One form, two jobs: růst is both a noun (“growth”) and a verb (“to grow”). Let’s take them one at a time.

1. The noun: růst = growth

Polská ekonomika zaznamenala rychlý růst.
The Polish economy recorded rapid growth.
Žádný růst netrvá do nekonečna.
No growth lasts forever.

A close relative is vzrůst — “stature / height / build” when talking about a person:

člověk nižšího vzrůstu
a person of shorter stature (build)

2. The verb: růst (to grow) — present tense

The verb has a slightly irregular stem (růst → rost-), so it’s worth learning the full set:

  • já rostu — I grow
  • ty rosteš — you grow
  • on / ona roste — he / she grows
  • my rosteme — we grow
  • vy rostete — you grow (plural / formal)
  • oni rostou — they grow

Past tense keeps the rost- stem and adds the usual endings:

  • on rostl — he grew (was growing)
  • ona rostla — she grew
  • oni rostli — they grew

3. Growing up: vyrůst

Add the prefix vy- and you get the perfective vyrůst — “to grow up” or “to grow (a certain amount).” Use it for the finished result.

Až vyrostu, stanu se kosmonautem.
When I grow up, I’ll become an astronaut.
Až vyrosteš, tak to pochopíš.
When you grow up, you’ll understand.
  • On rychle vyrostl. — He grew up fast.
  • Ona vyrostla o 5 centimetrů. — She grew 5 centimetres.
  • Oni vyrostli. — They grew up.
Aspect in a nutshell: růst is imperfective (growing, ongoing), while vyrůst is perfective (grew up / finished growing). Same pair logic you see all over Czech.

Learn the noun růst, the present set rostu, rosteš, roste… and the perfective vyrůst, and you can talk about anything from a child to an economy.

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