The Transgressive (přechodník) Forms | Czech Grammar

The transgressive (Czech přechodník) is a non-finite verb form that packs an adverbial clause into a single word — roughly the English -ing of "saying this, he left" or the "having done X" of a participial clause. It expresses an action simultaneous with (present transgressive) or prior to (past transgressive) the action of the main verb. You should treat this page as recognition-only: the transgressive is effectively extinct in spoken Czech and in modern prose. It survives in older literature, in a few frozen expressions, and as a deliberate archaism or poeticism. Learn to parse it; do not try to produce it.

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Be honest with yourself about register. A native speaker under fifty would never say nesa ta šku in conversation — it would sound like reciting a 19th-century novel. You need the transgressive only to read; in your own Czech, use a subordinate clause with když, protože, or a instead. See written vs. spoken Czech.

The present transgressive (přechodník přítomný)

Formed from imperfective verbs, it marks an action happening at the same time as the main verb. Like the passive participle, it agrees in gender and number — but here the agreement is three-way (masc. sg / fem.-neut. sg / plural), not the full adjective paradigm.

Form	nést (carry)	dělat (do)	být (be)
masculine sg	nesa	dělaje	jsa
feminine / neuter sg	nesouc	dělajíc	jsouc
plural (all genders)	nesouce	dělajíce	jsouce

The endings split by conjugation class. Verbs whose 3rd-person plural ends in -ou (the nést, brát, krýt types) take -a / -ouc / -ouce. Verbs whose 3rd-person plural ends in -í (the dělat type adds -je-; the prosit, trpět, sázet types) take -e/-ě / -íc / -íce.

3pl ending	masc. sg	fem./neut. sg	plural	Example (mluvit)
-ou (nesou)	-a	-ouc	-ouce	—
-í (mluví)	-e / -ě	-íc	-íce	mluvě, mluvíc, mluvíce

Nesa těžké břemeno, kráčel pomalu.

Carrying a heavy load, he walked slowly. (present transgressive nesa, masc. sg — simultaneous action). (literary)

Dívka seděla u okna, dívajíc se na déšť.

The girl sat by the window, watching the rain. (fem. sg dívajíc se). (literary)

Děti běžely domů, volajíce na sebe.

The children ran home, calling out to one another. (plural volajíce). (literary)

The past transgressive (přechodník minulý)

Formed from perfective verbs, it marks an action completed before the main verb — "having done X". It too agrees in three forms, built on the past stem.

Form	udělat (do, pf.)	přijít (arrive, pf.)
masculine sg	udělav	přišed
feminine / neuter sg	udělavši	přišedši
plural (all genders)	udělavše	přišedše

The split depends on the past stem. Verbs whose past stem ends in a vowel take -v / -vši / -vše (udělat → udělav). Verbs whose past stem ends in a consonant (the přijít, nést type) take a bare -∅ / -ši / -še (přijít → přišed, přišedši, přišedše).

Přišed domů, ihned usedl k práci.

Having arrived home, he sat down to work at once. (masc. sg přišed — prior action). (literary)

Dokončivši dopis, zapečetila obálku.

Having finished the letter, she sealed the envelope. (fem. sg dokončivši). (literary)

Vykonavše svůj úkol, vrátili se zpět.

Having carried out their task, they returned. (plural vykonavše). (literary)

The agreement rule in one line

The transgressive must agree with the subject of the main clause — the same person who is also doing the transgressive action. This is why it can only attach to a clause whose subject is also the transgressive's "doer": Dívka seděla... dívajíc se works because the girl both sits and watches. A mismatched subject (the dangling-participle error of English) is even more strictly ungrammatical here. See transgressive agreement.

Frozen survivals you will actually hear

A handful of transgressive forms have fossilized into fixed expressions that remain current — the only place the transgressive is alive in everyday speech.

Expression	Literal	Means
chtě nechtě	willing not-willing	willy-nilly, like it or not
nehledě na	not-looking at	regardless of
počínaje (+ instr.)	beginning	starting from
konče (+ instr.)	ending	ending with
vyjma	excepting	except for

Chtě nechtě jsem to musel přijmout.

Like it or not, I had to accept it. (frozen transgressive chtě nechtě)

Otevřeno denně, počínaje pondělím.

Open daily, starting from Monday. (počínaje + instrumental — frozen, still used in notices). (formal)

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These frozen forms — chtě nechtě, nehledě na, počínaje — are genuinely worth learning to use, because they have crossed over into ordinary formal Czech and no longer feel archaic. They are the exception. Everything else on this page is for reading only.

English contrast

English uses the -ing clause ("walking home, she...") freely and casually; this is exactly the territory the Czech transgressive once covered. The crucial difference is register: where English -ing clauses are stylistically neutral, the Czech transgressive is steeply marked as literary or archaic. The natural modern Czech rendering of "walking home, she thought about it" is a finite clause — Když šla domů, přemýšlela o tom — not a transgressive. For a deeper treatment of how these forms work in literary syntax, see transgressives in depth.

Common Mistakes

❌ Jdouce domů, koupil jsem chleba.

Wrong agreement — 'jdouce' is plural but the subject 'já' is singular; and a single speaker would never use this form anyway.

✅ Když jsem šel domů, koupil jsem chleba.

On my way home, I bought some bread. (use a finite clause in modern Czech)

❌ Nesa tašku, řekl jsem ahoj.

Stylistically wrong for speech — a transgressive in casual conversation sounds like a parody of old prose.

✅ Nesl jsem tašku a pozdravil jsem.

I was carrying a bag and said hello. (coordinate the clauses instead)

❌ Udělav úkol, ona šla ven.

Wrong form — a feminine subject needs the feminine transgressive udělavši, not the masculine udělav (and modern Czech would avoid it entirely).

✅ Když dodělala úkol, šla ven.

When she finished her homework, she went out.

Key Takeaways

The present transgressive (from imperfectives) = simultaneous action; masc. -a/-e, fem./neut. -ouc/-íc, pl. -ouce/-íce (nesa, nesouc, nesouce).
The past transgressive (from perfectives) = prior action; masc. -v/-∅, fem./neut. -vši/-ši, pl. -vše/-še (udělav, přišed, dokončivši).
It agrees with the main-clause subject in gender and number.
It is extinct in speech and modern prose — recognize it in literature, but render your own Czech with finite když/protože/a clauses.
A few frozen forms stay alive: chtě nechtě, nehledě na, počínaje/konče.

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