Irregular Present: chtít | Czech Grammar

Chtít "to want" is irregular in a way that catches every learner off guard: its present tense does not look like its infinitive. From the infinitive chtít you would never guess the "I" form is chci. This page is about exactly that — the present-tense conjugation and the sound change that produces it. (For how to use chtít — with objects, infinitives, and aby-clauses — see chtít — want, will, intend; for the verb laid out in every tense, see the reference entry.)

The paradigm

Person	Present	English
já	chci	I want
ty	chceš	you want
on / ona / ono	chce	he / she / it wants
my	chceme	we want
vy	chcete	you (pl./formal) want
oni / ony / ona	chtějí	they want

The negative is perfectly regular — just prefix ne-: nechci, nechceš, nechce, nechceme, nechcete, nechtějí.

The sound change: cht → chc

Here is what is actually going on, because once you see it the forms stop looking random. The infinitive and the past tense keep the original cluster -cht-: chtít, chtěl. But in five of the six present-tense forms, that final -t- softens (assibilates) to -c-, turning the cluster -cht- into -chc-:

cht- → chc-: chci, chceš, chce, chceme, chcete

The ch never moves; it is the t that shifts to c. So the present stem is chc-, and onto it go endings that look just like a regular -e- verb of the nese / bere class: -eš, -e, -eme, -ete. The only ripple is the first person, where you get chci (ending in -i) rather than the *chcu you might predict — chci is the standard written form.

Chceme se učit česky.

We want to learn Czech.

Chce nový telefon, ten starý už mu nefunguje.

He wants a new phone, his old one doesn't work anymore.

Co chceš k pití?

What do you want to drink?

💡

Picture the verb as having two faces: the cht- face (infinitive chtít, past chtěl, third plural chtějí) and the chc- face (the rest of the present). Every present form except chtějí wears the chc- face.

The third plural: chtějí

The exception inside the exception is the third-person plural chtějí "they want." It does not use the chc- stem — it falls back to a chtěj- stem and takes the -í ending of the prosí (class IV) verbs. So the present tense is really a hybrid: an -e--conjugation body (chceš, chce, chceme, chcete) bolted onto an -í-conjugation third plural (chtějí). No single regular class accounts for the whole paradigm, which is exactly why chtít gets filed as irregular.

Děti nechtějí spát, jsou ještě nabité energií.

The kids don't want to sleep, they're still full of energy.

Chtějí jít na ten koncert, ale lístky jsou drahé.

They want to go to that concert, but the tickets are expensive.

💡

Register note: in Common (spoken) Czech you will hear chtěj or chtějou for the third plural. They are fine in conversation but chtějí is the standard written form — write chtějí, recognise the others. (informal / regional)

What chtít connects to

Although this page is about the present forms, you cannot drill them without seeing what comes after the verb, so here is the minimum. Chtít takes either an infinitive (wanting to do something) or an accusative object (wanting a thing):

Chci jít domů, jsem unavený.

I want to go home, I'm tired. (+ infinitive)

Chci kávu s mlékem.

I want a coffee with milk. (+ accusative object)

And a preview that you will be grateful for: the bare present chci "I want" is blunt — fine among friends, but abrupt when ordering or asking a stranger. The polite move is the conditional chtěl bych / chtěla bych "I would like," which softens the demand into a request:

Chtěl bych vodu, prosím.

I'd like some water, please. (polite; male speaker)

Chtěla bych se zeptat na jednu věc.

I'd like to ask about one thing. (polite; female speaker)

The conditional has its own page — polite requests — and its own logic (it is built on the past participle chtěl/chtěla plus bych). For now, just register that the chtěl- stem you see in the past is the same one that powers the polite "I would like."

Common Mistakes

The errors all come from expecting chtít to behave like the regular verb it resembles.

❌ Chtím kávu.

Incorrect — invents a regular -í- present from the infinitive chtít.

✅ Chci kávu.

I want a coffee. (present stem is chc-, not chtí-)

❌ Oni chcí jít ven.

Incorrect — wrongly extends the chc- stem to the third plural.

✅ Oni chtějí jít ven.

They want to go out. (third plural reverts to chtěj-)

Mixing up the cht- face and the chc- face — using the past/infinitive stem in the present:

❌ Chtíme se podívat na film.

Incorrect — present 'we' is chceme, not chtíme.

✅ Chceme se podívat na film.

We want to watch a film.

And the first-person form: it is chci, not the over-regularised *chcu (though chcu is heard in some dialects, it is non-standard):

❌ Chcu ti něco říct.

Non-standard — the standard first-person form is chci.

✅ Chci ti něco říct.

I want to tell you something.

Key Takeaways

The present stem is chc- (the infinitive's -cht- softens to -chc-): chci, chceš, chce, chceme, chcete.
The third plural breaks the pattern: chtějí, built on the chtěj- stem — memorise it separately.
The first person is chci, not *chcu; the negative is regular (nechci…).
Past and infinitive keep the cht- stem (chtěl, chtít), which also feeds the polite conditional chtěl bych "I would like."

Now practice Czech

Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.

Start learning Czech→