Genitive Plural Endings

Level 2

veľa stolov, päť žien, veľa miest, kilo jabĺk

How It Works

You need the genitive plural after numbers from five up, after amount words like veľa, málo, koľko and niekoľko, and after prepositions that take the genitive.

Masculine nouns: -ov

  • stôl → stolov, dom → domov, brat → bratov, pes → psov, čaj → čajov

Feminine nouns in -a and neuter nouns in -o: no ending, longer last syllable

  • A vowel gets a long mark: kniha → kníh, ruka → rúk, chyba → chýb, auto → áut, pivo → pív
  • e becomes ie and o becomes ô: žena → žien, mesto → miest, noha → nôh, škola → škôl
  • A syllable-making l or r gets a long mark: jablko → jabĺk
  • Sometimes a vowel appears between two consonants: sestra → sestier, okno → okien, matka → matiek

If the syllable before is already long, the rhythmic law keeps the new vowel short: látka → látok (fabrics).

Feminine nouns ending in a consonant: -í

  • vec → vecí, noc → nocí, kaviareň → kaviarní. Neuter nouns in -ie take -í too: námestie → námestí.

Common irregular forms: ľudia → ľudí (people), deti → detí (children), peniaze → peňazí (money).

Examples (6)

  1. V meste je veľa kaviarní.

    There are lots of cafés in the town.

    Kaviareň ends in a consonant, so it takes -í.

  2. Kúpila som kilo jabĺk.

    I bought a kilo of apples.

    Jablko has no ending and the l gets a long mark: jabĺk.

  3. V knižnici je veľa kníh.

    There are many books in the library.

    Kniha → kníh, with a long í.

  4. Na parkovisku stojí desať áut.

    Ten cars are parked in the car park.

    Auto → áut, with a long á.

  5. V kurze je päť žien a šesť mužov.

    There are five women and six men on the course.

    Feminine žena → žien, masculine muž → mužov.

  6. Nemám veľa peňazí.

    I don't have much money.

    Peniaze has the irregular genitive plural peňazí.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the masculine ending -ov with a feminine noun.

    Prišlo päť ženov.
    Prišlo päť žien.

    Žena is feminine, so it has no ending and e becomes ie: žien.

  • Using -ov with a neuter noun.

    V krajine je veľa mestov.
    V krajine je veľa miest.

    Mesto is neuter, so it has no ending and e becomes ie: miest.

  • Forgetting to lengthen the last syllable.

    Kúpil som kilo jablk.
    Kúpil som kilo jabĺk.

    When the ending drops, the last syllable gets longer, so l becomes ĺ.

How It Connects

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Genitive Plural EndingsLevel 2

Learn This First

Before Genitive Plural Endings, learn Genitive Singular Endings. The genitive plural extends the genitive case to plural nouns.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.