Personal Pronouns — Czech Grammar

Czech has the personal pronouns you would expect, but uses them far less than English does. The verb ending already says who is acting, so the subject pronoun is normally absent and appears only when it is doing extra work.

, , , ,
, ,

Obědváme.
We're having lunch.
Studuje.
She's studying.

When to Put Them In

Use a subject pronoun to draw a contrast, to answer a question about who, or to insist. Adding one where none is needed does not sound wrong so much as emphatic, as though you were correcting somebody.

Já jezdím ve velmi rychlém autě.
I drive a very fast car.
On je učitel, ona ne.
He's a teacher, she isn't.

He, She and It

Because every Czech noun has a gender, and stand for things as readily as for people. A table is and a book is , and English it covers all three Czech words.

Kde je ta kniha? Je tady.
Where's that book? It's here.

They

The plural has three forms in the nominative. is for groups including a man, for feminine and inanimate masculine, and for neuter.

Oni jsou Španělé.
They are Spaniards.
Mám je rád a ony mě mají rády.
I like them and they like me.

Addressing One Person

serves both as a real plural and as the polite singular. Spoken to one person it takes the plural verb throughout, and any participle after it takes the plural too.

Kde pracujete?
Where do you work?
Odkud jste?
Where are you from?

After a Preposition

The third-person pronouns take an extra when a preposition stands in front of them. becomes , becomes , and there is no form without it in that position.

Zapomeň na ně.
Forget about them.
Je s ním fajn.
He's good company.

The Reflexive Pronoun

Beside these there is one pronoun with no nominative and no person of its own. and refer back to whoever the subject is, so the same word serves for every person.

Myji se.
I'm washing.
Myje se.
He's washing.

Emphasis and Position

A subject pronoun that is present carries weight, and it usually stands first. Moving it later in the sentence makes it heavier still, which is one way Czech does what English does with stress alone.

To jsem já.
That's me.
Já jsem tvoje kamarádka.
I am your friend.

The Object Forms

Outside the nominative, pronouns have a full set of case forms, and most of them come in a long version and a short one. The short forms are what you hear; they cannot be stressed, cannot begin a sentence, and cannot follow a preposition.

Vidíš mě?
Do you see me?
Řekni mi to.
Tell me.
Bez tebe nepůjdu.
I won't go without you.

In the course

Sentences from Lingora’s Czech course

22 of the course's 500 sentences use this, the first in lesson 12. A few of them, with the words “Personal Pronouns” is about in bold:

On taky spí. Ona ne.
He is also sleeping. She isn't.
Lesson 16
Mám je rád a ony mě mají rády.
I love them and they love me.
Lesson 32
Ona má pomalé a levné auto.
She has a slow, cheap car.
Lesson 110

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