Hard & soft consonants, sound changes
Why Praha becomes v Praze and pes becomes psa.
Hard, soft and neutral consonants
| Hard | h, ch, k, r, d, t, n | → followed by y / ý |
|---|---|---|
| Soft | ž, š, č, ř, c, j, ď, ť, ň | → followed by i / í |
| Neutral | b, f, l, m, p, s, v, z | → either; learn the word |
Why does this matter? Because it tells you which model a noun follows. A masculine noun ending in a hard consonant goes like pán / hrad, a soft one like muž / stroj.
Consonant changes before -e / -ě
When a feminine noun takes -e / -ě in the dative or locative (and some masculine and neuter nouns in the locative), the consonant before it softens a little:
| Change | Example |
|---|---|
| h → z | Praha → v Praze, kniha → v knize |
| ch → š | střecha → na střeše |
| k → c | banka → v bance, Monika → Monice |
| r → ř | sestra → sestře, Klára → Kláře |
| d, t, n → dě, tě, ně | voda → ve vodě, teta → tetě, Brno → v Brně |
| b, p, v, m, f → bě, pě, vě, mě, fě | máma → mámě, Ostrava → v Ostravě |
| others → -e | škola → ve škole, divadlo → v divadle |
You'll see the same change in the vocative (Petr → Petře) and in men's plurals (doktor → doktoři).
The disappearing e
Lots of nouns lose the e in their last syllable as soon as you add an ending:
- pes → psa, psovi, psem
- Pavel → Pavla, Pavlovi · Karel → Karla
- dědeček → dědečka · Marek → Marka
- kostel → kostela · otec → otce
One more to watch: in some nouns ů turns into o: stůl → stolu, dům → domu, kůň → koně.