The verb být (to be)
jsem, jsi, je… and nejsem, není…
In short
Být means "to be" and, like in most languages, it's irregular. Luckily there are only six forms, so you'll know them in no time. To make it negative, just put ne- in front. The only odd one out is je, which turns into není.
- Jsem Pablo.I am Pablo.
- Jsi doma?Are you at home?
- Petr není tady.Petr isn't here.
- Jsme z Prahy.We're from Prague.
Full explanation
| positive | negative | positive | negative | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| já | jsem | nejsem | my | jsme | nejsme |
| ty | jsi | nejsi | vy | jste | nejste |
| on/ona/ono | je | není | oni | jsou | nejsou |
- Czechs usually leave out the pronoun, because the verb already tells you who it is: Jsem student. (I'm a student.)
- The negative is written as one word: nejsem, nejsi, nejsme… Just watch out for je → není.
- Vy is also how you say "you" politely to one person: Jste paní Nováková?