stihajú

Stíhajú is the third-person plural present tense form of the Slovak verb stíhať, meaning to keep up, manage, or catch up. The verb is imperfective, used to describe ongoing ability to handle several tasks or to meet deadlines, rather than a completed action.

Stíhať has a perfective counterpart, stihnúť, which emphasizes completing a task within a specific moment or deadline. The two aspects reflect different nuances: stíhať conveys ongoing capacity or habitual ability, while stihnúť focuses on achieving a result within a given time frame.

Usage in Slovak generally centers on daily life, work, study, and scheduling. Stíhajú appears when describing someone who can maintain pace with obligations or who can manage multiple duties at once. It is commonly used with nouns such as povinnosti (duties), úlohy (tasks), or tempo (pace), and it often appears in statements about time management or efficiency.

Examples include sentences like: Stíhajú všetky domáce úlohy a ešte majú čas na rodinu. Stíhajú prísť na čas. V dnešnej dobe sa ťažko stíhajú všetky povinnosti. Related terms include zvládať, udržať krok, and doháňať; the opposite is nestíhať. This verb is a core part of expressing competence in balancing tasks and time in Slovak.