6.3 – Introduction to Destinations

In order to say that you are going to a place in Czech, you will use one of the following prepositions:

do  GEN

na  ACC

But which one do you use?  For the most part you will use do  genitive, however na  accusative will be used for certain locations such as univerzita ‘university’ or náměstí ‘square’, as well as events such as koncert ‘concert’, přednáška ‘lecture’, párty ‘party’, etc.

Examples:

Jdu do obchodu.

‘I am going to the store.’

Jdeme do kavárny.

‘We are going to the cafe.’

Pavel a Kristýna jdou na koncert.

‘Pavel and Krystýna are going to a concert.’

k DAT

If you are going to a person’s house (or in some cases their office, such as a doctor), then you use k  DAT.

Dnes večer jdu k Lucii.

Tonight I’m going to Lucie’s.

Bolí mě břicho, a tak jdu k doktorovi.

My stomach hurts and so I’m going to the doctor.

Finally, we will learn two more words used for your own home.

doma – ‘at home’, i.e. – used for locations

domů – ‘to home’, i.e. – used for destinations

Kde jsi? -Jsem doma.

Where are you? -I’m at home.

Kam jdeš? -Jdu domů.

‘Where are you going? -I’m going home.’