päť a viac + Genitive Plural

Five and More

Level 2

1: jeden dom. 2 to 4: dva domy. 5 and up: päť domov. And the verb: Prišlo päť ľudí.

How It Works

  • 1: jeden dom, jedna žena, jedno auto (nominative singular)
  • 2 to 4: dva domy, tri ženy, štyri autá (nominative plural)
  • 5 and up: päť domov, šesť žien, desať áut (genitive plural)

The same goes for round numbers like dvadsať, sto and tisíc: dvadsať rokov (twenty years), sto eur (a hundred euros), tisíc ľudí (a thousand people).

The verb. When a number from five up is the subject, the verb is singular. In the present, use the third person singular: V triede je dvadsať študentov. (There are twenty students in the class.) In the past, the verb ends in -o: Prišlo sedem ľudí. (Seven people came.) Compare this with two to four, which take a plural verb: Prišli traja priatelia, but Prišlo päť priateľov.

Time. Compare Sú dve hodiny (It is two o'clock) with Je päť hodín (It is five o'clock).

After prepositions like s, the number itself changes, as in s piatimi priateľmi (with five friends). That comes in a later lesson.

Koľko (how many) works the same way: Koľko ľudí prišlo? (How many people came?)

For groups of men there is also a special form, piati muži, which comes later. Päť mužov is always correct.

Examples (6)

  1. Máme päť detí.

    We have five children.

    Deti becomes the genitive plural detí after päť.

  2. Lístok stojí desať eur.

    The ticket costs ten euros.

    Euro becomes the genitive plural eur.

  3. Prišlo sedem ľudí.

    Seven people came.

    The past verb is neuter singular: prišlo.

  4. V triede je dvadsať študentov.

    There are twenty students in the class.

    The present verb is singular: je, not sú.

  5. Je päť hodín.

    It's five o'clock.

    Compare: Sú dve hodiny.

  6. Koľko ľudí tu pracuje?

    How many people work here?

    Koľko also takes the genitive plural and a singular verb.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the nominative plural after five.

    Na ulici je päť domy.
    Na ulici je päť domov.

    The nominative plural domy is only for two to four. From five up, use the genitive plural domov.

  • Using a plural verb with five and up.

    Prišli sedem ľudí.
    Prišlo sedem ľudí.

    A number from five up takes a singular verb, and in the past it is neuter: prišlo.

  • Using sú with five o'clock.

    Sú päť hodín.
    Je päť hodín.

    Two to four o'clock take sú, but five and up take je.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

päť a viac + Genitive PluralLevel 2Five and More

Learn This First

Before Five and More, learn Two by Gender, Genitive After Amounts and Genitive Plural Endings. Above four, numbers behave differently from dva, tri and štyri. Numbers from päť work like amount words with the genitive. The noun after päť is in the genitive plural.

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Patterns that build on this one.

Words in This Pattern

päť