Nouns: Instrumental Case

01

The Endings

Singular

• masculine and neuter: -em - klukem, autem
• feminine: -ou - ženou

• Jel jsem autem.

  I went by car.

• Kopni nohou.

  Kick with your foot.

Plural

• masculine and neuter: -y - stoly, auty
• feminine: -ami - ženami

• Mluvím s kamarády.

  I'm talking with friends.

02

Together With: the preposition s

Put s in front and the instrumental stops meaning by means of and starts meaning in the company of. The difference is real: without the preposition you used the thing, with it you were accompanied by it.

• Jdu s bratrem.

  I'm going with my brother.

• Káva s mlékem.

  Coffee with milk.

• Tamta žena se prochází se svým psem.

  That woman is walking with her dog.

03

Prepositions of Position

The prepositions describing where something sits in relation to something else all take the instrumental.

• před - in front of, before
• za - behind
• pod - under
• nad - above
• mezi - between, among

• Kočka je pod stolem.

  The cat is under the table.

• Restaurace je nad nádražím.

  The restaurant is above the station.

• Jsem před dveřmi.

  I'm in front of the door.

04

Naming a Role

After být and stát se, a noun naming a role, a job or a stage stands in the instrumental. A noun that simply identifies the subject stays in the nominative, and the choice is a real difference of meaning.

• Je učitel.

  He is a teacher.

• Stal se učitelem.

  He became a teacher.

05

The Pronouns

The instrumental pronouns are short and irregular enough to be worth learning as a list, and the third-person forms take n- after a preposition.

• mnou, tebou, jím, jí, námi, vámi, jimi

• Pojďte si s námi zatančit.

  Come and dance with us.

• Je s ním fajn.

  He's nice to be with.

06

An Older Plural

Four nouns for parts of the body that come in pairs kept an older ending in -ma, and anything agreeing with them takes it too.

• oči - očima
• ruce - rukama

• Má krásnou tvář s krásnýma očima.

  She has a lovely face with lovely eyes.

07

Route and Manner

The instrumental also names the way you went and the manner of doing something, again with no preposition.

• Šli jsme parkem.

  We walked through the park.

• Tento dopis jsem napsal ručně.

  I wrote this letter by hand.

08

Languages and Body Parts

Two smaller uses are worth knowing. Speaking a language takes the instrumental after mluvit, and so does the part of the body a movement is made with.

• Jakými jazyky mluvíte?

  What languages do you speak?

• Udeř pěstí.

  Punch with your fist.