Every Czech verb conjugates in the present tense according to one of five classes, traditionally named after the vowel or syllable that shows up in the 3rd-person singular: -e-, -ne-, -je-, -í-, -á-. This page is the orientation map. It will not drill any single class — each gets its own detailed page — but it gives you the shape of the whole system and, more importantly, teaches you the one habit that makes Czech verbs learnable: store the present form alongside the infinitive, because the infinitive alone will lie to you.
The five classes at a glance
The class is identified by the 3rd-person-singular present marker. Here is a model verb for each, with the three forms you most need: the infinitive, the 1st singular, and the 3rd singular (the namesake).
| Class | 3sg marker | Model: infinitive | já (1sg) | on/ona (3sg) | oni (3pl) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | -e- | nést (to carry) | nesu | nese | nesou |
| I | -e- | brát (to take) | beru | bere | berou |
| II | -ne- | tisknout (to print, press) | tisknu | tiskne | tisknou |
| III | -je- | kupovat (to buy) | kupuju | kupuje | kupují |
| IV | -í- | prosit (to ask) | prosím | prosí | prosí |
| V | -á- | dělat (to do, make) | dělám | dělá | dělají |
Read the 3sg column top to bottom — nese, tiskne, kupuje, prosí, dělá — and you have heard all five classes. Everything else (the imperative, the past, the participles) is built on top of these present stems, so this is the foundation of the verb system.
Číšník nese pití ke stolu.
The waiter is carrying the drinks to the table.
Ten svetr ti vážně padne.
That sweater really suits you.
Sestra pracuje v nemocnici v Brně.
My sister works in a hospital in Brno.
Dědeček už špatně slyší.
Grandpa's hearing is poor now.
Co dělá tvůj brácha po škole?
What's your brother up to after school?
Why the infinitive cannot be trusted
If you have studied Spanish, you learned that the infinitive ending tells you the whole conjugation: -ar, -er, -ir sort every verb into a tidy box. Czech does not work this way. The class is set by the present stem, and verbs with identical infinitive endings can land in completely different classes.
The clearest example: mazat "to spread, smear" and dělat "to do" both end in -at, yet they conjugate differently — maže (class I, -e-) versus dělá (class V, -á-).
Maže si chleba máslem a čte si u toho noviny.
He's spreading butter on his bread and reading the paper while he does it.
Dělá to schválně, aby mě naštval.
He's doing it on purpose to annoy me.
The same trap hides in -at verbs everywhere: psát "to write" looks like it should pattern with dělat, but it is class I — píše, not psá. The infinitive -it is fairly reliable for class IV (prosit → prosí), but -out verbs mostly go to class II (tisknout → tiskne), and -ovat verbs almost all go to class III (kupovat → kupuje). None of this is visible from the infinitive shape alone.
Infinitive endings: hints, not rules
The infinitive is not useless — it tips the odds — but treat each hint as a probability, not a guarantee. The table below sums up the tendencies you can lean on while staying alert to the exceptions.
| Infinitive ends in… | Most often… | But watch out for… |
|---|---|---|
| -ovat | class III (kupovat → kupuje) | almost no exceptions — your safest bet |
| -nout | class II (tisknout → tiskne) | a few go elsewhere |
| -it | class IV (prosit → prosí) | reliable for most |
| -at | class V (dělat → dělá) | but also class I: psát → píše, brát → bere, mazat → maže |
| -ět / -et | class IV (trpět → trpí) | some are class I |
The -at row is where most learner errors live, because it is genuinely split. There is no shortcut: when you meet a new -at verb, look up or listen for its 3rd-person singular and file it away.
The markers you are memorizing
The five 3sg endings are worth saying aloud as a set, because they are mutually exclusive — a verb shows exactly one of them:
- -e — class I: nese, bere, píše, maže
- -ne — class II: tiskne, mine, padne, zapomene
- -je — class III: kryje, kupuje, pracuje, studuje
- -í — class IV: prosí, mluví, vidí, slyší
- -á — class V: dělá, čeká, hledá, ptá se
Mám strach, že na to zapomene a přijde pozdě.
I'm afraid he'll forget about it and turn up late.
Babička prosí o trochu trpělivosti.
Grandma is asking for a little patience.
Each of these classes has its own dedicated page where you will see the full six-form paradigm and the stem changes that come with it: class V (dělá), class IV (prosí), class I (nese, bere), class II (tiskne), and class III (kupuje).
Common Mistakes
❌ Karel psá dlouhý e-mail.
Incorrect — psát is class I, so the 3rd singular is píše, not the class-V *psá.
✅ Karel píše dlouhý e-mail.
Karel is writing a long email.
❌ Maminka mazá dětem chleba.
Incorrect — mazat is class I despite the -at infinitive; the 3rd singular is maže.
✅ Maminka maže dětem chleba.
Mum is buttering bread for the kids.
❌ Babička slyšá čím dál hůř.
Incorrect — slyšet is class IV (-í-), not the -á- class; the form is slyší.
✅ Babička slyší čím dál hůř.
Grandma hears worse and worse.
❌ Sestra pracá v nemocnici.
Incorrect — pracovat is class III; the -ova- of the infinitive becomes -uj-, giving pracuje.
✅ Sestra pracuje v nemocnici.
My sister works in a hospital.
❌ Oni prosijí o slevu.
Incorrect — class IV's 3rd plural is the plain -í, with no inserted -j-: prosí.
✅ Oni prosí o slevu.
They're asking for a discount.
Key Takeaways
- Czech verbs fall into five present classes, named by the 3sg marker -e / -ne / -je / -í / -á.
- The class is fixed by the present stem, not by the infinitive ending.
- Unlike Spanish's -ar/-er/-ir, Czech infinitive endings do not predict the class: mazat → maže but dělat → dělá.
- Always memorize the 3rd-person singular present with the infinitive.
- Each class is detailed on its own page; this is your orientation table.
Now practice Czech
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Start learning Czech→Related Topics
- Class V: -á- Verbs (dělat)A1 — The largest and most regular present class, ending in -á-.
- Class IV: -í- Verbs (prosit, trpět, sázet)A2 — The -í- present class, where three different infinitive endings all feed one tidy paradigm.
- Class I: -e- Verbs (nést, brát)A2 — The -e- conjugation, where the present stem can look nothing like the infinitive and has to be memorised verb by verb.
- Class II: -ne- Verbs (tisknout, minout)A2 — The -ne- conjugation, built mostly from -nout infinitives — predictable in the present, but full of perfectives whose 'present' actually means the future.
- Class III: -je- Verbs (krýt, kupovat)A2 — The -je- present class — including the enormous, fully productive -ovat group where nearly every borrowed and newly coined Czech verb ends up.