Word Order (Slovosled)

While flexible, Czech word order is not random. It is governed by Topic-Focus Articulation and the Clitic Rule.

Visual Overview

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1. Topic-Focus Articulation

Czech sentences are usually organized from "Old Information" (Topic) to "New Information" (Focus). The most important information comes last.

• Pes kousl kočku. (The dog bit the cat. - Answering "What happened?")
• Kočku kousl pes. (The cat was bitten by a dog. - Answering "Who bit the cat?")

2. The Clitic Rule (Second Position)

Certain small, unstressed words (clitics) must appear in the second position of the sentence. The "second position" means after the first stressed phrase (which can be one word or a whole group like "My older brother").

The Golden Order of Clitics

If you have multiple clitics, they must appear in this exact order:

Order	Type	Examples
0	Conjunctions	že, a, když... (Start of clause)
1	Auxiliary "být"	jsem, jsi, jsme, jste (Past) / bych, bys... (Cond)
2	Reflexive	se, si
3	Dative	mi, ti, mu, jí, nám, vám, jim
4	Accusative	mě, tě, ho, ji, to, nás, vás, je

Examples

• Reflexive only:
  • Já se myji. (I wash myself.)
• Auxiliary + Reflexive:
  • Já jsem se myl. (I washed myself.)
• Auxiliary + Reflexive + Dative + Accusative (The Nightmare Sentence):
  • On by se ti to snažil vysvětlit. (He would try to explain it to you.)
    • On (1st pos)
    • by (Aux - Rank 1)
    • se (Refl - Rank 2)
    • ti (Dat - Rank 3)
    • to (Acc - Rank 4)
    • snažil vysvětlit (Rest)

Common Mistakes

• Já myl se. (WRONG - se must be 2nd) -> Já se myl.
• Včera jsem koupil to. (WRONG - to is clitic) -> Včera jsem to koupil.

If you mess this up, you will sound very foreign!