Potkával

Potkával is the imperfective past tense form of the Czech verb potkávat, meaning to meet or encounter, especially repeatedly or by chance. The imperfective aspect expresses repetition, duration, or non-fixed timing, in contrast to the perfective form potkat, which denotes a single completed meeting. Potkávat as a base verb covers ongoing or habitual encounters in the past, rather than a single past event.

In present tense, the verb forms are potkávám, potkáváš, potkává, potkáváme, potkáváte, potkávají. In the past, the masculine singular form is potkával, feminine singular potkávala, neuter potkávalo; plural forms include potkávali (masculine), potkávaly (feminine). In everyday usage the past is often expressed with a form of the auxiliary být, as in potkával jsem, potkával jsi, etc., or in narrative speech simply with the imperfective past form, e.g., “Potkával jsem ho každý den.” The reflexive form potkávat se is common when indicating meeting with someone habitually or by coincidence, for example, “Potkávali jsme se na chodbě.”

Etymology: potkávat is derived from potkat with the imperfective suffix -ávat, the paired perfective verb being potkat.

Usage notes: potkávat describes repeated or non-specific encounters, while potkat conveys a single, definite meeting. The two forms are frequently contrasted to express different temporal aspects of meeting behavior.

See also: potkat, potkání, potkávat se.