Verbs: Conditional Mood — Czech Grammar

The conditional is Czech for would. It is built from the same participle that makes the past tense, with a special auxiliary in front of it that carries the person.

Dělal bych to jinak.
I would do it differently.

Agreement and Position

The participle agrees with the subject in gender and number exactly as in the past tense, so the same sentence looks different from a man and from a woman. The auxiliary is unstressed and takes the second slot in the clause; it cannot open a sentence.

Rád bych kávu.
I would like a coffee.
Ráda bych kávu.
I would like a coffee. (said by a woman)
Měli bychom jít.
We should go.

Reflexive Verbs

With a reflexive verb the second-person singular fuses, just as it does in the past: and are the forms, and the parts are never written separately.

Kde by ses chtěl sejít?
Where would you like to meet?
Co by sis dal?
What would you like to have?

Asking Politely

This is the conditional's commonest job. A request framed as a question in the conditional is the ordinary courteous way to ask a stranger for anything, and it is far softer than an imperative.

Mohl byste mi pomoci?
Could you help me?
Mohla bys otevřít okno?
Could you open the window?

Wishes and Advice

and both mean I would like and are interchangeable. For advice, Czech uses the conditional of , which comes out as English should rather than would have.

Chtěl bych se zeptat.
I would like to ask something.
Měl bys šetřit.
You should save money.
Neměli byste čekat.
You shouldn't wait.

Saying It Would Not

Negation goes on the participle, never on the auxiliary, and is written as one word with it, exactly as in the past tense.

To bych nedělal.
I wouldn't do that.
Bez tebe bych nepřišel.
I wouldn't have come without you.

Wishing Something of Someone Else

When the wish is aimed at another person, the conditional opens the sentence and an clause carries the rest, because Czech cannot put a second subject into an infinitive.

Ráda bych, abys byl šetrnější.
I'd like you to be more careful with money.
Chtěl bych, abyste přišli.
I'd like you to come.

Softening a Statement

The conditional also takes the edge off an opinion, an offer or a guess. It does not make the statement less certain, only less blunt, which is why it turns up so often in shops, offices and letters.

Řekl bych, že má pravdu.
I'd say he's right.
Bylo by možné to odložit?
Would it be possible to postpone it?

One Form for Two English Tenses

Czech has a single conditional where English has would do and would have done. The same words serve for both, and the time is read from the context or from a word like or .

Pomohl bych ti.
I would help you.
Včera bych ti pomohl.
I would have helped you yesterday.

In the course

Sentences from Lingora’s Czech course

28 of the course's 500 sentences use this, the first in lesson 79. A few of them, with the words “Verbs: Conditional Mood” is about in bold:

Ráda bych, abys byl šetrnější.
I wish you were more frugal.
Lesson 328

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