky.

I'll just have a small espresso, thanks.

Bereš si do kávy cukr?

Do you take sugar in your coffee?

Others in this family: hnát → ženu ("to drive, chase"), prát → peru ("to do laundry"). Compare brát/vzít in detail on its own reference card.

3. The mazat-type (consonant alternation)

The stem-final consonant softens before the -e- endings: z → ž, s → š, t → c. The flagship is psát ("to write"), whose stem softens to píš-: píšu, píšeš, píše, píšeme, píšete, píšou; past psal. The literary register prefers píši (1sg) and píší (3pl); everyday speech uses píšu / píšou.

Infinitive	Meaning	3sg present	Past (m sg)
psát	to write	píše	psal
mazat	to smear, wipe	maže	mazal
ukázat	to show	ukáže	ukázal
česat	to comb	češe	česal

Píše mi pořád, snad desetkrát denně.

He writes to me all the time, like ten times a day. (male subject)

Ukaž mi tu fotku ještě jednou.

Show me that photo one more time.

See psát / napsat for the full aspect pair.

4. The péct-type (velar alternation)

Verbs whose stem ends in a velar (k, h) alternate it to a postalveolar (č, ž) before the front -e- endings, and the alternation reverses in the past -l form. péct ("to bake") gives peču, pečeš, peče, pečeme, pečete, pečou in the present but pekl, pekla, peklo, pekli, pekly, pekla in the past — the č of the present goes back to k before -l.

Infinitive	Meaning	3sg present	Past (m sg)
péct	to bake	peče	pekl
téct	to flow, leak	teče	tekl
moct	to be able	může	mohl

Babička dneska peče vánoční cukroví.

Grandma is baking Christmas cookies today.

Z kohoutku teče rezavá voda.

Rusty water is coming out of the tap.

The everyday verb moct ("can") belongs here too, with an h/ž twist: můžu, můžeš, může… but past mohl. See pé ci / péct for the bake/roast paradigm in full.

5. The -řít type (stem in ř)

Verbs whose infinitive ends in -řít keep an ř throughout: umřít ("to die") → umřu, umřeš, umře, umřeme, umřete, umřou; past umřel. Likewise zavřít ("to close") → zavřu… zavřel, and otevřít ("to open") → otevřu… otevřel. The singular imperative is -ři: zavři, otevři.

Zavři okno, je tu hrozný průvan.

Close the window, there's a terrible draft in here.

Otevři dveře, prší a já mám plné ruce.

Open the door, it's raining and my hands are full.

💡

The honest truth about Class I: there is no shortcut that derives the present stem from the infinitive. nést → nesu, brát → beru, psát → píšu, péct → peču all share the same endings but different stems. Learn the infinitive plus the 1sg present plus the past participle together as a three-part packet, and the whole verb falls out.

Common mistakes

❌ Nesem to dovnitř.

Wrong (nonstandard): the 1pl is neseme; nesem is colloquial only and out of place in writing.

✅ Neseme to dovnitř.

We're carrying it inside.

❌ Pisu dopis.

Wrong: psát softens its stem to píš- in the present, so the 1sg is píšu — note the š and the long í, not a bare 'pis-'.

✅ Píšu dopis.

I'm writing a letter.

❌ Peku chleba.

Wrong: péct alternates k→č before -e endings, so the 1sg is peču.

✅ Peču chleba.

I'm baking bread.

❌ Nesil jsem tašky.

Wrong: the past of nést adds -l straight to the consonant stem — nesl, not 'nesil'.

✅ Nesl jsem tašky.

I was carrying bags. (male speaker)

❌ Vedu tě k řece.

Wrong meaning if you mean 'this path leads' — that's vede; vedu is the 1sg 'I lead'.

✅ Cesta vede k řece.

The path leads to the river.

Key takeaways

Class I is the -e- conjugation: present endings on a consonant stem, with 1sg -u and 3pl -ou (nesu… nesou).
The model nést gives nesu, neseš, nese, neseme, nesete, nesou; past nesl (neuter plural nesla); imperative nes.
Don't confuse it with Class III -je- (kryje, kupuje): a j before the ending means Class III.
The subtypes — nést (bare consonant), brát (beru), psát (píšu), péct (peču), umřít (umřu) — share endings but have unpredictable stems.
Memorize each verb as infinitive + 1sg present + past participle; the rest is regular.

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