ti / ty

In the nominative plural, Czech demonstrative pronouns split based on gender and animacy. These are the plural forms of the singular demonstratives ten, ta, and to.

1. The Standard Rules

• Ti is used exclusively for masculine animate nouns (people and animals): ti muži (those men), ti psi (those dogs). Note that these nouns frequently undergo a consonant mutation in the nominative plural (e.g., kluk (boy) → kluci (boys)).
• Ty is used for masculine inanimate and feminine nouns: ty stoly (those tables), ty ženy (those women). Crucial exceptions: The word děti (children) refers to people, but it is grammatically feminine in the plural. Similarly, oči (eyes) and uši (ears) are neuter in the singular but become feminine in the plural. Therefore, they strictly take ty (e.g., ty děti tam byly (those children were there), ty oči (those eyes)).

Note: Neuter plural nouns use a different form entirely: ta (e.g., ta auta (those cars)).

2. Pronunciation Matters
Learners often assume ti and ty sound identical, but they do not. The i in ti softens (palatalizes) the 't', creating a single, soft consonant sound (pronounced as ťi). The y in ty keeps the 't' hard.

3. The Agreement Chain
The choice between ti and ty dictates the endings for adjectives and past-tense verbs. Ti triggers the soft -í ending on hard adjectives and the -i ending on past-tense verbs (e.g., Ti dobří kluci tam byli (Those good boys were there)). Ty triggers the -é ending on hard adjectives and the -y ending on past-tense verbs (e.g., Ty dobré stoly tam byly (Those good tables were there); Ty dobré ženy tam byly (Those good women were there)). Finally, the neuter ta triggers the -á adjective ending and the -a past-tense verb ending (e.g., Ta dobrá auta tam byla (Those good cars were there)). This is a key part of past-tense plural gender endings.

4. Mixed-Gender Groups
When referring to a mixed group of nouns, masculine animate takes priority. If a group contains even one masculine animate noun alongside feminine or neuter nouns, the demonstrative pronoun must be ti and the past-tense verb ending must be -i (e.g., Ti muži a ženy tam byli (Those men and women were there)).

5. Spoken vs. Written Czech
While demonstrative pronoun agreement is strictly enforced in formal writing, casual spoken Czech often neutralizes this distinction. You will frequently hear native speakers use ty for all plural genders, saying ty kluci (instead of ti kluci (those boys)) or ty auta (instead of ta auta (those cars)). However, writing these in a formal context is considered a severe grammatical error.

6. Don't Confuse 'Ti' with 'Ti'
Be careful not to confuse the demonstrative ti (those/the) with the dative personal pronoun ti (to you). The demonstrative always precedes a noun, while the dative pronoun is a second-position clitic that typically follows the first word or phrase in a clause.