Adverbs of Degree and Manner | Czech Grammar

Adverbs answer two different questions. Degree adverbs answer how much? — they turn a plain "good" into "very good," "too good," or "quite good." Manner adverbs answer how? — they tell you something was done "quickly," "well," or "in Czech." This page sorts out both, with special attention to the degree words, because that is where English speakers stumble: Czech has several words for "very," they differ sharply in register, and one of them (moc) doubles as "too much." Get the strength and register right and your Czech will instantly sound more native.

Degree adverbs: how much?

Degree adverbs modify adjectives, verbs, and other adverbs, scaling them up or down. Here is the core set, arranged from "a little" up to "too much," with register noted.

Adverb	Meaning	Register
trochu	a little, a bit	neutral
docela	fairly, quite	neutral
dost	quite / enough	neutral
velmi	very	neutral, leans formal/written
moc	very / too much	colloquial
hodně	a lot, very	colloquial-neutral
hrozně / strašně	terribly = very	colloquial intensifier
příliš	too (excessively)	neutral, leans formal
skoro / téměř	almost	skoro neutral, téměř formal
úplně	completely, totally	neutral
tak	so	neutral

velmi vs. moc — the two "very"s

Both velmi and moc mean "very," but they live in different registers. Velmi is the neutral-to-formal choice, standard in writing, news, and careful speech. Moc is what people actually say in conversation. They are interchangeable in meaning when both express "very"; the difference is tone.

Je to velmi dobrý nápad.

That's a very good idea. (neutral/formal)

Je to moc hezké.

That's really lovely. (colloquial)

Mám tě moc rád.

I'm very fond of you. (colloquial, everyday)

In a job interview or an essay you reach for velmi; chatting with friends you say moc. Using velmi in casual talk is not wrong, but it can sound stiff — like saying "I am exceedingly fond of you" in English.

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Default to moc in speech and velmi in writing. If you only learn one "very" for conversation, make it moc — it is what natives use constantly, while velmi can sound bookish out loud.

The danger: moc = "very" AND "too much"

Here is the trap. Moc does double duty: it means both "very" (positive intensifier) and "too much" (excessive). Context decides which.

Je to moc hezké.

It's really lovely. (very — a compliment)

Je to moc drahé.

It's too expensive. (excessive — a complaint)

Same word, opposite attitudes: moc hezké is praise, moc drahé is a problem. Usually the adjective tells you which reading is meant (nobody complains that something is "too lovely"), but when you want to be unambiguously "too," use příliš.

Je to příliš drahé.

It's too expensive. (unambiguously excessive)

Přišel jsi příliš pozdě.

You came too late.

So: příliš = "too" and nothing else; moc = "very" or "too," read from context.

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If you mean "too" in the sense of "excessively, more than is good," příliš is the safe, unambiguous word. Reserve moc for "very" in everyday speech, and rely on context (or switch to příliš) when "too" is the meaning.

dost — "quite" and "enough"

Dost is also double-duty, but the two meanings rarely clash. Before an adjective or adverb it usually means "quite, fairly"; standing more independently or with a noun it means "enough."

Je to dost drahé.

It's quite expensive.

Už mám dost.

I've had enough.

Máme dost času.

We have enough time.

hrozně / strašně — emotional intensifiers

Literally "horribly" and "terribly," hrozně and strašně have bleached into pure intensifiers meaning "very, awfully" — exactly like English "terribly nice" or "awfully kind." They are colloquial and carry a splash of emotion.

Jsem hrozně unavený.

I'm terribly tired.

Strašně se mi to líbí.

I absolutely love it.

trochu, úplně, skoro — small, total, almost

Jsem trochu unavený.

I'm a little tired.

Úplně jsem zapomněl.

I completely forgot.

Je skoro hotovo.

It's almost done.

Note the neuter hotovo in skoro hotovo — used impersonally for "it's done/ready," it takes the short neuter ending -o.

Quantity adverbs that govern nouns

A subset of these words — hodně, málo, dost, trochu, moc — can also quantify nouns. When they do, the noun goes into the genitive: hodně lidí ("a lot of people"), málo času ("little time"), dost peněz ("enough money").

V Praze je hodně turistů.

There are a lot of tourists in Prague.

Mám málo času.

I have little time.

Vypil moc piva.

He drank too much beer.

The noun after these quantifiers is genitive (turistů, času, piva), not nominative or accusative. This behavior is covered in full on quantifiers and the genitive. Notice the overlap: moc is "very" before an adjective but a noun-quantifier ("too much / a lot of") before a noun.

Manner adverbs: how?

Manner adverbs describe how an action is done. Most are formed from adjectives by swapping the adjective ending for an adverbial one — typically -e/-ě, sometimes -o.

Adjective	Manner adverb	Meaning
rychlý (fast)	rychle	quickly
pomalý (slow)	pomalu	slowly
dobrý (good)	dobře	well
špatný (bad)	špatně	badly
tichý (quiet)	tiše	quietly
český (Czech)	česky	in Czech

Mluvíš moc rychle.

You're talking too fast.

Vařím docela dobře.

I cook fairly well.

Mluvíte česky?

Do you speak Czech?

Two of these deserve a flag. Dobře ("well") is irregular — it does not come straightforwardly from dobrý, just as English "well" does not come from "good." And the -y manner adverbs of languages (česky, anglicky, německy) are their own little group, meaning "in [language]" — see language adverbs like česky. For the general formation rules, see forming adverbs from adjectives.

Degree on top of manner

Degree adverbs love to stack on manner adverbs: "very quickly," "too slowly," "quite well." The degree word goes first.

Mluvíš příliš rychle.

You speak too fast.

Zpívá velmi dobře.

She sings very well.

Dělá to dost špatně.

He does it pretty badly.

Here příliš, velmi, and dost (degree) each modify a manner adverb (rychle, dobře, špatně). This nesting — degree modifying manner — is exactly parallel to English.

Common mistakes

❌ Je to velmi drahé, nemůžu si to koupit.

Means 'very expensive' — but the complaint needs 'too', not 'very'.

✅ Je to příliš drahé, nemůžu si to koupit.

It's too expensive, I can't buy it.

If the point is that the price is excessive, you need příliš (or contextual moc), not velmi, which only means "very."

❌ Mám tě velmi rád.

Grammatically fine but stiff in casual speech — sounds bookish.

✅ Mám tě moc rád.

I'm very fond of you.

In warm, everyday speech the natural intensifier is moc; velmi here reads as oddly formal.

❌ V Praze je hodně turisti.

Incorrect — quantity adverb needs the genitive.

✅ V Praze je hodně turistů.

There are a lot of tourists in Prague.

After hodně the noun must be genitive (turistů), not nominative (turisti).

❌ Mluvíš moc rychlý.

Incorrect — adjective form used where a manner adverb is needed.

✅ Mluvíš moc rychle.

You talk too fast.

To describe how you speak you need the manner adverb rychle, not the adjective rychlý.

❌ Vařím docela dobrý.

Incorrect — adjective instead of the manner adverb 'well'.

✅ Vařím docela dobře.

I cook fairly well.

"To cook well" needs the adverb dobře; dobrý is the adjective "good" and cannot modify the verb.

Key takeaways

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Three things to lock in: (1) moc is the everyday "very," velmi the formal/written one; (2) příliš is unambiguous "too," while moc can mean "very" or "too" depending on context; (3) quantity words like hodně, málo, dost, moc put the following noun into the genitive. For manner, build the adverb from the adjective (usually -e/-ě), remembering the irregular dobře.

To intensify by comparison rather than degree, see the comparison of adverbs and comparative adverb forms. For adverbs that comment on a whole sentence rather than scale a word, see sentence and modal adverbs.

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