bavit

Bavit is a verb used in Czech to express that something is entertaining or enjoyable. It denotes the idea of pleasing or amusing someone. In everyday use, it often appears in phrases that designate that a person finds a thing or activity entertaining. For example, sentences like “Ten film mě baví” or “To mě baví” mean “I enjoy that” or “That amuses me.” The negative form is common as well, as in “To mě nebaví,” meaning “I don’t like it” or “It doesn’t amuse me.”

Bavit is also used in the transitive sense with a direct object referring to what is entertaining, and it can be negated to express disinterest. In addition, the verb has a reflexive form, bavít se or, more commonly in Czech, bavit se, which means “to have fun” or “to socialize,” as in “Dnes večer se bavíme” or “O čem se bavíte?” The reflexive construction emphasizes the activity of enjoyment rather than the thing being enjoyed.

In Slovak, a closely related verb baviť (and the infinitive baviť) carries a similar meaning, with similar usage patterns. The Czech and Slovak forms share a common Slavic origin and are cognate with Polish bawić/bawić, reflecting a common vocabulary across West Slavic languages. Etymologically, bavit is generally traced to Proto-Slavic roots associated with amusement or delight, with regional variants in spelling and pronunciation.

See also: baví se, zábava, zábavný, baviť (Slovak).