Pronoun declension is complicated, some are declined according to adjective paradigms, some are irregular.
Personal pronouns
| Sg. | Nominative | já (I) | ty (you) | on (he) | ona (she) | ono (it) |
|---|
| Genitive | mne, mě (short form) | tebe, tě (short form) | jeho, ho (short form)
něho (after prepositions form) | její, jí(short form)
ní(after preposition form) | jeho, ho (short form)
něho (after preposition form) |
|---|
| Dative | mně, mi | tobě, ti | jemu, mu
němu | jí
ní | jemu, mu
němu |
|---|
| Accusative | mne, mě | tebe, tě | jeho, ho, jej
něho, něj | ji
ni | je(j), ho
ně(j) |
|---|
| Locative | mně | tobě | něm | ní | něm |
|---|
| Instrumental | mnou | tebou | jím
ním | jí
ní | jím
ním |
|---|
| Pl. | Nominative | my (we) | vy (you) | oni (they) | ony (they) | ona (they) |
|---|
| Genitive | nás | vás | jich
nich |
|---|
| Dative | nám | vám | jim
nim |
|---|
| Accusative | nás | vás | je
ně |
|---|
| Locative | nás | vás | nich |
|---|
| Instrumental | námi | vámi | jimi
nimi |
|---|
In some singular cases, short forms of pronouns are possible, which are clitics. They cannot be used with prepositions. They are unstressed, therefore they cannot be the first words in sentences. Usually they appear in second place in a sentence or clause, obeying Wackernagel's Law. Examples:
- Nedávej mi to. Don't give it to me.
- Mně to nedávej. Don't give it to me. (emphasizing mně)
- Přijď ke mně. Come to me.
In 3rd person (singular and plural) j-forms are used without prepositions, n-forms are used after prepositions:
- Ukaž mu to. or Ukaž to jemu. (emphasizing jemu) Show it to him.
- Přišla k němu. She came to him.
Accusative forms jej (on), je, ně (ono) are usually regarded as archaic.
They: oni – masculine animate gender, ony – masculine inanimate and feminine genders, ona – neuter gender
Reflexive personal pronoun
Reflexive personal pronoun is used when the object is identical to the subject. It has no nominative form and it is the same for all persons and numbers. It is translated into English as myself, yourself, himself, etc.
| Nominative | ---- |
|---|
| Genitive | sebe |
|---|
| Dative | sobě, si |
|---|
| Accusative | sebe, se |
|---|
| Locative | sobě |
|---|
| Instrumental | sebou |
|---|
Example:
- Vidím se (sebe) v zrcadle. I see myself in the mirror.
Short form se and si are again clitics; often they are a part of reflexive verbs and as such are not usually translated into English explicitly:
- Posaď se./Sedni si. Sit down.
Demonstrative pronouns
Ten – the, this, that
| | | Masculine
animate | Masculine
inanimate | Feminine | Neuter |
|---|
| Sg. | Nominative | ten | ta | to |
|---|
| Genitive | toho | té | toho |
|---|
| Dative | tomu | té | tomu |
|---|
| Accusative | toho | ten | tu | to |
|---|
| Locative | tom | té | tom |
|---|
| Instrumental | tím | tou | tím |
|---|
| Pl. | Nominative | ti | ty | ta |
|---|
| Genitive | těch |
|---|
| Dative | těm |
|---|
| Accusative | ty | ta |
|---|
| Locative | těch |
|---|
| Instrumental | těmi |
|---|
Tenhle, tahle, tohle/tento, tato, toto (this) and tamten, tamta, tamto (that) are declined as ten + to (tento, tohoto, tomuto ...), resp. tam + ten (tamten, tamtoho, tamtomu ...).
Onen, ona, ono (that – not to be confused with personal pronouns) is declined as ten (onen, onoho, onomu ...).
To is often used as personal pronoun instead of ono (it):
- Dej mi to. Give it to me.
"To je/jsou" means "this is/these are" and is used for all genders and both numbers:
- To je můj přítel. This is my friend. (Přítel is masculine.)
- To jsou mí přátelé. These are my friends.
Indefinite and negative pronouns
někdo, kdos(i) (old) – somebody, someone
nikdo – nobody, no one
kdokoli(v) – anyone
leckdo(s), leda(s)kdo, kdekdo – many people, frequently/commonly someone
declined like kdo (někdo, někoho, někomu, …; nikdo, nikoho, nikomu, …; kdokoli, kohokoli, komukoli, …; leckdo, leckoho, leckomu, …)
něco – something
nic – nothing
cokoli(v) – anything
lecco(s), ledaco(s), leda(s)co, kdeco – many things, frequently/commonly something
declined like co (něco, něčeho, něčemu, …; nic, ničeho, ničemu, …; cokoli, čehokoli, čemukoli, …; lecos, lecčeho, lecčemu, …)
někde – somewhere
nikde – nowhere
kdekoli(v) – anywhere
všude – everywhere; less frequently: any path/direction/trajectory
leckde, leda(s)kde – on many/frequent/common places, wherever
někudy, kudysi (old) – some path/direction/trajectory
nikudy – no path/direction/trajectory
kdekudy – any path/direction/trajectory
odněkud, odkudsi (old) – from somewhere
odnikud – from nowhere
odevšad – from everywhere/every direction/every angle
kdesi (old) – somewhere more specific
not declined
všelijak – in all ways
nějak, jaksi (old) – somehow (colloquial tak nějak – in a way, somewhat, quite, rather)
nijak, nikterak (old) – in no way
jakkoli(v), kdejak (old) – in any way, anyhow
not declined
každý – each, each one
nějaký – some, one, a(n)
některý – some, particular, selected (little more specific than nějaký)
kterýsi (old), jakýsi (old) – some, someone (more specific)
žádný – none, no (as in "no man has ever been there")
nijaký – no whatsoever; of no properties (specifically)
jakýkoli(v), kterýkoli – any
lecjaký, leda(s)jaký, kdejaký, kdekterý – frequently/commonly some, whichever
všelijaký – getting many forms, various
veškerý – entire, total, all
declined like mladý
něčí, čísi (old) – belonging to someone or something
ničí – belonging to no one or nothing
číkoli – belonging to any one or anything
lecčí, leda(s)čí, kdečí – belonging to many or frequent/common number of owners, whosever
declined like jarní
- Example: –„Tam se asi nikdo nedostane.‟ –„Ne, tam přijímají ledaskoho. Leckdy i se špatnými známkami. Skoro každý se tam dostane, ať už jakkoli, ale ne jen tak kdokoli dokončí studia.‟ (–"I guess no one gets there." –"No, they admit many people there. In many cases/frequently/commonly even with bad marks. Almost everyone gets there, no matter how, but not just anyone will finish the studies.")
Czech grammar allows more than one negative word to exist in a sentence. For example: „Tady nikde nikdy nikdo nijak odnikud nikam nepostoupí.‟, standing for: "Anywhere around here, no one will ever progress from any place anywhere in any way." (literally, word by word: "Here nowhere never nobody no way anywhence anywhere won't progress."), uses six negatives in adverbs and pronouns and one at verb while still being grammatically correct. It uses negative form in questions, expressing doubts, wishes, asking for favours, etc. like, for example: „Neměl bys být už ve škole?!‟ ("Shouldn't you be at school already?!"); „Neměl byste na mě pár minut čas?‟ ("Wouldn't you have few minutes of Your time for me?"); „Nemáš náhodou papír a tužku?‟ ("Don't you, by chance, happen to have a paper and some pencil?"); „Přišel jsem se tě zeptat, jestli bychom si nemohli vyměnit směny.‟ ("I came to ask if we could not swap our shifts.")
