Plural: nominative & accusative
studenti, knihy, města · Vidím studenty.
In short
Most plurals end in -y, -e, -i or -a. The only tricky ones are men and animals: they take -i when they're the subject and -y when they're the object. For everything else, the two look the same.
- hrad → hrady · žena → ženycastles · women
- město → městatowns (neuter -o becomes -a)
- To jsou studenti. · Vidím studenty.subject -i · object -y
- dítě → děti · člověk → lidéthe irregular ones
Full explanation
| Type | Nominative pl. | Accusative pl. |
|---|---|---|
| Masc. animate, hard | -i (or -ové, -é) | -y |
| Masc. animate, soft | -i / -ové / -é | -e |
| Masc. inanimate | hard -y · soft -e (hrady, klíče) | |
| Feminine | -a → -y · -e stays · píseň → písně · kost → kosti | |
| Neuter | -o → -a · -e, -í stay · kuře → kuřata | |
Men's plurals and the sound changes
When a word for men takes -i, the consonant before it often softens. It's the same thing you saw in the vocative:
- k → c: kluk → kluci · ch → š: Čech → Češi · r → ř: doktor → doktoři
- With d, t, n the spelling doesn't change, but you say them softly: kamarádi, studenti
- Words ending in -tel and nationalities in -an take -é: učitelé, Američané. Men's words ending in -a take -ové: kolegové.
A few rebels
dítě → děti, člověk → lidé (but lidi as the object), oko → oči, ucho → uši.
Adjectives follow along: noví studenti for men, but nové knihy, nové hrady and nová auta.