zkoumají

Zkoumají is the present tense, third-person plural form of the Czech verb zkoumat, which means to examine, investigate, or probe. It is an imperfective, transitive verb and is typically used for ongoing or repeated inquiry that takes a direct object in the accusative (for example, Vědci zkoumají vzorky).

The present tense forms are: já zkoumám, ty zkoumáš, on/ona zkoumá, my zkoumáme, vy zkoumáte, oni zkoumají. The form zkoumají specifically corresponds to “they examine” or “they are examining.”

Usage and nuance: zkoumat is common in scientific, academic, investigative, and journalistic contexts. It conveys careful, systematic inquiry rather than casual looking. The verb often appears with data, methods, problems, or situations, as in zkoumají data, zkoumají situaci, or zkoumají metody.

Relation to other verbs: the imperfective zkoumat has a perfective counterpart, prozkoumat, which emphasizes completing the examination. The past tense forms of the perfective are used for completed actions (například prozkoumal, prozkoumala). Zkoumat is distinct from zkousovat or zkoušet, which more often mean to try or to test in a less formal or less exhaustive sense.

Etymology and related forms: zkoumat is a native Czech verb and is linked to the noun zkoumání, meaning examination or investigation. It belongs to a family of verbs formed with the prefix z- that convey piercing or examining movement of inquiry.