This is the reference card for the whole Czech place-adverb system. Where English gets by with one word — where, here, there, home — Czech splits each into three forms depending on whether you mean a static location (kde? "where at?"), a direction of movement (kam? "where to?"), or an origin (odkud? "where from?"). The introductory page adverbs of place: the kde/kam/odkud system explains why the split exists and how the verb decides; this page pulls every triple into one place so you can see the system at a glance and use it as a lookup table. Keep it open while you read; the patterns will drill themselves in.
The three questions
Everything hangs off three question words. The verb in the sentence tells you which column you're in.
| Question | English | Asks about | Typical verbs |
|---|---|---|---|
| kde? | where (at)? | static location | být, bydlet, zůstat, ležet, sedět |
| kam? | where to? | direction of motion | jít, jet, běžet, dát, položit |
| odkud? | where from? | origin / source | pocházet, vracet se, přijet, být z |
Kde jsi? — Jsem doma.
Where are you? — I'm at home. (location)
Kam jdeš? — Jdu domů.
Where are you going? — I'm going home. (direction)
Odkud jsi? — Jsem z Prahy.
Where are you from? — I'm from Prague. (origin)
The master triple table
This is the cheat sheet. Every common place adverb, in all three columns. Blanks or repeats are marked — note especially that tam covers both location and direction, while "here" splits into tady and sem.
| Concept | Location — kde? | Direction — kam? | Origin — odkud? |
|---|---|---|---|
| here | tady / tu / zde | sem | odsud / odtud |
| there | tam | tam | odtamtud / odtud |
| where (interrog.) | kde | kam | odkud |
| home | doma | domů | z domova |
| everywhere | všude | všude | odevšad |
| nowhere | nikde | nikam | odnikud |
| somewhere | někde | někam | odněkud |
| up / above | nahoře | nahoru | shora / seshora |
| down / below | dole | dolů | zdola / zezdola |
| at the front | vepředu | dopředu | zepředu |
| at the back | vzadu | dozadu | zezadu |
| on the left | vlevo | doleva | zleva |
| on the right | vpravo | doprava | zprava |
| outside | venku | ven | zvenku |
| inside | uvnitř | dovnitř | zevnitř |
Location — kde? (the static column)
These answer "where is it?" and pair with verbs of being, living, staying, sitting, lying.
Bydlíme nahoře ve třetím patře.
We live upstairs on the third floor. (position)
Auto stojí venku před domem.
The car is parked outside in front of the house. (position)
Vlevo je banka, vpravo je pošta.
On the left is a bank, on the right is a post office. (position)
Direction — kam? (the motion column)
These answer "where to?" and pair with verbs of motion or placement. This is the column English speakers under-use, because English often recycles the location word ("come here," "go home," "look up").
Pojď sem, ukážu ti to.
Come here, I'll show you. (motion toward the speaker)
Jdu domů, jsem unavený.
I'm going home, I'm tired. (motion homeward; said by a man)
Podívej se nahoru!
Look up! (motion of the gaze upward)
Zahni doleva a pak jdi rovně.
Turn left and then go straight on. (direction)
The high-frequency trap sits right in this column: doma (at home — location) vs domů (homeward — direction). Jsem doma = "I'm home"; Jdu domů = "I'm going home." More on the tady / sem / tam set is on tam, tady, sem: position vs direction.
Origin — odkud? (the source column)
These answer "where from?". Most are built with a "from" prefix already fused in — od- or z-/s- — so you never add a separate preposition in front of them.
Odsud je to jen kousek, deset minut pěšky.
From here it's just a short way, ten minutes on foot. (origin)
Odkud to víš?
How do you know that? (literally: from where do you know it?)
Vrátila se z domova až v neděli.
She didn't get back from home until Sunday. (origin)
Because odsud, odtamtud, odevšad, shora, zdola already contain "from," stacking another od or z in front (od odsud) is a classic beginner error.
The same logic runs through prepositions
This adverb grid isn't a special case — it's a preview of the biggest pattern in Czech spatial grammar: two-case prepositions, where the choice of case marks location vs direction with full noun phrases. The single preposition na means "at" (with the locative) for a position and "to/onto" (with the accusative) for a destination; the noun's case, not the preposition, tells you which.
| Relation | Location — kde? | Direction — kam? | Origin — odkud? |
|---|---|---|---|
| work | v práci (loc.) | do práce (gen.) | z práce (gen.) |
| the post office | na poště (loc.) | na poštu (acc.) | z pošty (gen.) |
| Prague | v Praze (loc.) | do Prahy (gen.) | z Prahy (gen.) |
Jsem v práci, jdu do práce a vracím se z práce.
I'm at work, I go to work, and I come back from work. (the three-way in one line)
Jsem na poště.
I'm at the post office. (location — na + locative)
Jdu na poštu.
I'm going to the post office. (direction — na + accusative)
So learning tady / sem / odsud trains exactly the reflex you reuse with full noun phrases — the full pattern is on two-case prepositions and na/v: accusative vs locative.
Common Mistakes
❌ Jdu doma.
Wrong column — motion homeward is the direction word domů, not the location word doma.
✅ Jdu domů.
I'm going home.
❌ Jsem domů.
Wrong column — being at home is the location word doma, not the direction word domů.
✅ Jsem doma.
I'm at home.
❌ Pojď tady.
Wrong column — a motion verb needs the direction word sem.
✅ Pojď sem.
Come here.
❌ Podívej se nahoře.
Wrong column — the gaze moves, so use the direction word nahoru.
✅ Podívej se nahoru.
Look up.
❌ Bydlím sem už pět let.
Wrong column — bydlet is static, so use the location word tady.
✅ Bydlím tady už pět let.
I've lived here for five years now.
Key Takeaways
- Every place word has three forms: location (kde?), direction (kam?), origin (odkud?). Use the master table as a lookup.
- The verb picks the column: verbs of being → kde; verbs of motion → kam; verbs of coming-from → odkud.
- tam is used for both location and direction; only "here" splits into tady (at) vs sem (to).
- doma / domů / z domova (at home / homeward / from home) is the highest-frequency triple to master.
- Origin words already contain "from" (od-, z-) — never add another preposition in front.
- The same location-vs-direction split powers Czech's two-case prepositions with full noun phrases (v práci vs do práce).
Now practice Czech
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Start learning Czech→Related Topics
- Adverbs of Place: the kde / kam / odkud SystemA2 — Czech splits 'where' into location, direction, and origin — and 'here' into tady, sem, and odsud.
- tady / tam / sem: Location versus DirectionA2 — The three highest-frequency place adverbs — tady (here), tam (there), sem (to here) — and the static-versus-motion split that English hides under a single 'here'.
- Prepositions That Take Two CasesB2 — How na, v, o, za, nad, pod, před, mezi change case to switch between location and motion.
- Two-Case Prepositions: na, v, o, za with Accusative vs LocativeB2 — How na, v, o, and za change meaning depending on whether they take accusative or locative.
- Question Words and Their CasesA1 — The full set of Czech question words — and the crucial fact that kdo and co decline, so the question word must take the case the verb or preposition demands.