aspects. The past tense now employed is what is really the second active past participle. Hence it is inflected as a participle in the singular and plural, in both these numbers the gender being also marked. This participle must be accompanied by the present tense of the verb býti, to be; thus dal sem, I gave. In the third person singular and plural the substantive verb is not used unless it be for emphasis. The tense formed by these verbs in conjunction is called a perfect. The pluperfect is expressed by the second past participle of the verb, and the perfect of the verb býti; thus byl jsem volal, I had called.
The future is expressed in two ways—(a) by the present tense of perfective verbs, e.g. půjdu, I will come; or (b) the employment of an imperfective verb in the infinitive with the present tense of the verb býti, budu, as budu skákati, I shall leap.
The futurum exactum is wanting in modern Čech.
The Conditional Mood.
This is expressed by the use of the aorist bych (a form which has survived from Old Bohemian), thus:—
- volal bych, I might have called,
- volal bys, thou mightest have called,
- volal by, he might have called;
and in plural, volali bychom, byste, by. Thus: pilně vynashažiti se, by země byla zase uvedena v pokoj, to actively busy himself that the country should again be brought into tranquillity. The verb is sometimes affixed to an adverb or conjunction, as kdybys. Míti, to have, in conjunction with the infinitive, has the signification of shall or should, as co to má býti? what should this be? měl jste jej viděti, you should have seen him; and měl jsem, yes, I should have. Míti is thus conjugated:—
| Singular. | Plural. | ||
| Pres. | 1. | mám | máme |
| 2. | mál | máte | |
| 3. | má | mají. |
