piati / päť (Men)
Five and More with Men
With nouns for men, numbers from five up have two correct patterns. Päť študentov works like päť domov and takes a singular verb, with -lo in the past. Piati študenti works like traja študenti and takes a plural verb.
How It Works
Pattern 1: päť + genitive plural. This works for every noun and is always correct. The verb is third person singular, and the past form ends in -lo:
- Prišlo päť študentov. Five students came.
- V našej firme pracuje desať inžinierov. Ten engineers work in our company.
See Five and More.
Pattern 2: piati + nominative plural (men only). The number agrees with the noun, and the verb is plural, as with dvaja, traja, štyria:
- Prišli piati študenti. Five students came.
- Na výlet išli ôsmi chlapci. Eight boys went on the trip.
Forms: piati (5), šiesti (6), siedmi (7), ôsmi (8), deviati (9), desiati (10). Note the long ô in ôsmi. The same ending continues in jedenásti, dvadsiati, but with larger numbers Pattern 1 is much more common.
On its own. The men's form is very natural without a noun, for a group that includes at least one man: Boli sme tam siedmi. (There were seven of us.)
Only for men. Women, children, animals and things always use Pattern 1: päť žien, päť detí, päť psov.
Other cases. As an object, men take piatich or päť: Pozval som piatich kamarátov / päť kamarátov. In the dative, locative and instrumental everyone uses the case forms piatim, piatich, piatimi: s piatimi kamarátmi. See Numbers in Cases.
Do not mix the patterns. Piati goes with the nominative plural and a plural verb; päť goes with the genitive plural and a singular verb.
Examples (6)
- Prišli piati študenti.
Five students came.
Word by Word: Came five(men) students.
Men's form: nominative plural and a plural verb.
- Prišlo päť študentov.
Five students came.
Word by Word: Came(neut.) five of-students.
Päť + genitive plural takes a singular neuter verb.
- V našej firme pracuje desať inžinierov.
Ten engineers work in our company.
Word by Word: In our company works ten of-engineers.
- Boli sme tam siedmi.
There were seven of us there.
Word by Word: We-were there seven(men).
- Pozval som piatich kamarátov.
I invited five friends.
Word by Word: I-invited five(men, acc.) friends.
- Na výlet išli ôsmi chlapci.
Eight boys went on the trip.
Word by Word: On trip went eight(men) boys.
Common Mistakes
Using a plural verb with päť.
Prišli päť študentov.Prišlo päť študentov.Päť + genitive plural takes a singular verb, -lo in the past. For a plural verb, use the men's form: Prišli piati študenti.
Mixing the men's form with the genitive plural.
Prišli piati študentov.Prišli piati študenti.Piati agrees with its noun, so the noun is in the nominative plural: piati študenti.
Using the men's form for women.
Prišli piati ženy.Prišlo päť žien.Piati, šiesti and so on are only for men. Women, children and things always take päť + genitive plural.
How It Connects
Learn This First
Before Five and More With Men, learn Numbers for Groups of Men and Five and More. piati continues the men forms of dvaja, traja and štyria. päť + genitive plural is the alternative.
Related Patterns
- Plural of Nouns for Men
Piati goes with the men's nominative plural: študenti, chlapci.
Level 3 - Numbers in Cases
The case forms piatich, piatim and piatimi.
Level 4 - Agreement With Words Like väčšina
Why päť študentov takes a singular neuter verb, like other amount words.
Level 6 - oba / obe / obajaBoth
Another number word with a separate form for men.
Level 4
Words in This Pattern
Practice piati / päť (Men) in Bubblegum
Poppy, your AI tutor, writes Slovak lessons at your level. Tap any grammar point in a lesson to see its full explanation.
