Slovesné

Slovesné (from the Czech adjective slovesný) denotes anything pertaining to the verb, the central part of speech that expresses actions, states, or processes. In Czech grammar the term is used to describe verb‑related categories, forms, and constructions. The most common application is in the phrase slovesná věta (verb sentence), which refers to a clause whose core element is a finite verb, as opposed to nominal or participial sentences.

Slovesné forms include finite conjugations that convey person, number, tense, mood, and aspect, as well as non‑finite forms such as infinitives, participles, gerunds and verbal nouns. Aspect, a distinctive feature of Slavic languages, divides Czech verbs into perfective (ukončené) and imperfective (nedokonalé) pairs, affecting how actions are viewed in time. Mood distinguishes indicative, imperative, conditional and subjunctive uses, while voice differentiates active and passive constructions.

The adjective also appears in linguistic terminology such as slovesná skupina (verb group), which comprises the main verb together with its auxiliary and modal elements, and slovesná vazba (verb bond), describing the syntactic connection between a verb and its arguments. In historical linguistics, slovesné roots refer to the proto‑Slavic verbal stems from which modern Czech verbs derive. Overall, the slovesné domain encompasses all structural and functional aspects of verbs within Czech and related Slavic languages.