# How do you think you're going?

Canonical page: https://dominiklukes.net/writing/how-do-you-think-youre-going

The piece explains how Czech verbs of motion distinguish walking, travelling by vehicle, flying, and other kinds of movement.

Journalism · Reporting · The Prague Post · c. 2000

Published in The Prague Post, c. 2000. Text from the author's final draft; the printed version may differ slightly.

If Americans wish to transport themselves form point A to point B they have it easy. You want to stroll around a bit, all you have to do is get up and go. You want to see a movie, go for it. You want to visit your mother in another city? Start your trusted pick-up and go. Go, go, go! The word is ubiquitous and universal. Anything needs to get done, somebody goes and does it. Not so in Czech. Or rather not so simple. Czechs need to be much more precise about the means they employ in their comings and goings. Basically, you need to differentiate between two basic words: *jít* meaning *go* and *jet* meaning, yes, you guessed it, *go*. The difference is that while *jít* is confined to goings that take place on foot, while *jet* is used for when you go by some sort of vehicle be it car, bike, train or horse. That remains true as long as you remain on the ground. As soon as you get your head in the clouds or set out on the water, *letět* (fly) and *plout* (float) become a necessity. So while in English *I'm going to the park. I'm going to Brno. I'm going back to America.* make do with simple *go*, in Czech, you can have much more fun with: *Jdu do parku. Jedu do Brna. Letím do Ameriky.* If you say, as students of Czech so often do, *Jdu do Brna*, you imply that you intend to walk there, which is amusing to Czechs, especially when asserted in Prague. Sometimes, you can use one verb as the generic substitute. For example, going to the movies, concerts and discos will use *jít* regardless of your means of transportation, and to go to London will use *jet* despite the fact that both plane and boat may be used.

These verbs are called verbs of motion and they are in a class of their own. They have a special future tense and they are very generous with the use of prefixes. This is where you can see what a wonderful Lego-like language Czech is. While in English, you have *go, arrive, leave*, Czech simply adds a directional prefix to the verb in question, namely *při-* for direction to and *od-* for direction away from, ending with *přijít* (come on foot), *odejít* (leave on foot), *přijet* (arrive by vehicle), *odjet* (leave by vehicle), *přiletět* (arrive by plane), and so on and so forth. There are also prefixes for going over, under, around, running away, going just a little bit and coming together, but that is another story.

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## About this item

- Type: Journalism
- Genre: Reporting
- Published: c. 2000
- Outlet: The Prague Post
- Language: English

Topics: [Czech language and culture](https://dominiklukes.net/topics/czech), [Language learning and teaching](https://dominiklukes.net/topics/language-learning), [Language and linguistics](https://dominiklukes.net/topics/language-and-linguistics).

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Section: [Writing](https://dominiklukes.net/writing)