Semantic agreement with collectives

When a collective noun (e.g., řada, skupina, dav, většina) or noun-numeral (e.g., stovky, tisíce, miliony) is the subject and is modified by a genitive plural noun denoting people (e.g., odborníků, lidí, žen, dětí), Czech offers different ways to conjugate the past participle:

• Formal Agreement: The verb matches the grammatical gender of the collective noun or noun-numeral. For example, řada is feminine singular, so the verb ends in -a (Řada lidí přišla [A number of people arrived]). Similarly, dav is masculine inanimate singular, so the verb takes a zero ending (Dav lidí stál [A crowd of people stood]).
• Default Agreement (exception for tisíce): While plural noun-numerals generally require formal agreement (e.g., Stovky/miliony lidí přišly), the word tisíce (and its compounds) is a strict exception. It can optionally take the default neuter singular ending -o in the primary clause (e.g., Tisíce lidí přišlo [Thousands of people arrived]). If tisíce is modified by a specific number (e.g., tři tisíce lidí), both přišly and přišlo are allowed. However, if the number is complex, agreement is dictated by the last word of the spelled-out number. If it ends in hundreds or tens (e.g., 3 200 lidí), only the neuter singular -o is allowed. But if the complex number ends in 1, 2, 3, or 4 (e.g., 3 202 lidé), the agreement changes entirely based on that final numeral (e.g., masculine animate plural přišli). Note that the singular form tisíc lidí typically takes the default neuter -o (Tisíc lidí přišlo), just like numbers 5 and up, though masculine inanimate agreement is also possible (Tisíc lidí přišel). Higher numerals like milion (masculine inanimate) can function as a regular noun and take formal agreement based on its gender (e.g., Milion lidí přišel), but it can also function as a numeral and take the default neuter singular ending -o (Milion lidí přišlo). Similarly, miliarda (feminine) strictly requires feminine singular agreement (Miliarda lidí přišla); using neuter agreement (-o) is a grammatical error. Singular forms of other noun-numerals like stovka and desítka are formally feminine nouns and require feminine agreement in standard written Czech (e.g., Stovka lidí přišla). However, in casual spoken Czech, native speakers frequently use the neuter -o (Stovka lidí přišlo) by analogy with standard numerals.
• Semantic Agreement: The verb matches the natural gender and animacy of the people in the group. (Note: This cannot be used in the primary clause—e.g., you must write Většina žen odešla, not Většina žen odešly in the same clause. See Syntactic Boundaries below.) In the secondary clause, the verb agrees directly with the natural gender of the genitive noun (e.g., lidí, žen, dětí), completely ignoring the collective noun that governed the first clause. If the group is mixed-gender or exclusively male (e.g., většina lidí [majority of people]), it takes the masculine animate plural ending -i because the word lidé is a masculine animate plural noun (...a sedli si [...and they sat down]). If the group consists exclusively of women (e.g., většina žen [majority of women]), it takes the feminine plural ending -y (...a odešly [...and they left]). Similarly, if the group refers to children (e.g., většina dětí [majority of children]), it also takes the feminine plural ending -y because the word děti behaves as a feminine plural noun in the past tense (...a hrály si [...and they played]).

Syntactic Boundaries:
Prescriptive grammar dictates a strict rule for this pattern, governed by syntactic boundaries: the further the verb is from the collective noun (e.g., across clause boundaries), the more acceptable and natural semantic agreement becomes. In the same primary clause where the collective noun is explicitly stated, formal agreement (or default agreement for tisíce) is required. In a relative clause, both formal and semantic agreement are equally fine. In subsequent clauses or new sentences where the subject is unexpressed but understood to be the individuals, semantic agreement is highly common and generally preferred by native speakers. While maintaining formal agreement across multiple sentences is grammatically possible (e.g., Většina lidí souhlasila. Brzy nato odešla. [Most people agreed. Soon after, they left.]), it can sound stiff, unnatural, or even comical when describing individualized human actions. Therefore, semantic agreement is best used across these stronger syntactic boundaries (e.g., Většina lidí souhlasila. Brzy nato odešli.).

Crucially, in standard Czech, the genitive plural noun denoting people (e.g., lidí) must be explicitly stated in the primary clause to justify semantic agreement later. However, in colloquial speech, words inherently meaning people (like dav [crowd]) can sometimes trigger semantic agreement even if the genitive modifier is omitted.

Word Order (Slovosled):
Word order also plays a role in agreement. If the verb precedes the subject (e.g., Na náměstí se sešlo/sešly tisíce lidí [Thousands of people gathered in the square]), agreement rules can be more flexible. In such inverted sentences, the verb often defaults to the neuter singular -o or agrees with the closest noun.

Note that semantic agreement also appears in entirely separate grammatical situations in Czech, such as:
1. 1st and 2nd person pronouns (já, ty, my, vy), which lack grammatical gender. The verb agrees with the natural gender of the speaker(s) or addressee(s) (e.g., My jsme to nevěděly [We didn't know it; spoken by a group of women]).
2. Neuter plural nouns denoting people (e.g., děvčata, dvojčata). While formal agreement is neuter plural (-a), subsequent clauses often switch to semantic agreement based on the natural gender. For example, feminine plural (-y) for girls (e.g., Děvčata si hrála. Brzy se spřátelily. [The girls were playing. They soon became friends.]), or masculine animate plural (-i) if referring to boys (e.g., Dvojčata si hrála a pak usnuli. [The twins were playing and then they fell asleep.]).
3. General subjects (všeobecný podmět), where the actors are unknown or general (e.g., Hlásili to v rozhlase [They announced it on the radio]).
4. Foreign or opaque group names, especially in sports (e.g., Red Wings zvítězili [The Red Wings won]).

Relative Clauses:
In relative clauses modifying the genitive plural noun, both formal and semantic agreement are acceptable. The relative pronoun and verb can agree with the collective noun (e.g., Skupina lidí, která stála [A group of people that stood; antecedent: skupina]) or with the genitive noun (e.g., Skupina lidí, kteří stáli [A group of people who stood; antecedent: lidí]).

Register and Frequency:
Using semantic agreement in the primary clause (e.g., Většina lidí souhlasili [Most people agreed]) is frequent in casual speech and internet discussions. However, it is universally considered a severe grammatical error (hrubka) in strict formal writing and is actively corrected in edited journalism. Conversely, using semantic agreement across clause boundaries is standard, fully codified, and frequent in all registers.

Note that this pattern is often confused with číslovky pět a více (numerals 5 and above) and indefinite quantifiers like mnoho, málo, pár, několik (see několik/mnoho/málo + genitiv plurálu), which take neuter singular agreement in the main clause but can also take semantic agreement in subsequent clauses.