Cooking and Baking

Cooking vocabulary is essential for understanding Czech recipes and kitchen instructions. Czech cooking verbs often have specific prefixes that modify their meaning, making it important to learn both basic and modified forms.

These fundamental cooking verbs are used daily in Czech kitchens. Many of these verbs are imperfective, meaning they describe ongoing or repeated actions. The prefix 'u-' often makes them perfective, indicating a completed action.

These techniques are used in more sophisticated cooking. Many of these terms are newer additions to Czech culinary vocabulary, often adapted from international cuisine but maintaining Czech grammatical patterns.

Preparation verbs often use prefixes to indicate specific types of cutting or mixing. The prefix 'na-' often indicates cutting into specific shapes, while 's-' can indicate combining ingredients.

These example sentences show how cooking verbs are used in typical kitchen situations. Pay attention to the verb forms and how they change in different contexts.

Czech cooking verbs typically come in imperfective-perfective pairs. The imperfective form (e.g., 'krájet') describes an ongoing action, while the perfective form (e.g., 'nakrájet') indicates completion. This distinction is important when following recipes.