Czech Cases: Nominative and Genitive

In this article, you'll be introduced to Czech cases and how they work.
We'll also look at one Czech case as an example: Genitive case, which you'll use to talk about things that belong to you and others.

Basically, cases are endings you add to nouns, pronouns, and adjectives in Czech. They tell you about the relationships between different words.

Cases are one of the most important topics in the Czech language. But you definitely don't need to know everything all the way back to Cyril and Methodius!

Practice what you learn in this article for free:

What are Cases?

Many languages use cases, including German, Russian, and even old English!
In English, you use prepositions: words like for, of, by, about, around, etc.

In Czech you can often replace the preposition with a specific ending on a word...you use the word in a certain case.

In modern English, you use prepositions and word order, to explain who is doing what.

For example:

• The father's daughter (the daughter of the father) is rich - Otcova dcera je bohatá/Dcera otcova je bohatá
• The daughter's father (the father of the daughter) is rich - Otec dcery je bohatý/Dcery otec je bohatý
• The dog is under the blanket - Pes je pod dekou
• The blanket is under the dog - Deka je pod psa

You can see here, that the words father, daughter, dog, and blanket must be in a certain order in English.
The daughter of the father and The father of the daughter mean different things.
In The daughter of the father, the daughter is the subject of the sentence, the person we are talking about.
In The father of the daughter, the father is the subject.

In Czech, the case tells you who is the subject of the sentence.
So you can say Otcova dcera or Dcera otcova - the meaning is the same.
The daughter is the subject in both sentences.

Nominative Case - The Dictionary Form

The nominative case is the most simple case. It mainly shows who is the subject of a sentence, the entity performing the action.
You can also call it "the dictionary form of the word".

In Czech, it is the default form for nouns, adjectives, and pronouns when they are the subject of a sentence.
All the nouns you learn in the very beginning are in nominative case, and we recommend that you always learn new words in this form (the dictionary form).

Let's look at a few sentences and find the nouns in nominative case. Try to guess the answer before looking below!

• 1: This is a dog - To je pes.
• 2: This is a woman - To je žena.
• 3: A woman without a dog - Žena bez psa.
• 4: A dog without a woman - Pes bez ženy.

Now, take a look at the answers:

• 1: This is a dog - To je pes.
• 2: This is a woman - To je žena.
• 3: A woman without a dog - Žena bez psa.
• 4: A dog without a woman - Pes bez ženy.

Now we have pes, žena - nominative case. What about psa and ženy?
In English it is still just dog and woman in every sentence.
For us to understand the idea in sentences 3 and 4 we just need to add preposition “without” (bez).

But in Czech this is not enough. We need to change the noun that is not the main subject of the sentence.

Let's look at another example:

The dog's house is big - Dům psa je velký.

If we just translate directly from English (and don't give the word dog a case) we get:

Dům pes je velký

In Czech this sounds like "House dog is big."
It is hard to understand whether the dog is big, or the house is big, or both are big and there is no connection between the house and the dog.

Cases are crucial because they convey information about the grammatical function of a word within a sentence. They provide context and clarity.

Not using the correct case can result in ambiguity or confusion, making it challenging for listeners or readers to grasp the intended meaning.

Czech language has seven cases, each impacting different aspects of grammar. They are:

• 1: Nominative (dictionary form)
• 2: Genitive
• 3: Dative
• 4: Accusative
• 5: Vocative
• 6: Locative
• 7: Instrumental

The Czech word for case is pád. So you can call cases in Czech: první (1st) pád, druhý (2nd) pád, čtvrtý (4th) pád, etc.

Nominative case shows the subject of a sentence, as we already know. Let's look at one more case in this article: Genitive case.

Genitive Case - Unveiling Possessives

The genitive case in Czech serves to express possession or association.
It answers the question "whose? (Koho? Čeho?)" and is commonly used with prepositions indicating possession or a source.

The genetive is also always used with prepositions "do", "z", and "od".

"Do" (into, to):

The preposition "do" is used to express motion towards a destination. When "do" is employed, the noun following it takes the genitive case.

Examples:

Nominative: město - city (neuter gender, nominative case)
Genitive: Jdu do města - I am going into the city.

"Z" (from):

The preposition "z" denotes the origin or source of an action or object. When using "z," the noun following it takes the genitive case.

Examples:

Nominative: knihovna - library (feminine gender, nominative case)
Genitive: Knihu mám z knihovny - I have the book from the bookstore.

"Od" (from, since):

Similar to "z," the preposition "od" indicates the origin of an action or the starting point of a duration. The noun following "od" takes the genitive case.

Examples:

Nominative: ráno - morning (neuter gender, nominative case)
Genitive: Pracuji od rána - I work from/since the morning.

Using Genitive Case

To form the genitive case, nouns or pronouns (I you, he, etc.) undergo a change in their endings, reflecting possession or relationship.
To use genitive case correctly you need to know if the noun/pronoun is masculine, feminine or neuter.
If it is masculine you must also know if it is animate or inanimate (living or not).
And, adjectives must be used in genitive case if they are describing a genitive noun.

Examples with adjectives:

Nominative adjective: starý - old (masculine ending, nominative case)
Genitive: Knihu mám ze starého (masculine gender, genitive) domu - I have the book from the old house.

The adjective will change endings based on:

• The gender of the noun (the word "dům" has male inanimate gender, so "starý" must use a male inanimate ending)
• The case (with "ze", "dům" must be in genitive case, so "starý" must also be in genitive case)

Genitive Noun Endings

If you want a preview of the genitive noun endings, below you will find a table to help you.

However, we recommend you forget the complicated tables! They can be a bit overwhelming.

Instead, you can just go to our genitive case exercise and practice until you memorize the pattern.

We recommend working on one case at a time, until you have memorized it really thoroughly, before starting to practice a new case.
That way, you won't mix up the cases with each other.
You can also listen to Czechs speaking and play games. Any Czech media (reading or speaking) will help you memorize the correct endings.

Soon, using the wrong case will just sound wrong...like spelling a word wrong in your own language!

It's good to understand a rule and apply in more difficult situations. But normal Czechs are not thinking in terms of grammar or rules when they need to communicate.

Noun ending (nominative)	Noun ending (genitive)	Example
Masculine animate (hard ending)	-a	pes - psa
Masculine animate (soft ending)	-e	učitel - učitele
Masculine inanimate (hard ending)	-u	hrad - hradu
Masculine inanimate (soft ending)	-e	pokoj - pokoje
Feminine (ends with -a)	-y	škola - školy
Feminine (ends with -e)	-e	práce - práce
Feminine (soft consonant ending)	-e	kancelář - kanceláře
Neuter (ends with -e)	-e	moře - moře
Neuter (ends with -o)	-a	auto - auta
Neuter (ends with -í)	-í	nádraží - nádraží

Cases are challenging but we can do it together!! Happy learning!

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