Ztrácet

Ztrácet is a Czech verb meaning to lose or to misplace one’s possessions, but it also covers broader senses such as wasting time or energy, losing chances or hopes, and, in reflexive form, getting lost or disappearing. It is typically transitive with an accusative object (for example, ztrácet klíče, to lose keys; ztrácet čas, to waste time). In figurative use, it governs objects like naději (hope), šanci (chance), peníze (money), zdraví (health) or úsilí (effort).

The verb exists in two aspects. The imperfective form ztrácet expresses ongoing, repeated, or habitual loss, while the perfective counterpart ztratit describes a single completed event of losing something, as in Ztratil jsem klíče. The noun derived from the verb is ztráta, meaning loss or waste, and there is an adjective ztrátový. A lost state is often described with ztracený (lost).

Conjugation in the present tense (imperfective) is as follows: já ztrácím, ty ztrácíš, on ztrácí, my ztrácíme, vy ztrácíte, oni ztrácejí. The past tense follows the standard Czech pattern with gender agreement: ztrácel jsem (masc.), ztrácela jsem (fem.), ztráceli/t (masc./mixed) or ztrácely (fem.). The future can be formed imperfectively with budu ztrácet, or perfectively with ztratím.

Common collocations include ztrácet čas (to waste time), ztrácet naději (to lose hope), ztrácet peníze (to lose money), and ztrácet příležitost (to miss an opportunity). Reflexive usage exists as ztrácet se, meaning to get lost or to disappear, as in Lidé se ztrácejí v davu.

Overall, ztrácet is a versatile, frequently used Czech verb with both literal and figurative meanings, supported by a clear imperfective/perfective pair.