The Verb 'být'

01

The Negative Is a Separate Word

Every other Czech verb is negated with the prefix ne-, and být follows that rule in five of its six forms. The third person singular does not: is not is není, not neje.

• nejsem, nejsi, není, nejsme, nejste, nejsou

• Nejsem unavený.

  I'm not tired.

• Není doma.

  He isn't at home.

02

Past and Future

The past is the participle byl with the ordinary auxiliary; the future is a set of forms of its own, which need no second verb after them.

• byl jsem, byla jsem, bylo, byli jsme
• budu, budeš, bude, budeme, budete, budou

• Byla jsem v Praze.

  I was in Prague.

• Zítra budu doma.

  I'll be at home tomorrow.

03

Saying What Something Is

To identify a thing, Czech opens with the neuter to whatever the gender of the thing named, and the verb agrees with the noun that follows.

• To je můj kolega.

  This is my colleague.

• To jsou moje děti.

  These are my children.

Where English asks what is it?, Czech asks co to je? and answers in the same frame.

• Co to je?

  What is it?

04

Existence

On its own, without a complement, být means that something is there. The negative of this is není, and the missing thing keeps its ordinary nominative.

• Je tu banán a pomeranč.

  There's a banana and an orange here.

• Není tu žádné jídlo.

  There's no food here.

05

Naming a Role

After být, a noun that simply identifies the subject stands in the nominative. A noun naming a temporary role, a stage or a function stands in the instrumental instead, and the shift is a real difference in meaning rather than a matter of style.

• Je učitel.

  He is a teacher.

• Byl prvním člověkem na Měsíci.

  He was the first man on the Moon.

06

Weather and How You Feel

With an adverb rather than an adjective, je makes a sentence with no subject at all, used for weather and for states of the world. Add a person in the dative and the same frame reports how that person feels.

• Je zima.

  It's cold.

• Je mi zima.

  I'm cold.

• Je tu hlučno.

  It's noisy here.

07

Standing In for a Whole Clause

Být also carries the weight of a sentence whose real content sits in a following clause. The verb agrees with the neuter to, not with anything in the clause after it.

• Je jasné, že nepřijde.

  It's clear that he won't come.

• To je pravda.

  That's true.

08

Dropped Where English Needs It

Czech leaves být out of the third person past, and it is absent from many short answers and set phrases where English insists on a verb.

• Přišel pozdě.

  He arrived late.

• Pravda.

  That's true.