Zdá

Zdá is a Czech verbal form associated with the verb zdát se, which means to seem or to appear. In standard modern Czech the present-tense construction most people encounter is zdá se, as in the sentence “Zdá se, že prší” (It seems that it is raining). The single form zdá, by itself, is uncommon in contemporary prose and is mostly found in older texts, poetry, or in stylistic, archaic, or dialectal usage where the reflexive pronoun se may be omitted for effect.

Grammatically, zdát se is used to express perception or appearance and often governs clauses introduced by že, producing sentences such as “Zdá se, že …” or with indirect objects: “Zdá se mu/jí, že …” (It seems to him/her that …). The verb also forms past tenses: “zdál se” (masculine singular), “zdálo se” (neuter or neuter-past sense), and corresponding plural forms, meaning “it seemed.”

Related words include zdání (appearance or illusion) and zdát se, which describe the broader sense of seeming or appearing. The term zdá itself appears mainly as a stem within these forms and does not typically stand alone in modern everyday language.

Usage notes: while zdá is a valid historical or literary form, most speakers rely on zdá se in present-tense constructions. In written Czech, occurrences of zdá without se are reserved for archaic, poetic, or regional contexts.