padají

Padají is a Czech verb form meaning they fall. It is the present tense, third-person plural form of the verb padat, which is imperfective and describes an ongoing or repeated act of falling rather than a single completed event. The form is commonly used to describe physical dropping or descending of objects under gravity, as in leaves, snow, or fruit, but can also be used metaphorically in some contexts.

Morphology and usage notes: padat belongs to the classical Czech verb system. In the present tense, the third-person plural ending is -ají, yielding padají. The verb is imperfective, so padají can describe habitual, repeated, or general falling, or actions in progress. For a single completed falling event, Czech would typically use a perfective verb such as spadnout (spadnou).

Common usage examples: Listy padají ze stromů na podzim. Sněhové vločky padají z oblohy. Prasklá šňůra způsobila předmět, který padá dolů. In weather reporting, falling precipitation is usually described with other verbs (for example, prší for rain, nebo sněží for snow); padají can emphasize the movement of falling objects rather than precipitation itself.

Relations and variants: The infinitive is padat, the short past tense is padal/padala/padali, and the perfective counterpart is spadnout (to fall down, to drop). In neighboring languages, similar forms exist (for example Slovak padajú).

Etymology: Padat derives from Proto-Slavic, related to the general concept of falling. The noun pád (a fall) is related to the same root, reflecting the semantic core of downward movement.