Expressing Intentions about the Future

English has a whole construction reserved for plans and intentions: "going to" — "I'm going to study," "we're going to buy a flat." Learners instinctively hunt for the Czech equivalent and come up empty, because Czech has no "going to" auxiliary at all. Instead it spreads the work of "intention" across several ordinary strategies: the plain future, the verb chtít "to want," explicit plan-phrases like mít v plánu, and — strikingly — the present tense of motion verbs for arrangements that are already settled. This page shows you each strategy, when to reach for it, and how to stop looking for a "going to" that does not exist.

Strategy 1: the plain future already means "going to"

The most important thing to internalise is that the Czech future tense covers both English "will" and "going to." There is no distinction. Zítra napíšu ten e-mail is at once "Tomorrow I'll write that email" and "Tomorrow I'm going to write that email." Which English version fits is a matter of English nuance that Czech simply does not encode.

The choice between the perfective future (napíšu, uklidíme — a single completed plan) and the imperfective future (budu studovat — an ongoing or repeated one) is driven by aspect, not by "will vs going to." For the meaning "I intend to," either can carry it; pick the aspect by whether the planned action is bounded or ongoing.

Strategy 2: chtít — wanting to do something

To foreground the intention itself — that you want or mean to do something — use chtít "to want" plus an infinitive. This adds the speaker's will to the bare future, much like English "I want to" or a strong "I'm planning to":

Note that chci jet is present-tense chtít with an infinitive — chtít itself stays in the present and the infinitive names the planned action. This is the natural way to answer "what are your plans?"

Strategy 3: mít v plánu / plánovat — explicit plans

When the plan is deliberate and you want to say so outright, Czech has explicit plan-phrases: mít v plánu "to have in plan / to plan to" and the verb plánovat "to plan." Both take either an infinitive or a že-clause. These are slightly more formal and emphatic than the bare future:

These phrases are useful when you want the planning to be the point — agendas, proposals, careful speech. In casual conversation the plain future or chtít is more common.

Strategy 4: the present of motion verbs for settled arrangements

This is the strategy that surprises English speakers most. For a trip or movement that is already arranged, Czech often uses the present tense of a motion verb (jet, letět, jít) with a future-time adverb, and context alone carries the future meaning:

This parallels English "We're flying to Rome on Friday," where the present continuous expresses a fixed arrangement. The difference is that Czech uses the plain present (letíme, not a continuous form, which Czech lacks) and relies entirely on the time adverb (zítra, v pátek, večer) to flag that it is future. Without that adverb, jedu do Brna would read as "I'm on my way to Brno right now."

Choosing among the strategies

They overlap freely. "I'm going to Prague tomorrow" can be Zítra pojedu do Prahy (future, announcing a decision), Zítra jedu do Prahy (present, the trip is set), or Chci zítra jet do Prahy (foregrounding the wish). All are natural; the shade of meaning differs.

Comparison with English

English speakers come with a tidy three-way split — "will" (prediction/decision), "going to" (intention/evidence), present continuous (fixed arrangement) — and look for three Czech equivalents. There is only really one tense plus some lexical helpers. The whole "will vs going to" distinction collapses into the single Czech future, and the "fixed arrangement" sense (English present continuous) is handled by the plain present of motion verbs. So the mapping is many-to-few: where English uses grammar to separate prediction from intention, Czech leaves that to context, time adverbs, and optional verbs like chtít. Do not try to build a periphrastic "going to"; you will only produce something no Czech says.

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

• Czech has no "going to" auxiliary; the plain future already covers both "will" and "going to."
• Use chtít + infinitive (chci jet) to foreground the intention or wish.
• Use mít v plánu / plánovat for a deliberate, stated plan, especially in neutral-to-formal register.
• For a fixed trip or appointment, use the present of a motion verb plus a time adverb (zítra jedu, v pátek letíme) — context makes it future.
• The English "will / going to / present continuous" three-way split collapses into one Czech future plus optional helpers; let time adverbs and context carry the "planned" sense.