Past tense

Minulý čas, or the past tense is used to describe actions that happened in the past. Here’s how to form the past tense for regular verbs and reflexive verbs.

Regular Verbs

1. Verb: dělat (to do) – replace the last letter t with l, la, li or ly
   • Past tense forms:
     • On dělal (He did)
     • Ona dělala (She did)
     • Oni dělali (They did – masculine)
     • Ony dělaly (They did – feminine)
   • Structure – you can see that we’re replacing the last letter -t with a new ending:
     • For masculine singular subjects, use the base verb + “l“: dělal.
     • For feminine singular subjects, use the base verb + “la“: dělala.
     • For neuter singular subjects, use the base verb + “lo“: dělo.
     • For plural subjects, add “li” for masculine (oni dělali) and “ly” for feminine (ony dělaly).
2. Conjugation for personal pronouns:
   JÁ, TY, MY, VY + BÝT + VERB
   ON, ONA, ONO, ONI, ONY + VERB
   • já jsem dělal/a (I did)
   • ty jsi dělal/a (You did)
   • on dělal (He did), ona dělala (She did), ono dělalo (It did) … without the verb být!
   • my jsme dělali (We did)
   • vy jste dělali (You all did)
   • oni dělali (They did – masculine), ony dělaly (They did – feminine) … without the verb být!

Reflexive Verbs

1. Verb: učit se (to learn)
   • Past tense forms:
     • já jsem se učil/a (I learned)
     • ty ses učil/a (You learned) … note, here is an exception, we never write “jsi se”
     • on se učil (He learned), ona se učila (She learned), ono se učilo (It learned)
     • my jsme se učili (We learned)
     • vy jste se učili (You all learned)
     • oni se učili (They learned – masculine), ony se učily (They learned – feminine)
2. Structure:
   • Reflexive verbs include the reflexive pronoun “se” which changes position in the sentence.
   • In the past tense, the reflexive pronoun typically follows the auxiliary verb “být” (to be).
   • The auxiliary verb “být” is conjugated to match the subject.

Key Notes:

• Past Tense Auxiliary Verb: The verb “být” is used as an auxiliary verb in forming the past tense for many verbs. The conjugation of “být” in past tense is:
  • já jsem (I am)
  • ty jsi (you are)
  • on/ona/ono je (he/she/it is)
  • my jsme (we are)
  • vy jste (you all are)
  • oni/ony jsou (they are)
• Second Position Rule: In Czech, the verb “být” usually takes the second position in the sentence.

By understanding these rules and structures, you can effectively form the past tense in Czech for both regular and reflexive verbs.