Adjective agreement
nový hrad, nová kniha, nové auto
In short
Adjectives copy the gender of their noun: -ý for masculine, -á for feminine, -é for neuter. And if an adjective ends in -í, relax: it stays the same for all three.
- nový hradmasculine
- nová knihafeminine
- nové autoneuter
- jarní den / noc / ránosoft: always -í
Full explanation
An adjective always has to match its noun. For now we'll just look at gender. Cases and plurals come later.
| Hard (-ý) | Soft (-í) | |
|---|---|---|
| Masculine | nový hrad | jarní den |
| Feminine | nová kniha | jarní noc |
| Neuter | nové auto | jarní ráno |
- Soft adjectives end in -í (jarní, letní, cizí, moderní, hlavní) and look exactly the same whatever the gender. One less thing to worry about!
- What counts is the real gender, not the ending: nový kolega, dobrý táta. They're men, so the adjective is masculine.