Včera jsem koupil chleba.

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Breakdown of Včera jsem koupil chleba.

• včera: yesterday
• koupit: to buy
• chléb: the bread

Questions & Answers about Včera jsem koupil chleba.

Why is there no article (like the or a) before chleba? How do you know if it’s definite or indefinite?

Czech simply doesn’t have articles. Definiteness or indefiniteness is inferred from context, word order or by using demonstratives (e.g. ten chleba for “that bread”) or pronouns (e.g. nějaký chleba for “some bread”). Here Včera jsem koupil chleba means “I bought bread (some bread)” in a general sense.

What role does jsem play in the sentence? Why can’t we just say koupil chleba?

To form the past tense Czech uses the auxiliary verb být (to be) in the present tense plus the past participle of the main verb.

• jsem is the first-person singular present form of být.
• koupil is the past participle of koupit.
  Without jsem the sentence wouldn’t correctly signal “I did this in the past.” In very colloquial speech people might drop auxiliaries, but standard Czech requires it.

Why is koupil not inflected for person like in English, and how does it agree grammatically?