Nouns: Genitive Case

01

The Endings

Singular

• masculine: -a or -u - kluka, stolu
• feminine: -y - ženy
• neuter: -a - auta

• Adresa vaší firmy.

  The address of your company.

Which of the two masculine endings a noun takes has to be learned with the word. Animate nouns take -a; inanimate ones are split between the two.

Plural

• masculine: -ů - kluků, stolů
• feminine and neuter: no ending at all - žen, aut

• Mám šest bratrů.

  I have six brothers.

• Koupil jsem tucet vajec.

  I bought a dozen eggs.

The bare feminine and neuter plural is unusual for a language that marks everything with endings, and it often forces a vowel into the stem to keep the word sayable.

02

Belonging

Where English puts the owner first, Czech puts the owner second and in the genitive. There is no Czech equivalent of 's.

• Stránky slovníku.

  The pages of the dictionary.

• Na konci ulice.

  At the end of the street.

03

Quantities and Numbers

Anything measuring or counting takes the genitive after it. This covers containers, measures, the vague quantity words, and every number from five upwards.

• Sklenice vody.

  A glass of water.

• Litr mléka.

  A litre of milk.

• Hodně lidí.

  A lot of people.

• Pět dolarů.

  Five dollars.

04

After Prepositions

More prepositions govern the genitive than any other case. Most of them concern starting points, absence or position near something.

• do - into, until
• z - out of, from
• od - from (a person, a time)
• bez - without
• u - at, near

• Jdu do obchodu.

  I'm going to the shop.

• Jsem z Číny.

  I'm from China.

• Káva bez cukru.

  Coffee without sugar.

05

After Certain Verbs

A group of verbs takes its object in the genitive rather than the accusative. Several of them are reflexive, and the case has to be learned with the verb.

• Bojím se tmy.

  I'm afraid of the dark.

• Zúčastnil se kurzu.

  He took part in the course.

06

Some of Something

Used on its own with no quantity word, the genitive says some rather than all. It is a small effect but a real one, and it survives best with food and drink.

• Nalej mi vody.

  Pour me some water.

07

Nothing and Nobody

After nic and nikdo an adjective goes into the genitive. Older Czech also put a missing thing itself into the genitive after není; today that sounds old-fashioned, and the noun keeps its nominative.

• Není nic nového.

  There is nothing new.

• Není tu žádné jídlo.

  There is no food here.

08

The Pronouns

Pronouns have genitive forms too, and the third-person ones take an n- after a preposition.

• mě, tě, ho, jí, nás, vás, jich

• Bez tebe nepůjdu.

  I won't go without you.

• Jedna z nich je moje kamarádka.

  One of them is my friend.

09

Chains of Nouns

Because every link uses the same case, genitives can be strung together, and a long Czech noun phrase is often three of them in a row. English builds the same chain with repeated of.

• Číslo mého pokoje.

  The number of my room.

• Předpověď počasí na zítra.

  The weather forecast for tomorrow.

10

After a Verbal Noun

When a verb becomes a noun, whatever it governed in the accusative moves into the genitive, because a noun cannot take a direct object.

• Čtení knihy mě baví.

  Reading a book is fun for me.

11

Dates

The day of the month stands in the genitive, and so does the month after it, which is why a Czech date looks like a string of genitives.

• Dnes je prvního května.

  Today is the first of May.

• Narodil jsem se dvanáctého srpna.

  I was born on the twelfth of August.

• Je pátek třináctého.

  It's Friday the thirteenth.