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Nouns (Podstatná jména)

Nouns in Czech are complex because they change their form (inflect) based on their role in the sentence. This process is called declension (skloňování).

Declension Paradigms​

Noun Paradigms Cheatsheet

To correctly use a noun, you need to know three things about it:

  1. Gender (Rod): Masculine, Feminine, or Neuter.
  2. Number (Číslo): Singular or Plural.
  3. Case (Pád): The grammatical function (subject, object, etc.).

The 14 Forms​

Because there are 7 cases and 2 numbers (singular/plural), theoretically, every noun has 14 different forms. In practice, some forms are identical, but the variety is still significant compared to English.

  • Dům (house - subject)
  • Bez domu (without a house)
  • K domu (to a house)
  • Vidím dům (I see a house)
  • O domě (about a house)
  • S domem (with a house)

Don't panic! There are patterns (models) that make this manageable.