The Simple Past Tense
Talking about actions that happened and finished in the past is done using the simple past tense. This is formed using a conjugated form of byti and the verb's past participle, which ends in -l. The ending of this '-l form' changes to match the gender and number of the subject.
The form of to be can be omitted for the third person singular and plural.
Subject Gender/Number determines ending:
- Masculine Singular: -l (On čital)
- Feminine Singular: -la (Ona čitala)
- Neuter Singular: -lo (Ono čitalo)
- All Plural: -li (Oni/One čitali)
Examples: Včera jesm rabotal (masc.) (Yesterday i worked). Včera ona rabotala (fem.) (Yesterday she worked). My jesmo viděli film (We saw a film). Oni pribyli pozdno (They arrived late).