Druhá pozice příklonek

English fixes the order of the big parts of a sentence: subject, verb, object. Czech lets those move freely, but it is strict about a set of short, unstressed words called clitics (příklonky). In standard Czech they gather in a cluster in second position, right after the first phrase of the clause, in a fixed order.

Who the clitics are, and their order

First phrase	1 auxiliary	2 se / si	3 dative	4 accusative	Rest
Včera	jsem	se	mu	to	snažil vysvětlit.
Půjčil	bys		mi	ho	do pondělí?
Kdy	jste	si		to	koupili?
Líbí		se	mi		ta písnička od Jarka Nohavici.

• slot 1: jsem, jsi, jsme, jste and bych, bys, by, bychom, byste
• slot 2: se, si
• slot 3: short dative pronouns mi, ti, mu
• slot 4: short accusative pronouns mě, tě, ho, and to

Jsi fuses with the reflexive: Umyl ses? Koupila sis lístek?

What counts as "first"

One phrase, however long: Můj starší bratr z Olomouce se včera oženil. A subordinating conjunction counts as the first word, so the clitics follow it: Vím, že se ti to líbí. Coordinating a, ale, nebo do not count: Přišel domů a umyl se. After a fronted clause, the main clause needs its own first word: Když přijdeš, dám ti to (or …, tak ti to dám).

The English-speaker reflex

English puts the pronoun after the verb, so learners write *Včera jsem viděl ho. The pronoun belongs in the cluster: Včera jsem ho viděl. Likewise *Dal jsem to mu → Dal jsem mu to: dative before accusative, the reverse of "I gave it to him".

Another reflex is to start with the clitic: *Se mi to líbí. In standard Czech the cluster cannot open the clause, so start with the verb or another phrase: Líbí se mi to. Mně se to líbí.

What you will hear on the street

Spoken Czech bends the rule. Sem ti to říkal! (I told you so) drops the subject and starts with the auxiliary, pronounced sem; and Já byl doma leaves the auxiliary out. Both are normal colloquial Czech. In writing and careful speech use Říkal jsem ti to and Byl jsem doma.