Instrumental Plural and the Colloquial -ma | Czech Grammar

The instrumental plural is where many learners discover that Czech has, in effect, two grammars: the standard written one taught in textbooks, and the colloquial spoken one (obecná čeština) that you will hear from nearly everyone in Bohemia the moment you leave the classroom. In the standard system the endings vary by gender and stem (-y, -ami, -emi, -mi, -i). In everyday speech almost all of them collapse into a single, gloriously simple ending: -ma. This page teaches both, because you need to write the first and understand the second.

The standard instrumental plural endings

In careful, written Czech the instrumental plural ending depends on the noun's gender and whether its stem is hard or soft.

Type	Model	Ending	Instrumental plural
Hard masculine inanimate	hrad	-y	hrady
Hard masculine animate	pán	-y	pány
Soft masculine animate	muž	-i	muži
Soft masculine inanimate	stroj	-i	stroji
Hard neuter	město	-y	městy
Soft neuter	moře	-i	moři
Hard feminine	žena	-ami	ženami
Soft feminine	růže	-emi	růžemi
Feminine i-stem	kost	-mi	kostmi

The workable summary is: hard masculine and neuter → -y, soft masculine and neuter → -i, and feminine → some flavour of -mi (-ami, -emi, -mi). Here they are in real sentences:

Procházeli jsme se mezi starými hrady a zříceninami.

We strolled among old castles and ruins. (hrady -y, zříceninami -ami)

Mluvil jsem s těmi pány u vchodu.

I spoke with those gentlemen by the entrance. (pány -y)

Sešla se s kolegyněmi na oběd.

She met up with her (female) colleagues for lunch. (kolegyněmi -ěmi)

Vlak jede mezi dvěma městy.

The train runs between two towns. (městy -y)

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Don't confuse the instrumental plural pány with the accusative plural pány — they happen to look identical for this word, but they answer different questions. Instrumental answers "with whom?" (s pány), accusative answers "whom?" (vidím pány).

The colloquial -ma (obecná čeština)

Now the part textbooks often hide. In spoken Common Czech — the everyday register of Prague and most of Bohemia, used by educated and uneducated speakers alike — virtually every standard instrumental plural ending is replaced by -ma (with the variant -ama after hard stems and -ema after soft ones). Adjectives and demonstratives that agree with these nouns take -ýma / -íma to match.

Standard (written)	Colloquial (spoken)	Meaning
s kluky	s klukama	with the boys
s holkami	s holkama	with the girls
s dětmi	s dětma	with the kids
s muži	s chlapama / s mužema	with the men
s těmi dobrými lidmi	s těma dobrýma lidma	with those good people
před domy	před domama	in front of the houses

These are not slang or "broken" Czech — they are real, fully systematic forms that you will hear constantly. The point is purely register: -ma belongs to speech, -y/-ami/-mi belong to the page.

Byl jsem na fotbale s klukama.

I was at the football with the guys. (obecná čeština / colloquial spoken)

Mluvili jsme o tom s těma dobrýma lidma celý večer.

We talked about it with those good people all evening. (obecná čeština / colloquial spoken)

Stáli jsme před těma novejma barákama.

We stood in front of those new houses. (obecná čeština / heavily colloquial — also -ej- for -ý-)

The same thought in the standard register:

Byl jsem na fotbale s kluky.

I was at the football with the boys. (standard / written)

Mluvili jsme o tom s těmi dobrými lidmi celý večer.

We talked about it with those good people all evening. (standard / written)

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Use -ma to sound natural in conversation; use the standard endings to write correctly. The pitfall is the reverse of what beginners expect: the danger isn't saying -ma (that's fine and idiomatic), it's writing -ma in an email, an essay, or anything formal.

The four forms that are -ma even in the standard

There is a special group of nouns referring to paired body parts whose -ma ending is actually correct in standard written Czech too. These descend from the old dual number, and you should treat them as the genuine standard form:

Word	Instrumental "plural"	Meaning
ruka (hand)	rukama	with the hands
noha (leg/foot)	nohama	with the legs
oko (eye)	očima	with the eyes
ucho (ear)	ušima	with the ears

So rukama, nohama, očima, ušima are not colloquial — they are the proper, written-Czech instrumental of these four words, and the regular -y/-ami forms would be wrong here. Adjectives agreeing with them also take dual -ma: vlastníma očima (with one's own eyes).

Viděl jsem to na vlastní oči, vlastníma očima.

I saw it with my own eyes.

Držela dítě oběma rukama.

She held the child with both hands.

Nehýbej tolik nohama.

Stop moving your legs around so much.

These dual forms are exactly why -ma feels so natural to Czech ears in the first place — the colloquial -ama/-ema simply extends a pattern the standard language already keeps alive for hands, feet, eyes, and ears.

How English differs

English has no instrumental case at all — it marks "with" purely with the preposition, and the noun's plural never changes shape ("with the boys," "with the houses"). Czech makes you do two things at once: choose the right case ending on the noun and pick the register-appropriate form. There is nothing in English like the standard/colloquial -y/-ma split, where the same sentence has a "written self" and a "spoken self." The closest analogy is something like English going to vs gonna — both correct, but one is for writing and one for talking.

Common Mistakes

❌ Setkal jsem se s kamarádama na úřadě a poslal jim email.

Mixing registers — colloquial -ama in a formal/written sentence.

✅ Setkal jsem se s kamarády na úřadě a poslal jim email.

I met with my friends at the office and sent them an email.

❌ Viděl jsem to vlastními oky.

Incorrect — the eyes take the dual form, not regular -y.

✅ Viděl jsem to vlastníma očima.

I saw it with my own eyes.

❌ Pracuje s dětmama každý den.

Incorrect — double ending; it's either standard dětmi or colloquial dětma, never -mama.

✅ Pracuje s dětmi každý den.

She works with children every day. (standard)

❌ Přijela s dvěma kufrema.

Incorrect spoken form here — kufr is hard, so colloquial is kuframa, standard is kufry.

✅ Přijela se dvěma kufry.

She arrived with two suitcases.

❌ Mávala oběma rukami na rozloučenou.

Incorrect — ruka uses the dual rukama, not -ami.

✅ Mávala oběma rukama na rozloučenou.

She waved goodbye with both hands.

Key Takeaways

Standard instrumental plural: hard masc/neut -y (hrady, městy, pány), soft masc/neut -i (muži, stroji, moři), feminine -ami / -emi / -mi (ženami, růžemi, kostmi).
Colloquial spoken (obecná čeština): everything collapses to -ama / -ema / -ma, with agreeing adjectives in -ýma / -íma (s klukama, s těma dobrýma lidma). Natural in speech, wrong in writing.
rukama, nohama, očima, ušima are the standard forms for hands, feet, eyes, ears — old dual survivals, not colloquialisms.
The real trap for learners is not saying -ma but writing it. Speak it freely; write the textbook endings.

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