Prepositions That Take the Genitive | Czech Grammar

More Czech prepositions govern the genitive than any other case — and several of them are among the most common words you'll ever say: do (into), z (out of), od (from), u (at), bez (without). The crucial mental shift is this: the case is fixed by the preposition itself, not by what the phrase means in English. You do not reason your way to the genitive; you memorise that do takes the genitive and then it always does, whether it means into a building, until five o'clock, or for two weeks. The genitive answers koho? čeho? (of whom? of what?).

The core genitive prepositions

Preposition	Meaning	Example
do	into, to; until, by (time)	do Prahy (to Prague)
z / ze	out of, from	z domu (out of the house)
od / ode	from (a person/source); since	od babičky (from grandma)
bez / beze	without	bez peněz (without money)
u	at, by; at someone's place	u doktora (at the doctor's)
vedle	next to	vedle školy (next to the school)
kolem / okolo	around, past	kolem náměstí (around the square)
podle	according to; along	podle plánu (according to the plan)
během	during	během dne (during the day)
místo	instead of	místo oběda (instead of lunch)
kromě	except, besides	kromě tebe (except you)
uprostřed	in the middle of	uprostřed noci (in the middle of the night)

Každý den chodím do práce pěšky.

Every day I walk to work. (práce → do práce)

Vrátil se z dovolené úplně odpočatý.

He came back from holiday completely rested. (dovolená → z dovolené)

Dostala jsem k narozeninám dárek od babičky.

I got a birthday present from grandma. (babička → od babičky)

Bez ranní kávy nejsem k ničemu.

Without my morning coffee I'm useless. (káva → bez kávy)

do, z, u: the directional trio

The three workhorses do, z and u together cover going in, coming out, and being at. They pair up with the locative (which marks being inside a place) to form a neat system you use constantly:

Czech	Case	Meaning
jdu do školy	genitive	I'm going to (into) school
jsem ve škole	locative	I'm at (in) school
vracím se ze školy	genitive	I'm coming back from school

Ráno jedu do města a večer se vracím z města.

In the morning I go into town and in the evening I come back from town. (do/z + genitive)

Sejdeme se v šest u kina.

Let's meet at six by the cinema. (kino → u kina)

O víkendu jsme byli u rodičů na obědě.

At the weekend we were at my parents' for lunch. (rodiče → u rodičů)

Notice that u covers both at/by a place and at someone's place — u doktora is "at the doctor's", u babičky is "at grandma's". This is the genitive doing the job English splits between at and the possessive 's.

od and do beyond space: time and limits

Once a preposition fixes its case, that case holds across every meaning the word stretches to. Od runs from a person to a starting point in time (since), and do runs from a destination to a deadline (until, by). Both stay genitive throughout.

Pracuju od rána do večera.

I work from morning till night. (od rána, do večera)

Musím to odevzdat do pátku.

I have to hand it in by Friday. (pátek → do pátku)

Bydlíme tu od září.

We've lived here since September. (září → od září)

Vocalised forms: z → ze, od → ode, bez → beze

Some genitive prepositions add a helper -e to stay pronounceable before a difficult cluster or before the pronoun mě/mne. The most common are z → ze, od → ode, and bez → beze. (The preposition do and the rest do not vocalise.)

Vyšla ze dveří a ani se neohlédla.

She walked out of the door and didn't even look back. (z → ze before the cluster dv-)

Ode mě to prosím nečekej.

Please don't expect it from me. (od → ode before mě)

Odešel beze slova.

He left without a word. (bez → beze before the cluster sl-)

💡

The helper -e is purely about pronunciation — ze stolu, ode dveří, beze mě — exactly the same logic as se and ve. It never changes the case: the noun stays in the genitive either way.

The big idea: the case is fixed, not "felt"

The deepest trap for English speakers is reaching for a case that feels right. Without sounds like it shouldn't need any ending — but bez takes the genitive: bez tebe (without you). According to feels like it should be a dative of the person — but podle takes the genitive: podle mě (in my opinion). The English meaning is no guide at all. The preposition assigns the genitive mechanically, and your only job is to remember which prepositions are on the list and then bend the noun accordingly.

Podle mě je to vážně dobrý nápad.

In my opinion it's a really good idea. (podle → podle mě)

Kromě tebe tam nikoho neznám.

Apart from you I don't know anyone there. (ty → kromě tebe)

Během prázdnin jsme objeli celé Slovensko.

During the holidays we drove all around Slovakia. (prázdniny → během prázdnin)

Common Mistakes

❌ Jdu do škola.

Incorrect — 'do' takes the genitive: škola → školy.

✅ Jdu do školy.

I'm going to school. (do + genitive)

❌ Jsem z Brno.

Incorrect — 'z' governs the genitive: Brno → Brna.

✅ Jsem z Brna.

I'm from Brno. (z + genitive)

❌ Nepůjdu tam bez ty.

Incorrect — 'bez' takes the genitive of the pronoun, not the nominative.

✅ Nepůjdu tam bez tebe.

I won't go there without you. (bez tebe)

❌ Dárek od babička.

Incorrect — 'od' requires the genitive: babička → babičky.

✅ Dárek od babičky.

A present from grandma. (od babičky)

❌ Vyšel z dveří.

Incorrect — before the cluster 'dv-' the preposition vocalises to 'ze'.

✅ Vyšel ze dveří.

He came out of the door. (ze dveří)

Key Takeaways

The genitive is governed by a large set of prepositions: do, z/ze, od/ode, bez/beze, u, vedle, kolem, podle, během, místo, kromě, uprostřed.
do (into/until) and z (out of) pair with the locative v (inside): do školy → ve škole → ze školy.
u covers at/by and at someone's place: u kina, u babičky.
The case is fixed by the preposition, holding across every meaning — od rána (since morning), do pátku (by Friday) are still genitive.
z → ze, od → ode, bez → beze before clusters and mě; the helper -e never affects the case.
Don't trust the English "feel": bez tebe (without you) and podle mě (according to me) are both genitive, however little that resembles English grammar.

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