Learn Hardcore Czech: Pojďte, prosím vás, dál a zavřete za sebou dveře. - Come in, please, and close the door behind you.

pojď! – imperative for ty (informal singular) → “come!” (to one person you know well)
pojďte! – imperative for vy (formal singular or plural) → “come!” (to one stranger / politely, or to several people)

So the -te ending marks the vy-form of the imperative, used for politeness or when addressing more than one person.

What is the difference between pojďte, jděte, and přijďte?

All three come from verbs of movement:

pojďte – from jít, but used idiomatically as “come (this way / here)”. Very common in invitations and prompts:
- Pojďte dál. – “Come in.”
- Pojď sem. – “Come here.”
jděte – literally “go” (imperative of jít). Used when you are sending someone away or telling them where to go, not inviting them towards you:
- Jděte domů. – “Go home.”
přijďte – imperative of přijít = “to come (arrive)”, used especially with a time or place:
- Přijďte zítra v pět. – “Come tomorrow at five.”

In Pojďte, prosím vás, dál, pojďte is best translated as “come in”, not “go”.

Why is prosím vás in the middle with commas, and what does it add?

Prosím vás literally means “I ask you / I’m asking you”, but in everyday speech it works as a polite softener, similar to “please” or “would you, please”.

Placed between commas, it behaves like a parenthetical or a little aside:

Pojďte, prosím vás, dál…
→ “Do come in, please…”

It doesn’t change the basic meaning, but it makes the request softer and more polite, with a slightly more personal or solicitous tone than just prosím. In speech, the commas reflect natural pauses: Pojďte // prosím vás // dál…

What is the difference between prosím and prosím vás?

Both can mean “please”, but there’s a nuance:

prosím – plain “please”, neutral and very common.
- Pojďte prosím dál. – “Please come in.”
prosím vás – literally “I ask you”, but used as a slightly stronger or more personal politeness marker. It can feel:
- more insistent but polite: “please, I do ask you”
- sometimes softer / more deferential, depending on tone.

In this sentence, Pojďte, prosím vás, dál… sounds very courteous, like a polite host welcoming guests.

Could prosím vás be placed somewhere else in the sentence?

Yes. Czech word order for these politeness phrases is fairly flexible. All of these are possible, with only slight differences in emphasis:

Prosím vás, pojďte dál a zavřete za sebou dveře.
Pojďte dál, prosím vás, a zavřete za sebou dveře.
Pojďte dál a zavřete za sebou dveře, prosím vás.

The version you gave (Pojďte, prosím vás, dál…) puts the politeness phrase right after the verb pojďte, softening it immediately.

What does dál mean here, and why is it used instead of something like dovnitř?

Dál is an adverb meaning “further / farther / on”. In doorway context, the fixed phrase Pojďte dál is idiomatic Czech for:

“Come in.”
more literally: “Come further (inside).”

You could say Pojďte dovnitř (“Come inside”), but:

Pojďte dál is far more common as the standard phrase when inviting someone into a room, office, flat, etc.
dovnitř is perfectly correct, but sounds more neutral or descriptive, less like the classic “host phrase”.

Why is dveře plural, even though in English we say “the door” singular?

In Czech, dveře (door) is a plural-only noun (pluralia tantum):

You normally use it only in the plural:
- dveře jsou otevřené. – “The door is open.” (literally: “doors are open”)
Its basic form is dveře (plural), not a singular like dveř.

So zavřete za sebou dveře literally looks like “close the doors behind you”, but in normal context it simply means “close the door behind you” in English. The plural is just how Czech treats this noun.

What does za sebou mean grammatically, and why not just za vámi?

Za sebou breaks down as:

za – “behind”
sebou – instrumental form of the reflexive sebe (“oneself”)

So za sebou literally means “behind oneself”. In context:

zavřete za sebou dveře
→ “close the door behind you (yourself).”

Why not za vámi?

za vámi = “behind you” (using you as a normal pronoun), also possible:
- Zavřete za vámi dveře.
za sebou (reflexive) is more neutral and idiomatic when the subject and the “you” are the same person(s). It emphasizes that you are closing the door behind your own back, so to speak.

Both are understandable; za sebou is just more usual in this fixed phrase.

Which part is the direct object in zavřete za sebou dveře, and why is the word order like that?

The direct object is dveře (“door(s)”).

Basic structure:

zavřete – “(you) close” (imperative, vy-form)
za sebou – adverbial phrase (“behind yourself”)
dveře – direct object (“the door”)

More “English-like” word order would be:

Zavřete dveře za sebou.

That is also completely correct in Czech. But Czech word order is flexible, and zavřete za sebou dveře is very natural; it slightly foregrounds the idea “behind yourself” and then names what should be closed. In practice, both orders are used and understood without any problem.

What verb form is zavřete, and why zavřít and not zavírat?

Zavřete is the imperative (vy-form) of the perfective verb zavřít = “to close, shut (completely)”.

zavřít (perfective) – focuses on the result / completion: “to close (once, to a finished state)”.
zavírat (imperfective) – focuses on the process / repeated action: “to be closing, to close habitually”.

In zavřete za sebou dveře, the speaker wants one completed action (door ends up closed), so the perfective zavřít is the natural choice.
The imperfective imperative would be zavírejte, which would sound more like “(keep) closing / be closing”, not right here.

How polite or formal is this whole sentence?

Pojďte, prosím vás, dál a zavřete za sebou dveře. is:

polite: uses the vy-form (pojďte, zavřete) and the polite phrase prosím vás.
neutral-to-warm: appropriate in a doctor’s office, office reception, someone’s flat when they don’t know you well, etc.
Not extremely formal or stiff; it’s polite everyday speech, not bureaucratic language.

To be more informal (to a friend / child), you’d say:

Pojď dál a zavři za sebou dveře. (ty-form, no vás)

Why are there commas around prosím vás?

In Czech punctuation, prosím vás here is treated as a parenthetical expression or a kind of aside, similar to “please” when it interrupts the sentence:

Pojďte, prosím vás, dál…

The commas show that prosím vás is not a core grammatical part of the clause, but an inserted politeness phrase. This corresponds to how it’s usually said with slight pauses in speech.

How is pojďte pronounced? The consonant cluster looks difficult.

Pojďte is pronounced approximately:

[poj-tě] or [poɟce] (depending on phonetic transcription system)

Key points:

The ď (ť, ď, ň) are soft consonants, somewhat like dy/ty/ny in “did you / got you / on you” when quickly spoken.
In pojďte, the ď and t blend; many speakers effectively make it a softened ť sound followed by -te.
You don’t fully pronounce a separate d; it’s not pod-te, but a smoother cluster.

Listening to native recordings of “Pojďte dál” will help; it’s a very frequent phrase, so you can easily find audio examples.