Language/Czech/Grammar/Introduction-to-Nouns

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Czech Grammar → Nouns and Pronouns → Introduction to Nouns

Czech is a Slavic language spoken by over 10 million people, primarily in the Czech Republic. It is a fascinating language with a rich history and culture. In this lesson, we will introduce you to Czech nouns, including their gender, singular and plural forms, and cases.

Consider exploring these related pages after completing this lesson: Past Tense & Present Continuous in Czech.

Czech Nouns

Like many European languages, Czech nouns have gender. There are three genders in Czech: masculine, feminine, and neuter. It is important to know the gender of a noun because it affects the forms of other words in the sentence that agree with it (such as adjectives).

There is no rule that will tell you the gender of a noun, so you just have to memorize them. However, there are some guidelines that may be helpful:

Most nouns ending in -a are feminine.
Most nouns ending in a consonant are masculine.
Most nouns ending in -o are neuter.

It is also important to note that the plural forms of Czech nouns can be unpredictable.

Cases

Czech nouns have seven cases, which are used to show the noun's role in the sentence. The cases are:

Nominative – used for the subject of the sentence.
Accusative – used for the direct object of the sentence.
Genitive – used to show possession, "of" something, or "from" something.
Dative – used for the indirect object of the sentence.
Locative – used to show location, "in" something or "at" something.
Instrumental – used to show the means by which something is done or with which something is done.
Vocative – used when calling someone's name.

Each case has its own ending, which can be different depending on the gender and number of the noun.

Here is a table that shows the endings for each case:

Case	Singular feminine	Singular masculine	Singular neuter	Plural feminine/masculine/neuter
Nominative	-a/-e	-	-o/-e	-i/-ové/-a
Accusative	-u/-ou	-	-o/-e	-y/-e/-a
Genitive	-y/-i	-a/-e	-u/-a	-ů/-ů/-ů
Dative	-ě/-i	-u/-ovi/-ovi	-u/-ě	-ám/-ům/-ám
Locative	-ě/-i	-u/-ovi/-u	-ě/-u	-ech/-ech/-ech
Instrumental	-ou/-í	-em	-em/-em	-y/-ami/-y
Vocative	-o	-e	-o	-i/-ové/-a

It is important to note that there are some irregularities in the endings, especially for masculine nouns.

Plurals

As mentioned earlier, the plural forms of Czech nouns can be unpredictable, so it is important to memorize them. There are several ways that nouns can form their plurals, including:

Adding -i to the end of the singular form (mostly masculine nouns).
Adding -e to the end of the singular form (mostly feminine nouns or nouns ending in a soft consonant).
Changing the ending (mostly neuter nouns).
Using a completely different word (such as "muž" (man) becoming "lidé" (people)).

Again, there is no rule that will always work, so it is important to memorize the plural forms of nouns.

Practice

To practice using Czech nouns, try making simple sentences using the cases and plurals you have learned. For example:

Já mám kočku. (I have a cat.) – nominative case
Vidím kočku. (I see the cat.) – accusative case
Auto mého bratra. (My brother's car.) – genitive case
Dávám dárek mému příteli. (I am giving a gift to my friend.) – dative case
V knihovně. (In the library.) – locative case
Psát pero. (Writing with a pen.) – instrumental case
"Marie!" volal jsem. ("Maria!" I called.) – vocative case

Sources

Table of Contents - Czech Course - 0 to A1

Course Presentation

Alphabet and Pronunciation

Nouns and Pronouns

Verbs

Adjectives and Adverbs

Greetings and Introductions

At the Restaurant

Daily Life

History and Traditions

Art and Heritage

Other Lessons

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