Verbal nouns in -ní and -tí

Almost any Czech verb can be turned into a neuter noun ending in -ní or -tí. It does the job of the English -ing noun: vaření "cooking", čtení "reading", pití "drinking". You meet these words everywhere in public Czech: Kouření zakázáno on a station platform, Děkujeme za pochopení at the bottom of every notice about roadworks or a closed station. Even the birthday card you send is a přání, a verbal noun from přát (to wish).

How it is formed

Start from the passive participle and add -í. The same consonant changes appear (t → c, s → š, st → šť), so the noun is easy once you know the participle. Verbs whose participle ends in -t give -tí.

Verb	Participle	Verbal noun
vařit	vařen	vaření - cooking
psát	psán	psaní - writing
číst	čten	čtení - reading
platit / zaplatit	placen / zaplacen	placení / zaplacení - paying
čistit	čištěn	čištění - cleaning
pít	pit	pití - drinking, a drink
zapomenout	zapomenut	zapomenutí - forgetting

The nouns decline like stavení: almost every form ends in -í (bez čtení, ke čtení, o čtení), with -ím in the instrumental (se čtením). They are neuter: to vaření, dlouhé čekání. Reflexive se drops: učit se gives učení.

Aspect survives

English "paying" hides the difference; Czech keeps it. Placení kartou je tu problém - paying by card (as a process, in general) is a problem here. Po zaplacení zálohy dostanete klíče od chaty - after the deposit has been paid you get the keys to the cottage. When the action has to be finished before something else happens, reach for the perfective noun.

The object goes into the genitive

English says "cooking dumplings" with a plain object. A Czech noun cannot take an accusative object, so the object moves into the genitive: vaření knedlíků, čtení novin, placení daní. A learner who writes *vaření knedlíky has kept the English pattern.

Do not translate every -ing

Czech uses these nouns less in speech than English uses -ing. "I like cooking" is usually Rád vařím or Baví mě vařit, not Mám rád vaření. And many verbs have a shorter everyday noun that wins over the -ní form: "before leaving" is před odchodem, "the sale" is prodej, "the beginning" is začátek. Some verbal nouns have become words in their own right: vzdělání (education), bydlení (housing), cvičení (exercise), pozvání (an invitation).