Czech Nouns: Cases

There are three important grammatical categories that determine the composition of a Czech noun: the case, number, and gender.

Cases

Czech has 7 grammatical cases:

1. nominative
2. genitive
3. dative
4. accusative
5. vocative
6. locative
7. instrumental

The case expresses the "attitude" of the speaker towards the subject he or she is talking about. Cases are often expressed by using a preposition - e.g. the genitive is often used with the preposition "z/ze" (from), the dative can be used with "k/ke" (to/towards), "do" (to/into), etc. No preposition is used with the nominative and vocative. Go to Prepositions for more information.

Examples (using the word "hrad" - "castle"):

Nominative: "hrad"
Hrad je starý. - The castle is old.

Genitive: "hradu"
Z hradu vycházejí lidé. - People are coming out of the castle.

Dative: "hradu"
Cesta vede ke hradu. - The road leads to the castle.

Accusative: "hrad"
Vidím hrad. - I see a castle.

Vocative: "hrade"
The vocative is used only for calling/addressing someone or something.

Locative: "hradu"
Mluvím o hradu. - I am talking about a castle.

Instrumental: "hradem"
Za hradem je les. - There is a forest behind the castle.