Dative, Locative and Instrumental Plural

Level 3

Three plural cases have their own endings: the dative (k priateľom, to friends), the locative (o ženách, about women) and the instrumental (s chlapmi, with the men).

How It Works

Masculine nouns. All masculine nouns, for people and for things, share the same endings in these three cases:

  • Dative -om: chlapom, hrdinom, dubom, strojom
  • Locative -och: o chlapoch, o hrdinoch, o duboch, o strojoch
  • Instrumental -mi: s chlapmi, s kamarátmi, so susedmi, s dubmi, so strojmi

Nouns like hrdina and many nouns whose stem ends in two consonants take -ami instead: s hrdinami, s otcami, s chlapcami, s mostami. See the masculine models.

Feminine and neuter nouns. After a hard consonant the endings have a long á: ženám, o ženách, so ženami; mestám, v mestách, s mestami. After a soft consonant the dative and locative have ia: uliciam, na uliciach; dlaniam; kostiam; srdciam, v srdciach.

The instrumental keeps plain -ami after a soft consonant: s ulicami, s dlaňami, s kosťami, so srdcami. Only neuter nouns in -ie take -iami: s vysvedčeniami, s námestiami.

The rhythmic law. Slovak avoids two long syllables in a row. After a long syllable, -ám and -ách become -am and -ach, and -iam and -iach become -am and -ach too: lúka → lúkam, na lúkach; báseň → básňam, v básňach. See the rhythmic law.

Where you meet these cases. The dative follows k and verbs of giving. The locative follows o, po and pri and v and na. The instrumental follows s. A few nouns have special forms, such as ľuďom, deťoch and očami (see irregular plurals).

Examples (6)

  1. Zajtra idem k priateľom.

    Tomorrow I'm going to my friends' place.

    Word by Word: Tomorrow I-go to friends.

    Priateľ becomes priateľom in the dative plural after k.

  2. Píšem článok o mestách na Slovensku.

    I'm writing an article about towns in Slovakia.

    Word by Word: I-write article about towns in Slovakia.

    Mesto becomes mestách in the locative plural after o.

  3. Večer idem von s kamarátmi.

    In the evening I'm going out with my friends.

    Word by Word: Evening I-go out with friends.

    Masculine nouns usually take -mi in the instrumental plural.

  4. Mama sa rozpráva so susedkami.

    Mom is chatting with the neighbors.

    Word by Word: Mom herself talks with neighbors(f).

    Feminine nouns take -ami: susedka becomes susedkami.

  5. Na uliciach bolo veľa ľudí.

    There were a lot of people in the streets.

    Word by Word: On streets was many people.

    Ulica ends in a soft consonant plus -a, so the locative plural is uliciach.

  6. Kone sa pasú na lúkach.

    The horses are grazing in the meadows.

    Word by Word: Horses themselves graze on meadows.

    Lú- is a long syllable, so the ending is short: lúkach, not lúkách.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the masculine locative ending on a feminine noun.

    Hovorili sme o ženoch.
    Hovorili sme o ženách.

    The ending -och is only for masculine nouns. Feminine nouns like žena take -ách in the locative plural.

  • Using the feminine dative ending on a masculine noun.

    Ďakujem kamarátám.
    Ďakujem kamarátom.

    All masculine nouns take -om in the dative plural. The ending -ám belongs to feminine and neuter nouns.

  • Keeping a long ending after a long syllable.

    Kravy sú na lúkách.
    Kravy sú na lúkach.

    Lú- is already long, so the rhythmic law shortens the ending to -ach.

How It Connects

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Dative, Locative and Instrumental PluralLevel 3

Learn This First

Before Dative, Locative and Instrumental Plural, learn Dative Singular Endings, Locative Singular Endings and Instrumental Singular Endings. Plural dative endings build on the singular dative. Plural locative endings build on the singular locative. Plural instrumental endings build on the singular instrumental.

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