Two of the most useful commands in Czech come from its two most basic verbs, být ("to be") and mít ("to have"). Their imperatives — buď ("be!") and měj ("have!") — are mildly irregular, so you cannot derive them by the normal rules, but they are so frequent that you should simply learn them as fixed items. They turn up every single day, above all in well-wishes and goodbyes: a Czech speaker says Měj se! ("Take care!") the way an English speaker says "See you," and reaches for Buď v klidu! ("Take it easy!") to calm someone down. Master these and you immediately sound more like a person and less like a textbook.
The two paradigms
The imperative in Czech has three forms: a familiar singular (to one person you're on ty terms with), a "let's" first-person plural in -me, and a plural-or-polite form in -te (to a group, or to one person you address formally with vy).
| být — to be | mít — to have | |
|---|---|---|
| 2sg (familiar) | buď | měj |
| 1pl ("let's…") | buďme | mějme |
| 2pl / polite | buďte | mějte |
Notice that both stems end in a soft consonant — the ď of buď and the j of měj — and that the plural simply adds -me / -te to that base. The only thing you really have to memorize is the bare singular form; the rest is mechanical. Do watch the spelling: it is buď with ď (a soft d), and měj with ě (e with a háček), not bud or mej.
Buď opatrný, ať nespadneš.
Be careful you don't fall. (said to a man)
Mějte se hezky, na shledanou!
Take care, goodbye! (to a group or formally)
buď — "be!"
buď is the go-to verb for telling someone what state or attitude to adopt. It is constantly followed by an adjective, which must agree in gender with the person you are addressing — a point English never forces you to think about.
Buď zticha, prosím tě.
Be quiet, please.
Buď v klidu, všechno zvládneme.
Take it easy, we'll manage everything.
Buď trpělivá, hned to bude.
Be patient, it'll be ready in a moment. (said to a woman)
The negative is formed, as always, with the prefix ne-: nebuď ("don't be"). This is hugely common for talking someone down from a mood.
Nebuď smutný, zítra se uvidíme.
Don't be sad, we'll see each other tomorrow. (said to a man)
Nebuďte nervózní, zkouška je jednoduchá.
Don't be nervous, the exam is easy. (to a group or formally)
The "let's" form buďme is the natural way to say "let's be…," very common with shared resolutions.
Buďme upřímní, ten plán nefunguje.
Let's be honest, that plan isn't working.
měj — "have!" and the everyday goodbye
měj literally means "have!", but its single most important job is the leave-taking phrase Měj se! — short for Měj se hezky! / Měj se dobře!, literally "have yourself nicely/well," i.e. "Take care! / All the best!" This is one of the most frequent goodbyes in spoken Czech, and you should bank it as a chunk right now.
Tak já jdu, měj se!
Right, I'm off — take care!
Mějte se hezky a brzy se zase uvidíme.
Take care, and see you again soon. (to a group or formally)
The same verb gives you the warm, everyday Měj hezký den! ("Have a nice day!"), which has spread partly under English influence but is now thoroughly normal.
Měj hezký den a pozdravuj doma!
Have a nice day, and say hi to everyone at home!
Mějte krásný víkend.
Have a lovely weekend. (to a group or formally)
Why isolate these two?
It would be reasonable to ask why buď and měj deserve their own page rather than sitting in the general list of irregular imperatives. Three reasons. First, frequency: as the verbs "be" and "have," they outrank almost everything else, so their commands are everywhere. Second, irregularity: you genuinely cannot build them with the normal imperative rules from the formation overview, so they have to be memorized. Third, social weight: they are woven into the rituals of greeting and parting — the phatic small talk that holds a conversation together — and getting them right or wrong is immediately noticeable to a native speaker.
A note on register and softening
A bare imperative is direct. Among friends and family that directness is perfectly friendly (Buď zticha!, Měj se!), but for a polite request to a stranger or superior you generally reach for the -te form and pad it with prosím ("please"), or switch to the conditional for real politeness.
Buďte tak hodný a podržte mi dveře, prosím.
Would you be so kind as to hold the door for me, please? (said to a man, formally)
Prosím vás, mějte chvíli strpení.
Please, bear with me a moment. (formal)
Common Mistakes
❌ Být opatrný!
Incorrect — that's the infinitive 'to be'; a command needs the imperative buď.
✅ Buď opatrný!
Be careful! (said to a man)
❌ Buď opatrný!
Incorrect when addressed to a woman — the adjective must agree with a female addressee, so opatrný should become opatrná.
✅ Buď opatrná!
Be careful! (said to a woman)
❌ Měj se dobrý!
Incorrect — měj se needs an adverb of manner, not an adjective.
✅ Měj se dobře!
Take care! / All the best!
❌ Měj se!
Incorrect when said to your boss — too familiar for a formal relationship; use the -te form Mějte se.
✅ Mějte se!
Take care! (formal or to a group)
❌ Ne buď smutný.
Incorrect — the negative ne- is a prefix written together with the verb.
✅ Nebuď smutný.
Don't be sad. (said to a man)
The two errors worth flagging hardest are the infinitive-for-command slip (English "be careful" tempts you into Být opatrný) and the adjective agreement in things like buď opatrný / opatrná — Czech makes you tailor the adjective to whether you're addressing a man or a woman, something English never requires.
Key Takeaways
- být → buď / buďme / buďte; mít → měj / mějme / mějte. Memorize them as irregular wholes.
- Spell them carefully: buď (ď), měj (ě).
- buď
- an agreeing adjective gives state commands (Buď opatrný / opatrná); nebuď negates them.
- Měj se! / Mějte se! / Měj hezký den! are core everyday goodbyes — learn them as ready-made chunks.
Now practice Czech
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Start learning Czech→Related Topics
- Irregular ImperativesA2 — The handful of high-frequency commands — buď, měj, jez, věz, pojď, pojeď, vezmi, pověz, pomoz — that cannot be derived from the present tense and must simply be memorized.
- Forming the ImperativeA2 — How Czech builds the command forms (2sg, 1pl 'let's', 2pl/polite) from the present stem, with the zero-ending, -i, and -ej patterns.
- Forming the ImperativeA2 — Reference for building the singular, 1pl, and 2pl imperative across verb classes.
- Phatic Talk and Small TalkA2 — Ritual openers, well-being exchanges, and conversational filler — what to say to keep a relationship warm.
- Greetings and PolitenessA1 — The core greetings, leave-takings, and politeness formulas, anchored in the tykání/vykání distinction.