1.9 Adjectives – Nominative Plural

In this lesson we are going to learn a new set of adjective endings to be used when adjectives are paired with nouns that are plural. There will be different endings depending on the gender of the noun, as explained in the following subsections.

Masculine Nouns: Animate vs. Inanimate

As with nouns in the plural, there are going to be different endings for adjectives modifying animate and inanimate masculine nouns. The endings for adjectives paired with masculine animate nouns are a little more complicated, so we will cover them last.

Masculine Inanimate Adjective Endings

Adjectives modifying masculine inanimate nouns have plural forms -é for hard-stem adjectives,  and -í for soft stem adjectives. Important: pay attention to what pattern the adjective follows (hard or soft). Hard-stem adjectives can be paired with soft-stem nouns and vice-versa; so one can say nové počítače ‘new computers’ or moderní stoly ‘modern tables’.

nové sešity staré telefony zelené batohy	Hard stem adjective: -é
moderní klíče domácí úkoly	Soft stem adjective: -í

Feminine Adjective Endings

Adjectives modifying feminine nouns also have plural forms -é for hard-stem adjectives,  and -í for soft stem adjectives, e.g. dobré otázky ‘good questions’ or moderní mapy ‘modern maps’.

nové propisky velké knihy staré kočky	Hard stem adjective: -é
inteligentní ženy moderní židle	Soft stem adjective: -í

Neuter Adjective Endings

Adjectives modifying neuters nouns have plural forms -á for hard-stem adjectives,  and -í for soft stem adjectives, e.g. česká slova  ‘czech words ’ or moderní auta  ‘modern cars ’.

česká slova česká příjmení krásná pole	Hard stem adjective: -á
hlavní města moderní auta	Soft stem adjective: -í

Masculine Animate Adjective Endings

The plural endings for masculine animate adjectives are -í for hard-stem and -í for soft-stem. We recall from our discussion of masculine animate nouns that the ending -i caused some consonant mutations (kluk ‘boy’ → kluci ‘boys’, Čech ‘a Czech’ → Češi  ‘Czechs’, etc.). The adjective ending –í will also cause some consonant mutations,

k →c, jací studenti ‘what kind of students’

r → ř dobří studenti ‘good students’

sk → št  čeští studenti ‘

ck → čt  američtí studenti ‘American students’

Masculine Animate (remember consonant mutations!)

dobří studenti čeští učitelé hezcí muži noví prezidenti	Hard stem adjective: -í
inteligentní profesoři	Soft stem adjective: -í

The following table is a summary of all the endings for adjectives in the plural:

	Masculine Animate	Masculine Inanimate	Feminine	Neuter
Hard Stem Adjective	-í noví dobří čeští	-é nové dobré české	-é nové dobré české	-á nová dobrá česká
Soft Stem Adjective	-í moderní	-í moderní	-í moderní	-í moderní