Class II: -ne- Verbs (tisknout, minout) | Czech Grammar

After the unruly class I, the -ne- class — traditionally class II — comes as a relief. Its endings are identical to class I, but its stems are far better behaved: almost every member comes from an infinitive in -nout, and you can usually predict the whole present tense just by lopping off that -out. The real subtlety is not the conjugation but the meaning: a great many of these verbs are perfective, which means their present-tense forms do not describe the present at all — they describe the future.

The two model verbs: tisknout and minout

Person	tisknout (stem tiskn-)	minout (stem min-)
(já)	tisknu	minu
(ty)	tiskneš	mineš
(on / ona / ono)	tiskne	mine
(my)	tiskneme	mineme
(vy)	tisknete	minete
(oni / ony / ona)	tisknou	minou

The endings are exactly those of class I — -u, -eš, -e, -eme, -ete, -ou — and the characteristic -ne- you see in tiskne, mine is just the stem-final -n- meeting the ending. tisknout ("to press, to print") is imperfective; minout ("to pass, to miss") is perfective. Together they show the two faces of the class.

Tisknu to už podruhé a pořád to vyjíždí křivě.

I'm printing it for the second time and it still comes out crooked. (tisknout, imperfective → true present)

Kvůli mlze málem minu sjezd z dálnice.

Because of the fog I almost miss the motorway exit. (minout, perfective → reads as imminent/future)

The present stem is predictable

This is the good news that sets class II apart from class I. In class I you cannot guess beru from brát; in class II you almost always can. Drop the -out of the infinitive and you have the present stem; add -u and you have the 1sg. There are no wild vowel swaps.

Infinitive	Meaning	Present stem	1sg	3pl
tisknout	to press, print	tiskn-	tisknu	tisknou
minout	to pass, miss	min-	minu	minou
padnout	to fall, to fit	padn-	padnu	padnou
křiknout	to shout (once)	křikn-	křiknu	křiknou
leknout se	to get startled	lekn-	leknu se	leknou se
zapomenout	to forget	zapomen-	zapomenu	zapomenou

Když na něj křikneš, hned se lekne.

If you shout at him, he'll get startled at once. (křiknout, leknout se — both class II)

Ta bunda ti perfektně padne, vezmi si ji.

That jacket will fit you perfectly, take it. (padnout → padne)

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Class II is the predictable cousin of class I. For a -nout verb, the present is reliable: tisknout → tisknu, minout → minu, padnout → padnu. You rarely need to memorise the stem separately — just remember it's a -ne- verb and not, say, an -ovat verb.

Many are perfective, so their "present" is future

This is the conceptual heart of the page. A large share of class-II verbs denote a momentary, one-off action — a single push, a single shout, a sudden fall, the instant of forgetting. Such verbs are perfective, and a perfective verb in Czech has no real present tense: its present-tense forms point to the future. So zapomenu does not mean "I am forgetting" — it means "I will forget". Vzpomenu si means "I'll remember (it)". This is the same mechanism described on the perfective present = future page; class II is where you meet a big batch of these verbs at once.

Zapomenu na to, hned jak vyjdu ze dveří.

I'll forget about it the moment I walk out the door. (zapomenout, perfective → future)

Počkej, vzpomenu si, jak se ten film jmenoval.

Hang on, I'll remember what that film was called. (vzpomenout si → future)

Stiskneš to tlačítko a chvilku počkáš.

You press that button and wait a moment. (stisknout, perfective — an instruction about a single act)

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Before you trust a class-II "present", check the aspect. If the verb is perfective (a one-off act: zapomenout, vzpomenout si, padnout, stisknout), its present-tense form means the future. Only an imperfective class-II verb (tisknout, táhnout) gives you a genuine "happening now".

For the learner the takeaway is a warning: do not assume that a class-II form you build describes what is happening now. If the verb is perfective, tisknu ("I'll print it") is a promise about the future, not a report of the present. To say "I am pressing/printing it right now" you need an imperfective verb — and indeed tisknout itself is imperfective, while stisknout (with the prefix s-) is its perfective partner.

A glance ahead: the past tense is not so tidy

Class II's neatness ends at the present tense. In the past, the -nou- of the infinitive behaves inconsistently — and since you will build the past from the l-participle, it is worth previewing the mess. Some verbs drop it to a bare consonant; some keep it as -nu-; and a couple are outright irregular.

Infinitive	Past (masc. sg)	What happens
tisknout	tiskl	-nou- dropped
padnout	padl	-nou- dropped
minout	minul	-nu- kept
zapomenout	zapomněl	irregular (-měl)

Skoro jsem minul svou zastávku, jak jsem byl unavený.

I nearly missed my stop, I was so tired. (minout → minul, -nu- kept)

Úplně jsem zapomněl, že máš dneska narozeniny!

I completely forgot it's your birthday today! (zapomenout → zapomněl, irregular)

There is no clean rule that tells you in advance which path a given verb takes — you learn the past form per verb, just as you do for the genuinely irregular zapomenout. Mercifully, the present tense, the focus of this page, stays predictable throughout.

Class II vs class I at a glance

	Class I (nese / bere)	Class II (tiskne)
Endings	-u, -eš, -e, -eme, -ete, -ou	-u, -eš, -e, -eme, -ete, -ou
Present stem from infinitive	unpredictable (brát → ber-)	predictable (tisknout → tiskn-)
Typical infinitive	-st, -át, -ézt…	-nout

The endings are the same; the difference is reliability. Where class I forces you to memorise each stem, class II hands it to you — provided you remember the verb belongs here and isn't, say, a class-V -ovat type.

Common Mistakes

❌ Zapomenu na to teď.

Incorrect — intended as 'I'm forgetting it now', but zapomenu is perfective, so it means 'I will forget', not a present action.

✅ Zapomínám na věci čím dál víc.

I forget things more and more. (imperfective zapomínat for a present, habitual sense)

❌ Oni tisknají letáky.

Incorrect — class II takes -ou in the 3pl, not the -ají of the -á- class.

✅ Oni tisknou letáky.

They're printing flyers.

❌ Já mineš tu zatáčku.

Incorrect — -eš is the 2sg; the 1sg of minout is minu.

✅ Minu tu zatáčku, jestli nezpomalíš.

I'll miss that bend if you don't slow down.

❌ Včera jsem to zapoměl.

Incorrect spelling — the mn group keeps its n before ě: it is zapomněl, never 'zapoměl'.

✅ Včera jsem to zapomněl.

I forgot it yesterday.

Key Takeaways

Class II (the -ne- class) shares class I's endings -u, -eš, -e, -eme, -ete, -ou, on stems ending in -n-.
Its members come mostly from -nout infinitives, and the present stem is predictable: tisknout → tisknu, minout → minu.
Many are perfective, so their present-tense forms mean the future: zapomenu = "I'll forget", vzpomenu si = "I'll remember".
The past is irregular across the class — -nou- may drop (tiskl), stay (minul), or change (zapomněl); learn it per verb.
Don't confuse class II's predictable present with class I's memorised stems — same endings, different reliability.

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