Where? Where to? Where from?
na poště · na poštu · z pošty
In short
Czech cares a lot about the difference between being somewhere and going there. Kde? (where): ve škole, na poště. Kam? (where to): do školy, na poštu. Odkud? (where from): ze školy, z pošty.
- Jsem ve škole. · Jdu do školy.I'm at school. · I'm going to school.
- Jsem na poště. · Jdu na poštu.I'm at the post office. · I'm going there.
- Jsem u doktora. · Jdu k doktorovi.I'm at the doctor's. · I'm going to the doctor's.
- Jdu z pošty. · Jdu od doktora.I'm coming from the post office / the doctor's.
Full explanation
Three questions, three pairs of prepositions. Once you know which "family" a place belongs to, the rest is automatic.
| kde? (where) | kam? (where to) | odkud? (where from) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| v-places | v + locative ve škole, v Praze | do + genitive do školy, do Prahy | z + genitive ze školy, z Prahy |
| na-places | na + locative na poště | na + accusative na poštu | z + genitive z pošty |
| people | u + genitive u doktora | k + dative k doktorovi | od + genitive od doktora |
Which places use na?
Most buildings, towns and countries use v / do: škola, kino, obchod, banka, restaurace, práce, Praha, Německo. A handful use na, and you just learn them:
- public places: pošta, nádraží, letiště, úřad, policie, trh, náměstí
- events: koncert, výlet, dovolená, oběd, návštěva
- open spaces and some others: hory, zahrada, ulice, univerzita, fakulta, Slovensko, Ukrajina. (Since 2022 many Czechs also say v Ukrajině / do Ukrajiny; both are correct.)
Don't forget: na is the only one that stays the same for "where" and "where to". Only the case changes: na poště (I'm there) vs na poštu (I'm going there).