Vzít

Vzít is a Czech verb meaning “to take,” “to seize,” or “to obtain.” It belongs to the class of strong (irregular) verbs and is conjugated with the auxiliary verb mít in compound tenses. The infinitive form vzít stems from the Proto‑Slavic vъzьti, related to Russian взять and Polish wziąć, reflecting a common Indo‑European root for “to grasp.” In the present tense the verb appears only in the first‑person singular (já vezmu) and third‑person singular (on/ona/ono vezme), while the past participle is vzal (masculine), vzala (feminine), vzalo (neuter) and vzali (plural). The perfective aspect of vzít is inherent; its imperfective counterpart is brát, which is used for ongoing or repeated actions. Vzít can be combined with a wide range of objects, both concrete (vzít knihu – “to take a book”) and abstract (vzít si dovolenou – “to take a vacation”). In idiomatic expressions it appears in phrases such as vzít si čas (to take time), vzít v úvahu (to take into account), and vzít slovo (to take the floor). The verb can also function reflexively as vzít si, indicating that the subject takes something for themselves. In legal and formal contexts vzít often denotes the act of confiscation or acquisition, e.g., vzít majetek (to seize property). The word is central to Czech lexical semantics of acquisition and appears frequently in everyday speech, literature, and official documents.