6.3 – do vs. na
For most destinations you want to go to, you’ll simply use do GEN to express ‘to’ that location:
|
Dneska jdeme do kina. |
Karel a Lucie jdou do parku. |
|
Kdy jdeme do restaurace? |
Pavla jde do kavárny. |
Examples of destinations with do and na:
|
do GEN |
na ACC |
||
|
do práce |
‘to work’ |
na nádraží |
‘to the train station’ |
|
do kina |
‘to the movies’ |
na kolej |
‘to the dorm’ |
|
do kavárny |
‘to the cafe’ |
na záchod |
‘to the restroom’ |
|
do lesa |
‘to the forest’ |
na koncert |
‘to a concert’ |
As a default, you should pick the preposition do GEN. The vast majority of places you encounter will be used with this preposition. The preposition na ACC is only used sometimes in the meaning ‘to’, typically in the following circumstances:
|
na koncert ‘to a concert’ na výstavu ‘to an exhibit’ na přednášku ‘to a lecture’ na hodinu češtiny ‘to Czech class’ na univerzitu – to the university na výlet ‘on a trip’ na pivo ‘for a beer’ na víno ‘for a glass of wine’[1] na procházku ‘on a walk’ |
|
na nádraží ‘to the train station’ na stanici ‘to the station’ na zastávku ‘to the bus/tram stop’ na letiště ‘to the airport’ |
|
na poštu ‘to the post office’ na univerzitu ‘to the university’ na úřad ‘to the city/state office’ na ambasádu ‘to the embassy’ |
|
na sever ‘to the north’ na jih ‘to the south’ na východ ‘to the east’ na západ ‘to the west’ |
These rules work for the most part, but can often be confusing. Additionally, there are just some words that use na without any rhyme or reason, such as:
na záchod – to the bathroom
na venkov – to the countryside
na kolej – to the dorm
na chatu – to the cottage
na hrad – to the castle
na náměstí – on the square
Often it is just easier to memorize a list of words that are used with na. These words will be marked in your vocabulary.
Images used in this document come from these sources.
[1] na pivo, na víno are construed as an event that you go to vs. hospoda or restaurace, which are with do, i.e. do hospody or do restaurace.