Czech grammar
Czech grammar. The complete guide from A1 to B1: the rules, examples to listen to, the usual mistakes.
- 0 · Letters and sounds
- A1 · Beginner
- A2 coming soon
- B1 coming soon
0 · Letters and sounds
A1 · Beginner
Být
- Saying who and where you are: the present of být, jsem, nejsem
- Speaking to a friend or a stranger: ty and vy
- Asking questions: yes or no, kdo, co, kde and to je
The present
- Saying what you do: the present tense (present simple) and its four patterns, dělám, mluvím, pracuju, čtu
- Having, going, wanting, eating, knowing: the irregular verbs mám, jdu, jedu, chci, jím, vím
- Saying your name, learning, watching: verbs with se and si, jmenuju se, dívám se, pamatuju si
- Saying no: the negative and the double negative, nemám, nic nevím, nikdo tam není
Gender
- Telling a noun's gender: masculine (animate or inanimate), feminine and neuter, ten, ta, to
- Describing things: adjectives, jaký, který and tenhle in the nominative singular
- Naming women and saying how: -ka, -ová and adverbs in -sky and -ě
The plural
- Talking about several things: the plural of things and their adjectives, obchody, auta, pokoje, nové knihy
- Parts of the body and people: irregular plurals, ruce, oči, uši, lidé, děti
The accusative
- Naming the object: the accusative singular of nouns, kávu, restauraci, bratra, učitele
- Describing the object: adjectives, ten, jeden and possessives in the accusative
- Short pronouns as objects: the accusative and the dative, mě, ho, ji, mi, mu
- Liking something and liking to do it: mám rád, mám ráda; rád čtu; nerad
- Waiting, giving and thanking: prepositions with the accusative, čekat na, dárek pro, děkovat za
The locative
Going places
- Where, where to and where from: kde, kam, odkud; do Prahy, na poštu, domů
- To, from, at and near: the genitive singular after do, z, u, vedle, od
- Saying how you travel: the instrumental, autem, vlakem, tramvají; na kole, pěšky
- One journey or a habit: jít or chodit, jet or jezdit
- Arriving and leaving: přijít, odejít, přijet, odjet
Possessives
Short pronouns
The past
- Talking about the past: the past tense (past simple), byl jsem, dělala jsi, šli jsme
- Word order in the past: jsem, se and si in second place, díval jsem se
The future
Modal verbs
- Wanting, being able, having to and knowing: modal verbs, chci, můžu, musím, smím; umím, znám, vím
- Asking politely: “I would like”, chtěl bych, chtěla bych
Numbers and time
- Counting: the numbers and their nouns, jeden, dvě, tři koruny, pět korun
- Telling the time and the day: Kolik je hodin?, ve tři hodiny, v pondělí, ráno
- Giving the date: ordinal numbers and the months, první, druhý, prvního května, v lednu