Vyhnuli

Vyhnuli is a past tense form of the Czech verb vyhnout, meaning to drive away or to expel. It is the masculine plural form, used when the subject is a group of men or a mixed-gender group. As a transitive verb, vyhnout requires a direct object in sentences like vyhnuli vojáka (they drove away a soldier).

When used with the reflexive particle se, the verb form changes to vyhnuli se, meaning they avoided or escaped from something. This reflexive construction is common for expressing avoidance rather than active removal. An example is vyhnuli se problémům (they avoided problems).

Etymology: vyhnout is built with the prefix vy- (out, away) plus the root hnout (to move); together they convey forcing something away or turning it away. The form vyhnuli follows standard Czech past-tense agreement: masculine plural. Other gender and number forms exist, such as vyhnul jsem (masculine singular), vyhnula jsem (feminine singular), vyhnuli jsme (masculine plural “we”), and vyhnuly jsme (feminine plural “we”).

Usage notes: Vyhnuli primarily conveys a physical or forcible removal in its non-reflexive sense, but with se it commonly expresses avoidance or eluding a situation. It is contrastive with vyhnout se, which is the infinitive commonly used to indicate avoidance more generally. The word appears in historical, literary, and everyday Czech.

See also: vyhnout, vyhnout se.