Class IV: -í- Verbs (prosit, trpět, sázet) | Czech Grammar

The -í- class (traditional class IV) is the good news of the Czech present tense. Its endings are completely regular, and three different-looking infinitives — those in -it, -ět, and -et — all pour into the same single pattern. Once you can conjugate prosit, you can conjugate hundreds of the most useful verbs in the language, including mluvit, vid ět, slyšet, and rozumět.

One paradigm, three infinitive doors

The class is named after its present-tense vowel -í-. Whatever the infinitive looks like, the present endings are identical: -ím, -íš, -í, -íme, -íte, -í. The three model verbs below differ only in the infinitive; from the present tense on they march in lockstep.

Person	prosit (ask, beg)	trpět (suffer)	sázet (plant, bet)
já	prosím	trpím	sázím
ty	prosíš	trpíš	sázíš
on/ona/ono	prosí	trpí	sází
my	prosíme	trpíme	sázíme
vy	prosíte	trpíte	sázíte
oni/ony	prosí	trpí	sází

The reason three infinitives collapse into one present is historical: the soft consonants and front vowels that once distinguished -it, -ět and -et verbs levelled out in the present, leaving the single ending -í-. For the learner the payoff is huge — you do not have to remember which sub-type a verb belongs to in order to conjugate its present. (One small caveat: the sázet sub-type also has a standard longer 3rd-person plural sázejí beside sází — the single place where this class's 3rd singular and 3rd plural can diverge.)

Prosím tě, půjč mi padesát korun do zítřka.

Please, lend me fifty crowns until tomorrow.

Trpím nespavostí už několik měsíců a nic nezabírá.

I've been suffering from insomnia for several months and nothing helps.

Na zahradě sázíme stromy každé jaro.

We plant trees in the garden every spring.

The two endings to fix in your memory

Two slots carry most of the meaning and cause most of the slips:

1st person singular -ím (prosím, mluvím, vidím). This long -ím is the giveaway of the class. Beginners coming from the -á- class wrongly say prosám; there is no -á- anywhere here.
3rd person -í, which is shared by both the singular and the plural: on prosí "he asks" and oni prosí "they ask" are spelled and pronounced identically.

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The 3rd-person singular and 3rd-person plural are the same word in this class: prosí can mean "he/she asks" or "they ask". Only the subject or the context tells them apart — there is no extra plural marker, so resist the urge to invent one like *prosijí.

A roster of high-frequency members

These are verbs you will use in your first weeks of Czech, and they are all class IV:

Infinitive	Meaning	já form	on/oni form
mluvit	to speak	mluvím	mluví
učit (se)	to teach / learn	učím	učí
myslet	to think	myslím	myslí
vidět	to see	vidím	vidí
slyšet	to hear	slyším	slyší
rozumět	to understand	rozumím	rozumí

Mluvíš moc rychle, vůbec tě nestíhám.

You speak too fast, I can't keep up with you at all.

Slyšíš to taky? Někdo klepe na dveře.

Do you hear that too? Someone is knocking on the door.

Myslím, že máš pravdu, ale počkám si na druhý názor.

I think you're right, but I'll wait for a second opinion.

Učím se česky teprve tři roky, tak mě omluvte.

I've only been learning Czech for three years, so excuse me.

Note that myslet has the equally standard variant myslit; both give the same present myslím. And rozumět, like pomáhat and věřit, governs the dative — see Verb Government — so it is "I understand him" = rozumím mu.

Nerozumím téhle větě, můžeš mi to vysvětlit jinak?

I don't understand this sentence, can you explain it to me differently?

A whole sub-family of class IV verbs describes states and bodily senses, and these are exactly the verbs you reach for to describe a scene: ležet "to lie", sedět "to sit", hořet "to burn", letět "to fly", bdít "to be awake" all conjugate ležím / leží, sedím / sedí, hořím / hoří. (Watch out for stát "to stand", which looks like it belongs in this group but is irregular — stojím / stojí.) They feel intuitive once you notice they share the -ět → -í door with trpět.

Pes leží u krbu a ani se nehne.

The dog is lying by the fireplace and won't budge an inch.

Děti sedí v kruhu a poslouchají pohádku.

The children are sitting in a circle listening to a fairy tale.

Don't confuse class IV (-í-) with class V (-á-)

The single most useful contrast for a beginner is -í- (class IV) against -á- (class V, the dělat type). Both are huge, both are regular, and learners constantly cross-wire them, producing prosám or dělí. Keep the two vowels physically apart in your head:

Person	Class IV: prosit	Class V: dělat
já	prosím	dělám
on/ona	prosí	dělá
oni	prosí	dělají

The infinitive does not reliably tell you which is which — prosit ends in -it and dělat in -at, but plenty of -at verbs are not class V at all (see the five classes overview). The safe move is to memorize the 1st-person singular: if it is -ím, you are in class IV; if it is -ám, you are in class V.

Dělám si srandu, neber to vážně.

I'm just kidding, don't take it seriously.

Standard versus colloquial 3rd plural

In careful, written, and broadcast Czech the 3rd-person plural is the plain -í: mluví, prosí, trpí. In everyday spoken Czech (obecná čeština) you will constantly hear a longer colloquial plural in -ej/-ěj: mluvěj, prosej, trpěj, sázej. It is fine to recognize, but in writing and any formal setting keep the -í form.

Sousedi pořád mluvěj o stěhování.

The neighbours keep talking about moving. (Colloquial spoken Czech for the standard mluví — fine in everyday speech, but not in writing.)

Common Mistakes

❌ Já mluvám česky.

Incorrect — mluvit is an -í- verb, so the 1st person is mluvím; the -á- belongs to a different class.

✅ Já mluvím česky.

I speak Czech.

❌ Prosim tě o pomoc.

Incorrect — the í is long; writing 'prosim' without the length mark is a spelling error.

✅ Prosím tě o pomoc.

I'm asking you for help.

❌ Oni prosijí o slevu.

Incorrect — the 3rd-person plural is the plain -í; there is no inserted -j-.

✅ Oni prosí o slevu.

They're asking for a discount.

❌ Rozumím tě, neboj se.

Incorrect — rozumět governs the dative, so 'you' is the dative ti, not the accusative tě.

✅ Rozumím ti, neboj se.

I understand you, don't worry.

❌ Vidu auto před domem.

Incorrect — vidět is class IV; the 1st person is vidím, not the class-I ending -u.

✅ Vidím auto před domem.

I see a car in front of the house.

Key Takeaways

Class IV has one present paradigm — -ím, -íš, -í, -íme, -íte, -í — fed by three infinitive types (-it, -ět, -et).
The 1st singular -ím is the class's signature; the 3rd singular and 3rd plural are identical -í.
Heavy hitters mluvit, vidět, slyšet, myslet, učit, rozumět all live here.
Colloquial speech adds an -ej/-ěj plural (mluvěj); keep -í in writing.
Always mark the length on í — leaving it off is a real orthographic mistake.

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