Czech Numbers & Counting
Numbers are pure survival vocabulary: prices, ages, phone numbers, how many beers. Czech numbers are regular once you have the first ten, and they hide two of the sounds you've already met — the ř in tři and the syllabic consonants in sedm, osm.
One to Ten
| # | Czech | Sounds like |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | jedna | YED-na |
| 2 | dva | dva |
| 3 | tři | tr-zhih (there's the ř!) |
| 4 | čtyři | CHTI-rzhih |
| 5 | pět | pyet |
| 6 | šest | shest |
| 7 | sedm | SE-dum |
| 8 | osm | O-sum |
| 9 | devět | DE-vyet |
| 10 | deset | DE-set |
Teens, Tens, and Hundreds
The teens add -náct, the tens add -cet / -desát, and hundred is sto.
| Czech | English |
|---|---|
| jedenáct, dvanáct, třináct | 11, 12, 13 |
| patnáct, dvacet | 15, 20 |
| třicet, čtyřicet, padesát | 30, 40, 50 |
| sto, dvě stě, tisíc | 100, 200, 1000 |
| dvacet jedna | 21 (twenty one) |
Age and Prices
Two everyday jobs for numbers. Watch how Czech states an age — not "I have twenty years" (that's Polish and French) but "to me is twenty":
Kolik ti je? — Je mi dvacet.
How old are you? — I'm twenty.
Note: Literally 'how much is to you?' / 'to me is twenty.' The person sits in the dative (ti, mi).
Kolik to stojí? — Sto korun.
How much is it? — A hundred crowns.
Note: stojí = 'costs' (lit. 'stands'). The Czech currency is the koruna (crown).
Counting Changes the Noun
Here's the twist worth noticing early: the noun after a number shifts shape depending on the number.
| After… | Noun form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | singular | jeden rok (one year) |
| 2, 3, 4 | nominative plural | dva roky, tři roky (2–4 years) |
| 5 and up | genitive plural | pět let (5 years) |
Notice rok → roky → let: "year" even swaps to a different stem after five. Don't drill the endings yet — just expect the noun to change, and it will make sense once you meet the cases.
Numbers at the stánek — tap the speakers to listen:
💬 Buying trdelník
Dobrý den. Kolik stojí trdelník?
Good day. How much is a trdelník?
Šedesát korun.
Sixty crowns.
Tak dva trdelníky a jednu kávu, prosím.
Two trdelníks and one coffee then, please.
Prosím. Sto padesát korun celkem.
Here you are. A hundred and fifty crowns in total.
Děkuju!
Thanks!
Common Mistakes
- One noun form for all numbers. Czech counts in three shapes: jeden rok, dva roky, pět let. After 5+ the noun goes genitive plural — pět korun, never pět koruny.
- Forgetting jeden agrees. One is an adjective: jeden rok, jedna káva, jedno pivo.
- Hearing dvanáct as twenty. The teens end in -náct; dvanáct is 12, dvacet is 20. Count aloud daily for a week and the pair separates.
- Translating age with "to be". Czech says it with být + dative or simply Je mi třicet (let) — "to me is thirty". Já jsem třicet is not Czech.
- Skipping korun at the till. Prices come with the counted form: sto padesát korun — the bare number sounds abrupt.
What You Can Do Now
You can count to a hundred, buy dva trdelníky and jednu kávu with the right forms, understand prices in crowns, and expect nouns to shift after numbers instead of being surprised by it. Next: put verbs to work with the present tense.