Prepositions Sorted by Case | Czech Grammar

This is the single most useful table in the whole case system. Every Czech preposition governs a case — it forces the noun after it into a fixed grammatical form — and which case it forces is a property of the preposition itself, not something you can reason out from the English meaning. Od always takes the genitive; k always takes the dative; s always takes the instrumental. Learn each preposition together with its case, as a single unit, the way you learn a verb with its endings. This page sorts the high-frequency prepositions under the case they require, so you have one reference to build correct phrases from.

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The deadly habit is matching prepositions to English equivalents — "with = s, with = ?". Czech case government is lexical: each preposition simply has a case, the way a noun has a gender. Memorise od + genitive, k + dative, s + instrumental as indivisible pairs and the endings follow automatically.

Prepositions that take the genitive

The genitive governs the largest group of prepositions — roughly "movement away from, origin, and being near/beside." If you had to bet on one case for an unfamiliar preposition, the genitive is the statistical favourite.

Preposition	Meaning	Example (genitive object)
do	into, until	do města (into town)
z / ze	out of, from	z domu (out of the house)
od / ode	(away) from, since	od rána (since morning)
bez / beze	without	bez cukru (without sugar)
u	at, near, by	u okna (by the window)
vedle	next to, beside	vedle školy (next to the school)
podle	according to, along	podle plánu (according to the plan)
kolem / okolo	around, past	kolem domu (around the house)
během	during	během dne (during the day)
kromě	except, besides	kromě tebe (except you)

Vracím se z práce vždycky kolem šesté.

I always get back from work around six. (z práce, kolem šesté — both genitive)

Bez tvé pomoci bych to nezvládl.

Without your help I wouldn't have managed it. (bez + genitive: tvé pomoci)

Během prázdnin jsme byli u babičky.

During the holidays we were at grandma's. (během prázdnin, u babičky — both genitive)

The full genitive set is large; the spatial and temporal ones get their own treatment on genitive prepositions (core).

Prepositions that take the dative

A small but high-frequency group, centred on "movement toward" and "for the benefit/against of."

Preposition	Meaning	Example (dative object)
k / ke / ku	to(ward), up to	k lékaři (to the doctor)
proti	against, opposite	proti zdi (against the wall)
kvůli	because of, for the sake of	kvůli dětem (for the children's sake)
díky	thanks to	díky tobě (thanks to you)

Zítra musím jít k zubaři, bolí mě zub.

Tomorrow I have to go to the dentist, my tooth hurts. (k zubaři — dative; note k = toward, not 'into')

Díky tobě jsem to nakonec stihl.

Thanks to you I made it in the end. (díky + dative: tobě)

Nepřišli kvůli dešti.

They didn't come because of the rain. (kvůli + dative: dešti)

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Díky ("thanks to") is positive — credit for a good outcome. For a negative cause use kvůli ("because of, owing to"). Both take the dative, so they never trip you on the ending — only on the meaning.

Prepositions that take the accusative

These are the "pure-accusative" prepositions — ones that take the accusative regardless of motion. (Several other prepositions take the accusative only in their motion sense; those are the two-case prepositions, covered separately below.)

Preposition	Meaning	Example (accusative object)
pro	for (the benefit of), to fetch	pro tebe (for you)
přes / přese	across, over, despite	přes most (across the bridge)
skrz	through (piercing)	skrz zeď (through the wall)
mimo	past, outside, except	mimo město (outside town)

Koupil jsem to pro tebe.

I bought it for you. (pro + accusative: tebe)

Šli jsme přes náměstí přímo do kavárny.

We went across the square straight into the café. (přes náměstí — accusative)

Bydlí kousek za městem, mimo hlavní silnici.

They live just outside town, off the main road. (mimo hlavní silnici — accusative)

The accusative also appears with the motion sense of na, v, o, za and the spatial nad/pod/před/mezi — but those switch case by meaning, so they belong to the next section.

Prepositions that take the locative

A distinctive group: the locative case only ever appears after a preposition, never bare. These five are the ones to know cold — they handle "where" and "about/concerning."

Preposition	Meaning	Example (locative object)
v / ve	in (location)	v Praze (in Prague)
na	on, at (location)	na stole (on the table)
o	about, concerning	o filmu (about the film)
po	along, after, around	po obědě (after lunch)
při	at, during, by	při práci (while working)

Celý víkend jsme byli v Praze.

We were in Prague the whole weekend. (v Praze — locative location)

Mluvili jsme o tom novém filmu.

We talked about that new film. (o + locative: tom novém filmu)

Po obědě si dám kávu.

After lunch I'll have a coffee. (po + locative: obědě)

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Because the locative only exists after a preposition, you never have to ask "is this object in the locative?" — if it follows v, na, o, po, or při in their static sense, it is. Note that v, na, o, za jump to the accusative the moment motion enters; see the two-case page.

Prepositions that take the instrumental

The instrumental governs a tight set of "spatial-static" prepositions plus the all-important s ("with, together with"). Five of them — nad, pod, před, za, mezi — take the instrumental for a static position but switch to the accusative for motion into that position.

Preposition	Meaning	Example (instrumental object)
s / se	with, together with	s bratrem (with my brother)
před / přede	in front of, before, ago	před domem (in front of the house)
za	behind (static)	za domem (behind the house)
nad / nade	above (static)	nad stolem (above the table)
pod / pode	below, under (static)	pod stolem (under the table)
mezi	between, among (static)	mezi domy (between the houses)

Sejdeme se před nádražím v osm.

Let's meet in front of the station at eight. (před + instrumental: nádražím — static position)

Kočka spí pod stolem.

The cat is sleeping under the table. (pod + instrumental: stolem — static position)

Jdu do kina s kamarádkou.

I'm going to the cinema with a friend. (s + instrumental: kamarádkou)

The detail on these — including the static/motion switch — is on instrumental prepositions and the two-case prepositions page.

Vocalized forms (z/ze, s/se, k/ke, v/ve …)

A purely phonetic footnote that affects spelling. When a preposition would collide with an awkward consonant cluster, it grows a vowel: z → ze (ze školy), s → se (se mnou), k → ke (ke stolu), v → ve (ve městě), od → ode, bez → beze, přede / pode / nade. The case it governs never changes — only the surface form does.

Vyšel jsem ze školy a šel rovnou domů.

I came out of school and went straight home. (ze — vocalized z before š; still genitive: ze školy)

Pojď se mnou ke stolu.

Come with me to the table. (se mnou — instrumental; ke stolu — dative; both vocalized)

Common Mistakes

The errors here are almost all case-mismatches caused by reasoning from English instead of memorising the preposition's case.

❌ Jdu k doktora.

Incorrect — k governs the dative, not the genitive: k doktorovi.

✅ Jdu k doktorovi.

I'm going to the doctor.

❌ Bez tvojí pomoc.

Incorrect — bez governs the genitive throughout: bez tvojí pomoci.

✅ Bez tvojí pomoci.

Without your help.

❌ Mluvíme o ten film.

Incorrect — o (about) governs the locative: o tom filmu.

✅ Mluvíme o tom filmu.

We're talking about that film.

❌ Bydlím v Praha.

Incorrect — v (location) governs the locative: v Praze.

✅ Bydlím v Praze.

I live in Prague.

❌ Přijdu s tebe.

Incorrect — s governs the instrumental: s tebou (vocalized se with the pronoun: se mnou).

✅ Přijdu s tebou.

I'll come with you.

Key Takeaways

A preposition's case is a fixed lexical property — memorise the pair, never reason it from English.
Genitive: do, z/ze, od, bez, u, vedle, podle, kolem, během, kromě (the biggest group).
Dative: k/ke, proti, kvůli, díky.
Accusative (pure): pro, přes, skrz, mimo.
Locative: v/ve, na, o, po, při (the locative only appears after a preposition).
Instrumental: s/se, před, za, nad, pod, mezi.
Several — na, v, o, za, nad, pod, před, mezi — switch case by meaning; see the two-case prepositions page.

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