Verbal Prefixes — Czech Grammar

Czech builds new verbs by putting a syllable in front of an old one. The prefix does two things at once: it adds a meaning, usually one of direction, and it makes the verb perfective. One root can support a dozen verbs this way, and recognising the pieces is far quicker than learning each as a separate word.

Direction, on Verbs of Motion

With a verb of going or carrying, the prefix keeps its literal sense and tells you which way. The root alone gives a whole family.

- to arrive
- to leave
- to go in
- to go out
- to reach, to run out

Přišel pozdě.
He arrived late.
Chci vejít do obchodu.
I want to go into the shop.

The Same Prefixes Elsewhere

On other verbs the direction turns into something you can still feel but would not translate literally. is out, and so it also means using something up or getting it out of somewhere.

to write - to write out
to sell - to sell out

Vyprodáme všechno.
We'll sell everything out.

Two Prefixes Worth Knowing

carries an action through to its end, and means across, over, or doing the thing again. Both are productive, so you will meet them on verbs you have never seen.

- to finish watching
- to translate

Už jsi dokoukal to DVD?
Have you finished watching that DVD?

Prefixes That Only Finish the Job

Sometimes the prefix adds no meaning of its own at all and does nothing but make the verb perfective. Which prefix a given verb takes for this purpose has to be learned; it is not predictable.

Uvařila oběd.
She made lunch.

Back to Imperfective

A prefixed verb is perfective, which leaves it with no present tense. To get the prefixed meaning back into the present, Czech lengthens the verb again with a suffix, and the result is imperfective once more.

Přepisuji ten text.
I'm rewriting that text.

This is why a Czech verb often comes in three: a plain imperfective, a prefixed perfective, and a longer imperfective built back from it.

Každý den přepisuji texty.
I rewrite texts every day.

In the course

Sentences from Lingora’s Czech course

144 of the course's 500 sentences use this, the first in lesson 9. A few of them, with the words “Verbal Prefixes” is about in bold:

Jo. Pojďme na čínské jídlo.
Yes. Let's eat Chinese food.
Lesson 127
Vrátíte se zítra?
Will you be back tomorrow?
Lesson 258
Jděte se podívat do kuchyně. Je tak malá.
Go and check out (pl.) the kitchen. It is so small.
Lesson 322

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