Personal pronouns - Osobní zájmena¶
Basic information¶
Personal pronouns replace the proper nouns or common (appellative) nouns and can also refer to things or animals.
já (I) and my (we) are first-person pronouns, referring to the speaker or a group that includes the speaker.
ty (informal you - singular) and vy (you plural or singular formal you) are second-person pronouns, referring to the person(s) being spoken to or addressed.
on (he), ona (she), ono (it), oni, ony, ona (they) are third-person pronouns, referring to other persons or things being spoken about.
See the table below for an overview:
| Person | SG | PL |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | já | my |
| 2nd | ty | vy |
| 3rd | on (Ma) on (Mi) ona (F) ono (N) |
oni (Ma) ony (Mi) ony (F) ona (N) |
The 2nd person plural form vy is used in Czech both for addressing multiple people and as a singular formal you. Using vy in one-on-one conversation is known as vykání. It is the default form of address in formal situations, especially with strangers, people you don’t know well, superiors, or older individuals.
Switching from vykání to the informal ty (singular you) is called tykání. This change requires mutual agreement and is typically initiated with the phrase Můžeme si tykat? (Can we use ty with each other?). The offer is usually made by the older person to the younger, by a woman to a man, or by parents-in-law to their son- or daughter-in-law.
Note
Subject personal pronouns (in the nominative case) are often omitted in sentences because the verb form indicates the subject.
Pracuji. (I work.) instead of Já pracuji.
Pracujeme (We work.) instead of My pracujeme.
See Conjugation groups for more details.
Unlike in English, where pronouns typically have only two forms — subject (nominative) and object (accusative, dative, or prepositional) — Czech pronouns decline in all seven cases. Their forms also vary depending on sentence structure and syntactic function. To help visualise this, we use a system of codes ( ) corresponding to the grammatical cases.
Сoding:
- Used for emphasis, typically at the beginning or end of a sentence (never in the second position in standard Czech)
- Appears in the second position of a sentence. 1
- Used after a preposition.
The locative case is always prepositional, so only forms are used.
The vocative case is used only for second-person pronouns and has the same form as the nominative.
Singular - Jednotné číslo¶
| NOM | GEN | DAT | ACC | VOC | LOC | INS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| já (I) |
mě, mne 2 mě, mne mě, mne |
mně mi mně |
mě, mne 2 mě, mne mě, mne |
- | mně | mnou mnou mnou |
| ty 3 (you) |
tebe tě tebe |
tobě ti tobě |
tebe tě tebe |
ty | tobě | tebou tebou tebou |
| on (he) |
jeho ho něho |
jemu mu němu |
jeho ho něho |
- | něm | jím jím ním |
| ona (she) |
jí jí ní |
jí jí ní |
ji ji ni |
- | ní | jí jí ní |
| ono (it) |
jeho ho něho |
jemu mu němu |
jeho ho něho |
- | něm | jím jím ním |
Extended explanation of on (he) and ono (it)
In literary Czech (rarely in spoken Czech), on and ono can have alternate forms in the genitive and accusative cases.
The table below highlights these differences in green.
| NOM | GEN | DAT | ACC | VOC | LOC | INS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| on | jej jej něj |
jemu mu němu |
jej jej něj |
- | něm | jím jím ním |
| NOM | GEN | DAT | ACC | VOC | LOC | INS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ono | jej jej něj |
jemu mu němu |
je/jej je/jej něj |
- | něm | jím jím ním |
Plural - Množné číslo¶
| NOM | GEN | DAT | ACC | VOC | LOC | INS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| my (we) |
nás |
nám |
nás | - | nás | námi |
| vy (you) |
vás |
vám |
vás |
vy | vás | vámi |
| oni, ony, ona (they) |
jich jich nich |
jim jim nim |
je je ně |
- | nich | jimi jimi nimi |
Extended explanation of oni (they)
Czech distinguishes they based on gender, but this applies only in the nominative case. Other cases follow the same declension pattern as oni (see the table above).
| Gender | Form |
|---|---|
| Masculine animate | oni |
| Masculinate inanimate | ony |
| Feminine | ony |
| Neuter | ona |
In written Czech, the pronouns ty and vy may be capitalised (in all grammatical cases):
- ty → Ty
- vy → Vy
This is done to convey a more formal or respectful tone, especially in letters, emails, or official communication.
-
When a personal pronoun is the object of a sentence, it typically appears in the second logical position:
- I love you. = Miluji tě. or Já tě miluji.
If the pronoun is emphasised, it moves from the second position: - It is you that I love. = Tebe miluji. or Miluji tebe.
This second-position pronoun is sometimes called the short form (since it's usually shorter than the emphatic form).
See the Second position rule in detail. ↩
- I love you. = Miluji tě. or Já tě miluji.
-
Form mne is rarely used these days. It is usually replaced by mě everywhere. ↩↩
-
Pronoun ty is an informal you. For formal you, form vy is used. ↩