postihují

Postihují is the third-person plural present tense form of the Czech verb postihovat. The verb means to affect, to afflict, to strike, or to punish/sanction, depending on context. It is imperfective, describing ongoing or repeated action rather than a completed act. The subject of a sentence is typically a plural noun, and the meaning of postihují varies with context: diseases postihují populace; a new regulation postihuje porušovatele zákona; economic shocks postihují domácnosti.

In medical and biological usage, postihují describes how conditions or diseases affect people or organs. For example, Nemoci postihují lidi napříč věkovými skupinami means diseases affect people across age groups. In legal or administrative contexts, the sense can be to sanction or penalize offenders, as in Zákony postihují porušovatele. In economics or sociology, it can refer to the impact of events or trends on groups or sectors, for instance Krize postihují ekonomiku.

Postih is a related noun meaning a penalty, sanction, or affliction. The related verbs include postihnout (to affect, to catch, or to sanction in the perfective aspect) and postihující (present participle). These terms appear in official language, journalism, and scholarly prose when describing the reach or consequence of an event, condition, or policy. Overall, postihují conveys the notion of impact or consequence on recipients.