3.5 – chtěl bych / chtěla bych – ‘I would like…’
We’ve already learned how to order using dát si ‘to have (for oneself). However, you can also say what you “would like” using the forms below:
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chtěl / chtěla bych ‘I would like’ |
chtěli / chtěly bychom ‘we would like’ |
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chtěl / chtěla bys ‘you would like’ |
chtěl / chtěla byset ‘you (formal) would like’ chtěli / chtěly byste ‘you (plural) would like’ |
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chtěl / chtěla by ‘he/she would like’ |
chtěli / chtěly by ‘they would like’ |
You really will need to use just the forms chtěl / chtěla bych “I would like…” at this point. However, the rest of the paradigm (you, he/she, we, you all, they…) are given in the chart as well. For all of these, the form of chtěl (chtěla, chtěli, etc.) depends on the gender and number of the subject of the sentence. In other words, Eva and Jolana below would each say chtěla bych, while Jáchym and Michal would each say chtěl bych.
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chtěla bych… |
chtěl bych… |
chtěla bych… |
chtěl bych… |
In groups, they would use the forms chtěli / chtěly in the plural (chtěly would be reserved for groups consisting exclusively of females):
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chtěli bychom… |
chtěly bychom… |
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Finally, when you are ordering using these phrases, make sure you put whatever follows in the accusative case:
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Chtěl bych vodu. ‘I’d like water’ |
Chtěla bych smažený sýr. ‘I’d like fried cheese’ |
Chtěli bychom dvě piva. ‘We’d like two beers |
Note on word order:
This won’t come up a lot now, but technically the forms bych, bys, by… all are in 2nd position (just like se and si, see 2.5 – Reflexive se and si and 2nd position), so if something comes first in the sentence, the order will be switched around, e.g. – Chtěl bych čaj vs. Já bych chtěl čaj; Chtěli by pivo vs. Petr a Sára by chtěli pivo.
Images used in this document come from these sources.