Masculine animate nominative plural adjectives

Level 3

When a group of living males or animals is the subject of a sentence, hard adjectives describing them must end in -í instead of -ý. This soft ending often changes the final consonant of the adjective.

How It Works

The masculine animate nominative plural is unique because it is the only form (shared by the nominative and vocative plural) in the Czech adjective paradigm where hard adjectives take the ending -í. Because -í is a soft vowel, it forces certain preceding consonants to mutate (palatalize), while others (like b, p, v, m, f, s, z, l) remain unchanged (e.g., nový → noví).

Common Consonant Mutations:

  • k → c: velký → velcí (big)
  • h → z: drahý → drazí (dear/expensive)
  • ch → š: tichý → tiší (quiet)
  • r → ř: dobrý → dobří (good)
  • sk → št: český → čeští (Czech)
  • ck → čt: anglický → angličtí (English)

Note: Nouns themselves also undergo similar consonant mutations in this case (e.g., kluk → kluci, pták → ptáci).

For adjectives ending in -dý, -tý, -ný (like mladý), the spelling simply changes to -dí, -tí, -ní. No new diacritic is written, but the pronunciation softens (mladí).

Demonstrative and Possessive Pronouns:
Pronouns also have special forms for masculine animate plurals:

  • ten becomes ti (e.g., ti muži)
  • můj becomes moji or mí
  • náš becomes naši
  • všechen becomes všichni (all)

Possessive Adjectives:
Possessives also change to match masculine animate subjects:

  • -ův becomes -ovi (bratrův → bratrovi psi)
  • -in becomes -ini (matčin → matčini bratři)

Past Tense Agreement:
When a masculine animate plural noun is the subject, past tense verbs must also take an -i ending to agree with it (e.g., Tito dobří muži tam byli). This is a key rule for past-tense plural gender endings.

Important Note: This form is used for the nominative subject, predicate adjectives (e.g., Tito muži jsou dobří), and the vocative plural (e.g., Drazí přátelé!). If the men or animals are the direct object (accusative), hard adjectives end in -é (e.g., Vidím mladé muže), while possessive adjectives take -y (e.g., Vidím bratrovy psy).

Examples (5)

  1. Čeští sportovci vyhráli zlato.

    The Czech athletes won gold.

    Word by Word: Czech athletes won gold.

    The adjective 'český' changes to 'čeští' (sk → št) because 'sportovci' is a masculine animate subject.

  2. Velcí psi běhali po parku.

    Big dogs were running around the park.

    Word by Word: Big dogs ran around park.

    The adjective 'velký' changes to 'velcí' (k → c) to agree with the animate noun 'psi'.

  3. Moji rodiče jsou velmi trpěliví.

    My parents are very patient.

    Word by Word: My parents are very patient.

    The adjective 'trpělivý' changes to 'trpěliví'. The 'v' doesn't mutate, but the ending changes to -í.

  4. Drazí přátelé, vítejte!

    Dear friends, welcome!

    Word by Word: Dear friends, welcome!

    The adjective 'drahý' changes to 'drazí' (h → z). This pattern also applies to the vocative case when addressing people.

  5. Petrovi bratři studují v Praze.

    Petr's brothers study in Prague.

    Word by Word: Petr's brothers study in Prague.

    The possessive adjective 'Petrův' changes to 'Petrovi' to agree with the masculine animate plural 'bratři'.

Common Mistakes

  • Forgetting the consonant mutation.

    Českí sportovci vyhráli.
    Čeští sportovci vyhráli.

    The '-í' ending is soft and forces the preceding consonant to mutate (e.g., 'sk' becomes 'št', 'k' becomes 'c'). You cannot just swap 'ý' for 'í' without changing the consonant.

  • Using the inanimate/feminine ending '-é' for animate men or animals.

    Mladé muži přišli.
    Mladí muži přišli.

    The ending '-é' is used for inanimate masculine subjects (like 'mladé stromy') or feminine nouns. For living males and animals in the nominative, you must use '-í'.

How It Connects

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Masculine animate nominative plural adjectivesLevel 3

Learn This First

To learn masculine animate plural adjectives, you first need to understand the basic hard adjective system and the distinction between animate and inanimate masculine nouns. It is also helpful to see how this animacy distinction affects other parts of speech, like demonstrative pronouns.

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