Cardinal and Ordinal Numbers in Czech

Quick Take

Cardinal numbers are used for counting, and ordinal numbers are used for rank. Learn the two types of numbers in Czech, cardinal numbers and ordinal numbers, in this article about the Czech language.

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One of the 23 official languages of the European Union, Czech is the official language of the Czech Republic and is also used in Slovakia. Numbers, or číslovky, in Czech are divided into two groups just as with other languages: cardinal numbers and ordinal numbers. Cardinal numbers are used for counting, e.g., one, two and three, while ordinal numbers are used for rank, e.g., first, second and third. For help with pronunciation, see this article on Czech phrases .

Cardinal Numbers: Základní Číslovky

Cardinal numbers are used as adjectives in Czech, which means that the number must meet the gender of the noun; the Czech language has three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. But do not worry — only the numbers for one and two have different gendered numbers. For example:

One (masculine): jeden
One (feminine): jedna
One (neuter): jedno
Two (masculine): dva
Two (feminine/neuter): dvě

For all other cardinal numbers, there is only one number. Let’s go over the cardinal numbers for 0 through 10:

0: nula
1: jeden, jedna, jedno
2: dva, dvě
3: tři
4: čtyři
5: pět
6: šest
7: sedm
8: osm
9: devět
10: deset

When we use a cardinal number in Czech, the number precedes the noun just as in English. For example:

three books: tři knihy

To form the numbers between 11 and 18, we take the singular cardinal number and add náct; the cardinal number for 19 has a slightly different formation. Let’s go over them:

11: jedenáct
12: dvanáct
13: třináct
14: čtrnáct
15: patnáct
16: šestnáct
17: sedmnáct
18: osmnáct
19: devatenáct

Let’s go over the numbers 20 to 100:

20: dvacet
30: třicet
40: čtyřicet
50: padesǎt
60: šedesát
70: sedmdesát
80: osmdesát
90: devadesát
100: sto

To form a number like 21, we take the number for 20 and the number for one. For example: dvacet jeden. The same applies to higher numbers such as those in the hundreds and thousands. Let’s go over some of the higher numbers in Czech: