Cases are something a lot of Czech learners have difficulties with. They can be really tricky to start with but taking the time with each one can really help. Here’s a little about cases, and some tips I picked up for learning them.
Overview
Czech has 7 (SEVEN) cases. This is one more than Latin and three more than German. And unlike German, nouns can appear quite differently from one case to the next. Taking into account the 2 numbers, singular and plural, a noun has up to 14 potential forms. Except, no noun has 14 different forms. In reality, one form normally appears in a couple of different cases.
Cases tell us about the noun’s role in the sentence. The nominative case, for example, tells us that the noun is the subject of the sentence: it is the person or thing doing the action described by the verb. In the sentence: Mark studuje, “Mark” is the subject. Another case, the accusative, tells us the object of a sentence, or the person or thing directly affected by the verb. In the sentence Alena zabila Marka, “Mark” is now the object, as shown by how it now takes the accusative (and genitive) ending -a.
Meet the cases
So, what are these cases? Well, as I said, there are seven of them. Students in the Czech Republic learn the seven cases in a particular order and their common names in Czech are simply their position in this order; the nominative is referred to as 1. pád. They do also have names similar to the English:
1. nominativ- nominative
2. genitiv- genitive
3. dativ- dative
4. akuzativ- accusative
5. vokativ- vocative
6. lokál- locative
7. instrumentál- instrumental
As a learner, this order isn’t that useful to you. Most textbooks and courses will teach you the cases in the order: nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, locative, instrumental, with the vocative flung in wherever it’s needed. The main reasons for this are that the nominative and the accusative often have a lot of overlap, as do the dative and the locative, so this keeps the most similar cases together and makes patterns obvious. Secondly, when you’re learning, the accusative is simply going to be more useful to you than the dative and probably more so than the genitive. The “proper”, Czech, order, is something to keep in mind, though, when using monolingual dictionaries or looking up grammar explanations in Czech.
What do they do?
There isn’t enough time here to give a complete overview of all the cases, but I’ll point out the main uses.
Nominative: the subject of the sentence. It is also used with být, “to be”. This is the form you will find in a dictionary.
Accusative: the direct object. It is also used with many prepositions often showing direction.
Genitive: shows possession. It is also used with a lot of prepositions that show movement away from something and some that show position.
Dative: the indirect object. This is what has the verb done to it. “I give you the book”, Dávám ti knihu, you/ti is the direct object. It is used with a few prepositions, most importantly k which shows movement towards a person.
Locative: this can only be used with prepositions. Despite what the name suggests, these do not always show location, and not all prepositions that show location are used with the locative. The prepositions that are used with it can often be used with other cases to show direction.
Instrumental: this shows the instrument, or means, by which something is done. It is used with a few prepositions, most importantly s, “with”. It is also used after být, especially with professions.
Vocative: when addressing something or getting their attention, you use the vocative, “Jano!” would get Jana’s attention, “Marko!” would do the same for Mark.
Agreement
If it was just changing nouns then cases would be as easy as 1. 4. 2. Unfortunately, everything that goes with the noun needs to agree with it in case, gender, and number. Fortunately, adjectives are very regular, and you only need to learn two patterns: hard and soft.
Other words that agree are ten,ta,to (that), jeden, jedna, jedno (one), numbers 2-5, and possessive pronouns and adjectives.
Some tips
· Don’t attempt to learn all the forms and all the uses of the cases all at once. Instead, take your time. Focus on one case, learn its forms and learn some rules about how to use it. Learnt the prepositions which govern that case, if any. Spend time making example sentences, force yourself to use the case. Drilling is your friend here.
· Look for patterns. A lot of cases have the same form as another. A lot of masculine inanimate and neuter nouns are the same in the nominative and the accusative, for example.
· I’ll say it again, drilling is your friend! Learn lots of example sentences for each case, especially for prepositions. You are aiming for the cases to come naturally, so get used to saying and writing v Rusku, v Česku, v Polsku etc. The more you practice, the easier it will come.
· When making your sentences, stick adjectives and determiners in there. Get used to sticking -ých/-ích on adjectives in the genitive plural and sticking tomu with nouns in the dative.
· Don’t forget the little words that go with each case. Make sure you learn the correct forms with each one.
· If you find yourself making the same mistakes, spend time gong over it. Don’t be scared to redo a whole lesson on a certain aspect that is giving you difficulties. It is very easy to get a rule mixed up in your head.
· When you come across words you don’t know and can’t find in the dictionary, think about what the case the noun is in. The dictionary will list nouns by the nominative. You will need to look at endings and context to determine this. This will get easier as you get used to the system.
· If you are looking for something to do with a spare five minutes, drill nouns. Drill adjectives. Drill ten, ta, to. You can do it with a pen and paper, but you can also do it in your head waiting in line for the toilet.
I hope this helps anyone who may be unsure how to start tackling Czech cases! I’ve tried to keep typos to a minimum, apologies if anything slipped by.
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Language names in Czech have two forms. One follows the pattern adjective + jazyk (language), for example francouzský jazyk, “French language”. Alternatively there is a noun, which normally ends in -ina, francouzština, “French”.
Note that names of languages do not take a capital letter in Czech unless they appear at the beginning of a sentence, so we write:
Čeština je těžký jazyk. - “Czech is a difficult language.”
But
Zajímám se o češtinu. - “I am interested in Czech.”
To say you speak or know a language, you have to use a special adverb. Fortunately, this is the same as the adjective but with a short y instead of a long ý.
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When talking about what sports you play, you use the verb “hrát”- to play.
Já hraju/ hraji
Ty hraješ
On/ona hraje
My hrajeme
Vy hrajete
Oni/ony hrajou/ hrají
The second forms, where they exist, are formal.
Sports
⚽ fotbal/ kopaná
⚾baseball
🏀basketbal/ košíková
🏈americký fotbal
🏉rugby
🏐volejbal
🎾tenis
🏒hokej
🏏kriket
The second terms are a bit more formal. Hrát takes the accusative, but fortunately these words do not change form as they are all masculine.
When you see fotbal on its own, it is going to refer to the sport also known as soccer, not football in the American sense. Like in most of Europe, football (soccer) is the most popular team sport. Ice hockey is also very popular in the Czech Republic and their national team is one of the “big six”.
Example sentences:
Jaký sport máš rád(a)? - what sport do you like?
Mám rád(a) tenis - I like tennis
Co hraješ? - what do you play?
Hraju fotbal - I play football
With mám rád/ ráda, the second form is for if you are a woman, the word rád agrees with the subject. Similarly, máme rády kriket, we like cricket.
In an effort to get back into Czech, I treated myself to this absolutely gorgeous book. It has descriptions of around 2000 languages from around the world. Its filled with facts, maps, examples and pictures. I can’t understand half of it but I’m dipping in regularly!
