Forming the Imperative

This is a reference page: a compact, look-it-up table of how the Czech imperative is built across the verb classes. The teaching versions — with the reasoning, the practice, and the usage — live on the imperative formation overview and the -i / zero / -ej endings pages; come here when you just need to confirm a form. The imperative has three forms — the familiar singular (2sg), the "let's" first-person plural in -me (1pl), and the plural-or-polite form in -te (2pl) — and they are all built from the present-tense stem, never from the infinitive.

The starting point: the present stem

To build any imperative, first find the present stem — the part of the verb left when you strip the ending off the 3rd-person plural present. From that stem, the rest of the form is predictable. The choice between the patterns below depends on what the present stem ends in.

Pattern 1: single-consonant stem → bare ending (zero)

If the present stem ends in a single consonant, the 2sg imperative is just that bare stem (a "zero" ending). The plural simply adds -me and -te.

Pattern 2: consonant-cluster stem → -i / -ěte (-ete)

If the present stem ends in a cluster of two or more consonants, a bare ending would be unpronounceable, so Czech inserts a vowel: -i in the singular, and -ěte / -ete (with -ěme / -eme for "let's") in the plural. The ě appears after soft-friendly consonants (t, d, n, p, b, m), plain e after others (l, š, ž, r).

Pattern 3: -á- and -ovat verbs → -ej / -uj

The big regular present classes form their imperative with a glide -j. Class V -á- verbs (dělat type) take -ej, -ejme, -ejte; class III -ovat verbs (kupovat type) take -uj, -ujme, -ujte.

Irregular imperatives to memorize

A small set of high-frequency verbs build their imperative unpredictably. Learn these as whole items; they are catalogued in full on the irregular imperatives page.

Note the two faces of jít: jdi / jděte is the literal "go (away)," while pojď / pojďte is the suppletive "come (here)" — a separate, extremely common form. The "let's go" form is the irregular pojďme ("let's go / come on").

Negative imperatives prefer the imperfective

To form a negative command, prefix ne- to the imperative: Nedělej to! ("Don't do that!"). There is an important aspect twist here, covered fully on the aspect in affirmative vs negative commands page: negative commands strongly prefer the imperfective verb, even when the matching affirmative command would be perfective. A negative command tells someone not to engage in an activity, which is imperfective territory.

Register

A bare imperative is direct. The -te form doubles as the polite/formal address (to one person you call vy), and adding prosím softens any command. For genuinely deferential requests, Czech often abandons the imperative for the conditional (Mohl byste…? "Could you…?"). The "let's" -me form is neutral and friendly. None of the patterns above are archaic — they are the everyday forms — but the bare singular to a stranger can sound brusque, so default to -te + prosím when in doubt.

Common Mistakes

The error worth hammering is building the imperative from the infinitive (*čísti, *spáti) instead of the present stem (čti, spi). Whenever a form looks odd, recover the 3pl present, strip the ending, and rebuild from there.

Key Takeaways

• The imperative is built from the present stem; three forms: 2sg / 1pl -me / 2pl -te.
• Single-consonant stem → bare ending (nes, mluv, kup).
• Cluster stem → -i / -ěte (-ete) (čti / čtěte, řekni / řekněte).
• -á- verbs → -ej (dělej); -ovat verbs → -uj (kupuj).
• Memorize the irregulars (buď, měj, jez, pojď, stůj, pomoz).
• Negative commands prefer the imperfective (Nedělej to!).