The Polite 'vy' — Czech Grammar

Czech has two ways of saying you to one person, and choosing between them is not optional. is for family, close friends, children and animals. is for everyone else, and using the wrong one is the social mistake foreigners make most often.

Kde pracuješ?
Where do you work? (to a friend)
Kde pracujete?
Where do you work? (to a stranger)

It Takes Plural Endings

is grammatically plural even when it means one person. The verb takes the second-person plural ending, and so does everything else in the sentence that agrees with it.

Odkud jste?
Where are you from?
Máte otevřeno?
Are you open?
Vidíte to?
Do you see that?

The Participle Is the Exception

In the past tense the participle agrees with the real person, not with the grammatical plural. Speaking to one woman, it takes the feminine singular ending while the auxiliary stays plural.

Proč jste to udělala?
Why did you do that?
Slyšela jste tu kapelu?
Have you heard that band?

Its Other Cases

The object forms are those of the plural throughout: , , . There are no separate polite forms to learn.

Dám vám aspirin.
I'll give you an aspirin.
Bolí vás něco?
Does anything hurt?

The Possessive

The possessive is and it too declines as a plural, whoever is being addressed.

Je to váš první den v práci?
Is it your first day at work?

Speaking to Several People

Because is already plural, nothing changes when you address a group: the same forms serve, and the participle then takes a genuine plural ending rather than a singular one.

Kluci, vidíte to?
Guys, do you see that?
Jste šťastní.
You are happy.

The Imperative

The polite command is the second-person plural imperative, and it is what a shop assistant, a waiter or a doctor will use with you all day.

Pojďte dál.
Come in.
Zavolejte mi.
Call me.

Moving to ty

The switch is made deliberately and usually offered by the older person or the one senior in rank. Until it is offered, keep to , even with someone of your own age.

Jak se máte?
How are you?

In the course

Sentences from Lingora’s Czech course

69 of the course's 500 sentences use this, the first in lesson 34. A few of them, with the words “The Polite 'vy'” is about in bold:

To je nesmysl. Oba se mýlíte.
How ridiculous. You are both wrong.
Lesson 163
Vrátíte se zítra?
Will you be back tomorrow?
Lesson 258
Jste první, kdo si toho všiml!
You are the first person to notice!
Lesson 337

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