Czech Prepositions: the complete guide

Prepositions are an essential part of grammar in many languages, and Czech is no exception. These words establish the relationships between different elements within a sentence, indicating spatial, temporal, or other types of connections.

The usage of prepositions in Czech

There are a few things you should know before you start learning prepositions. These are:

1) Prepositions come before the noun

2) Prepositions in Czech are tied to specific grammatical cases

3) Always make sure you know the right case

Prepositions with the genitive grammatical case

In Czech grammar, the genitive case is the second case and can be used with and without prepositions, depending on the intended meaning and context. Here are some of the most common prepositions that can take the genitive case:

Table: common Czech prepositions that are used with the genitive case
Preposition Translation
bez without
do to, into, until
kolem around
kromě except for
místo instead of
od from, since
u at, by
vedle next to, beside
z, ze from

Example sentences:

Prepositions with the dative case

The dative case is the third case in Czech. It can be used with or without prepositions.

The following prepositions can be used with the dative case:

Table: common prepositions in Czech which are used with the dative case
Preposition Translation
díky thanks to, owing to
k, ke to, toward
kvůli because of, due to
navzdory despite, in spite of
proti against
vůči towards, to, against

Example sentences:

Prepositions with the accusative case

In Czech grammar, the fourth case is the accusative case, which is used to indicate the direct object of a verb. The accusative case can be used with or without prepositions, depending on the context of the sentence. Here are some common prepositions that take the accusative case:

Table: common prepositions in Czech which are used with the accusative grammatical case
Preposition Translation
na on, for
o for, against
pod under
pro for
před in front of
přes across, over, in spite of
za for, on behalf of, behind

Example sentences:

Prepositions with the locative case

The locative is the sixth case in Czech. It can only be used with prepositions – you cannot use the locative case without it being preceded by a preposition.

Here is a list of prepositions that take the locative case:

Table: common prepositions which are used with the locative grammatical case
Preposition Translation
na on
o about
po after
při by, when (doing something)
v, ve in

Example sentences:

Prepositions with the instrumental case

The seventh and final case in Czech is the instrumental case, which can be used both with and without a preposition.

Here is a list of the most common Czech prepositions used with the instrumental case:

Table: common prepositions which are used with the instrumental grammatical case
Preposition Translation
mezi between
nad above, over
pod below, under
před in front of, before, ago
s, se with
za behind

Example sentences:

Some rules for the proper use of prepositions

You may have noticed that sometimes, there are two options when it comes to some Czech prepositions, such as “s,” “z,” “v,” and “k.” Sometimes, Czech people might say “se,” “ze,” “ve,” or “ke” instead.

This depends on which word the preposition is in front of. The rule is simple: Czechs use the “-e” version of a preposition when the version without the vowel would be too difficult to pronounce.

This mostly happens in the following cases:

1) Words beginning with “s,” “z,” “f,” “v,” and “k”

If the word following the preposition begins with one of the letters above, it would be almost impossible for a Czech person to pronounce the phrase without adding a little “-e” to the end of the preposition.

For example:

2) Words beginning with consonant clusters

The Czech language is renowned for its consonant clusters, which can be particularly challenging for both native speakers and new learners. There are words in Czech, such as “krk” (neck) or “skrz” (through), that consist entirely of consonants, making them particularly tricky to pronounce.

Czechs frequently use the “-e” version of prepositions to facilitate pronunciation when a word begins with more than one consonant. For instance:

Unfortunately, this second rule has some exceptions. While it may be a good rule of thumb you can often follow, it doesn’t apply in all cases. For example:

The best thing to do here is to listen to Czechs speaking and read Czech books. Because there are so many exceptions, you may ultimately have no choice but to memorize which words don’t follow the rules above and which do.

Conclusion

Prepositions are not the easiest part of learning the Czech language. There are many that you will have to memorize.

In Czech, some prepositions can be used in many different ways, with different grammatical cases – others are more straightforward and can only be used with one particular grammatical case.

The best way to master Czech prepositions is to try and memorize each one with the cases that it can be used with. Memorizing a list of them with just their meanings, but without the cases, won’t get you very far. Declension is an important part of the Czech language, and without it, many speakers may struggle to understand you.

If you want to learn more about the Czech language, you can check out our guides to Czech pronouns and How to write an email in Czech.