The Way You Go: Instrumental

Level 5

With verbs of motion, the instrumental without a preposition names the way: ísť lesom (through the forest), ulicou (along the street), inou cestou (by another way), zadným vchodom (through the back entrance).

How It Works

The way you go. Besides tools and means, the instrumental can name the path of a movement. No preposition is needed:

  • Išli sme lesom. We walked through the forest.
  • Choďte touto ulicou. Go along this street.
  • Vošiel zadným vchodom. He came in by the back entrance.
  • Rieka tečie údolím. The river flows through the valley.

What kind of nouns. Typical route nouns are roads and spaces (cesta, ulica, les, pole, údolie, chodba) and openings (dvere, okno, brána, vchod). The verb is usually a verb of motion, often with a prefix: prejsť, vojsť, vyjsť.

Compared with cez. Cez with the accusative also means through: išli sme cez les. Use either one, but never both together (cez lesom is wrong).

Frozen forms. Some route instrumentals have become adverbs: cestou (on the way), hore schodmi (up the stairs). Cestou domov som si kúpil chlieb. (On the way home I bought bread.)

Examples (6)

  1. Išli sme lesom až k jazeru.

    We walked through the forest all the way to the lake.

    Word by Word: We-went forest-INS up to lake.

  2. Choďte touto ulicou a potom zabočte doľava.

    Go along this street and then turn left.

    Word by Word: Go this-INS street-INS and then turn to-left.

  3. Vošli sme zadným vchodom.

    We came in through the back entrance.

    Word by Word: We-entered back-INS entrance-INS.

  4. Domov sme sa vrátili inou cestou.

    We came back home by a different route.

    Word by Word: Home we self returned other-INS way-INS.

  5. Rieka tečie hlbokým údolím.

    The river flows through a deep valley.

    Word by Word: River flows deep-INS valley-INS.

  6. Cestou domov som stretol suseda.

    On the way home I met my neighbour.

    Word by Word: Way-INS home I-have met neighbour.

    Cestou has become a fixed adverb meaning on the way.

Common Mistakes

  • Combining cez with the instrumental.

    Išli sme cez lesom.
    Išli sme lesom. / Išli sme cez les.

    Use either the bare instrumental or cez + accusative, not a mix of the two.

  • Leaving the route in the nominative.

    Choďte táto ulica.
    Choďte touto ulicou.

    The route must be in the instrumental: táto ulica → touto ulicou.

  • Using v + locative when movement through is meant.

    Prišli sme v zadnom vchode.
    Prišli sme zadným vchodom.

    V + locative only says where something is; for the way you go through, use the instrumental.

How It Connects

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

The Way You Go: InstrumentalLevel 5

Learn This First

Before The Way You Go: Instrumental, learn The Instrumental for Means. The instrumental of the way builds on the instrumental of means.