# Past tense



## lonelyheartsclubband

I would like to know who does it look like. I have heard that in Czech language the Past Tense differs a lot from the Past Tense of Russian.
What are the rules of conjugating the verbs in Czech Past Tense?
Thanks in advance.


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## Jana337

Hello 

I actually believe that the Czech and the Russian past tenses are quite similar. The only substantial difference is that we, quite illogically, use an auxiliary verb (to be) in the first two persons. Please go through this post in another thread and tell me what, if anything, strikes you as noteworthy 

Looking forward to follow-up questions!

Jana


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## Tchesko

Jana337 said:
			
		

> The only substantial difference is that we, quite illogically, use an auxiliary verb (to be) in the first two persons.


 
Hi,

Maybe that's not so illogical after all. If I remember it correctly, Russian needn't use an auxiliary verb because a personal pronoun is usually explicitly mentioned in the sentence. In Czech, you can omit the pronoun so you need an auxiliary verb to make the distinction between "I spoke" and "you spoke". In my opinion, the illogical thing is the disappearance of the auxiliary verb in the 3rd person (yet, it used to be there long, long ago).
But I might get it wrong, as I haven't done any Russian for ages...

Roman


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## Jana337

Tchesko said:
			
		

> Hi,
> 
> Maybe that's not so illogical after all. If I remember it correctly, Russian needn't use an auxiliary verb because a personal pronoun is usually explicitly mentioned in the sentence. In Czech, you can omit the pronoun so you need an auxiliary verb to make the distinction between "I spoke" and "you spoke". In my opinion, the illogical thing is the disappearance of the auxiliary verb in the 3rd person (yet, it used to be there long, long ago).
> But I might get it wrong, as I haven't done any Russian for ages...
> 
> Roman


My usage of the word "illogical" referred to the peculiarity of the 3rd person.  What you wrote about Russian is correct as far as I know.

But now I am curious. You wrote that the auxiliary verb used to be in the 3rd person long ago. I am unable to imagine a single example... Could you please show me some?

Thanks,

Jana


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## lonelyheartsclubband

It means that
Já jsem mlovil - i spoke?
Vy jste mlovili - you spoke?
Oni mlovili - they spoke?
Have I guessed correctly?
I heard that the polish past tense reserves for each pronoun a special conjugation. Am I right?
Thanks.
Waiting for corrections.


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## Jana337

lonelyheartsclubband said:
			
		

> It means that
> Já jsem ml*u*vil - i spoke?
> Vy jste ml*u*vili - you spoke? *(but plural!)*
> Oni ml*u*vili - they spoke?
> Have I guessed correctly?
> I heard that the polish past tense reserves for each pronoun a special conjugation. Am I right?
> Thanks.
> Waiting for corrections.


I will edit the thread to attract Polish forer@s.

Jana


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## Tchesko

Jana337 said:
			
		

> But now I am curious. You wrote that the auxiliary verb used to be in the 3rd person long ago. I am unable to imagine a single example... Could you please show me some?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Jana


 Gladly:

"Hospodin Bůh otců vašich rozmnožiž vás nad to, jakž jste _nyní,_ tisíckrát více, a požehnej vám, jakož *jest mluvil* vám"
(Bible kralická, Deuteronomium, 1. kapitola)

"S nimi *jest mluvil*, tvrdost rozumu tresktal, a písma tajemstvie o sobě *jest vyložil*; a že v jich srdcích věrú jako pútník bieše, pořekl sě dále jíti, ne lživě, ale taký sě jim ukázal na těle, kteraký *jest* u nich *byl* v mysli. Pokúšeni *sú měli* býti, aby ti, jenž *sú* ho ne jako boha *milovali*, aspoň aby jako pútníka milovati mohli."
(Jan Hus, Kázání po Veliké noci)

"(...)
teprv *jest byl zdráv* v životě svém;
od vodyť *jest* on lékařstvie *vzal*,
protož když *jest* proroka *poslúchal*.
Kéž jeho *jest* víno *uzdravilo*,
(...)
(Svár vody s vínem)


"Cožkoli mluvili, dobřeť *jsou mluvili*."
(Bible kralická, Deuteronomium, 5. kapitola)


There are many more examples - just type "jest" + a verb in past tense in Google...


Of course, these texts are old. I did say it was long, long ago...  
However, I don't know why the auxiliary verb was sometimes used, sometimes not (as you can see in the examples).

Roman


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## Jana337

Many thanks! I was aware of this phenomenon but I never tried to think of it as a variant of "byli jsme" etc. :blush: It is nice to have foreigners who ask startling questions about our own mother tongue. 

I would love to know why the usage of the auxiliary verb is so random.

Jana


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## Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!

No offense, but wasn't "Svár vody s vínem" written in the 15th century? How can it be copyrighted?


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## Jana337

Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li! said:
			
		

> No offense, but wasn't "Svár vody s vínem" written in the 15th century? How can it be copyrighted?


Sorry, I just used my standard comment without thinking about it too much.  Going to fix it.

Our rules state that quotations should not exceed 4 sentences (which is interpreted as 4 lines for poems/lyrics/etc.). We tend to discourage any extensive quotations from web pages - and not only copyrighted material - because we believe that it is better to err on the side of caution (in the sense that many readers are not aware about the copyright issues in particular cases and tolerating long quotations would be a misleading signal).

Jana


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## Tchesko

I endorse these rules.
Obviously, "Svár vody s vínem" is not copyrighted. Moreover, the website where I took it from allows quoting. However, I agree 4 lines are enough...
By the way, is http://citanka.cz/ on our resource sticky? There are some interesting texts on it.

Roman


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