Exclamatory Greetings and Wishes

Every language freezes little social rituals into fixed phrases — the cheers, the happy birthday, the bless you — and Czech is no exception. What makes the Czech ones worth a whole page is that many of them are frozen grammar you can't see from the English translation. When you toast with Na zdraví! ("Cheers!"), you are literally saying "to health" with zdraví in the accusative. When you wish someone Šťastnou cestu! ("Have a good trip!"), that -ou ending is accusative too, governed by an invisible "I wish you". Learn these as units, yes — but understand the grammar frozen inside them, because the same pattern generates dozens of wishes you'll want to make yourself.

This page covers greetings (and the crucial ty-vs-vy register split baked into them), the accusative-of-wishes pattern, holiday and toast formulas, and the exclamatory jaký ("what a…!").

Greetings — and the register they encode

Czech greetings are not neutral: each one carries a register, and choosing the wrong one is a genuine social slip. The dividing line is the same one that runs through the whole language — informal tykání (using ty, "you"-singular) versus formal vykání (using vy, "you"-plural-as-respect). Greetings are where you first commit to one or the other.

The informal greetings, used with friends, family, peers, and children:

The formal greetings, used with strangers, shopkeepers, officials, colleagues you vykáte:

Note that ahoj and čau are symmetrical — both "hi" and "bye" — while the formal set splits: Dobrý den for arriving, Na shledanou for leaving. Casual farewells also include Měj se! ("take care!", informal, from mít se "to be/fare"), plural Mějte se!, and Tak zatím! ("see you, so long").

The verb vítat ("to welcome") gives the greeting Vítej! (informal) / Vítejte! (formal) — "Welcome!". These are imperatives, so they carry the same ty/vy split as everything else:

The accusative of wishes: an invisible "I wish you"

Here is the grammatical heart of the page. A whole class of Czech good wishes takes the form of a bare noun phrase in the accusative case — no verb at all. The reason is that they are ellipses of a full sentence with přeji ti / přeji vám ("I wish you"), a verb that governs the accusative. The verb drops out, leaving only its accusative object, and that stranded accusative is the wish.

So Šťastnou cestu! is really Přeji ti šťastnou cestu! — "I wish you a happy journey" — with the "I wish you" understood. That is why cesta ("journey") appears as cestu and šťastná as šťastnou: both are feminine accusative.

Once you see the pattern, you can generate wishes at will — just put "adjective + noun" into the accusative:

Holiday wishes — accusative again

The seasonal greetings follow exactly the same accusative logic, which is why English speakers so often get the endings wrong. Veselé Vánoce! ("Merry Christmas!") has Vánoce (a plural-only noun) and veselé in the accusative, not the nominative veselé Vánoce you might expect — though here the plural forms happen to look identical, so the deception is quieter. It's clearer with Šťastný nový rok! ("Happy New Year!"), which is masculine accusative šťastný nový rok.

Birthdays and general good wishes use Všechno nejlepší! ("All the best!") — here všechno ("everything") is neuter accusative, again the stranded object of přeji ti — and the verbs Blahopřeji! / Gratuluji! ("Congratulations!").

Note that blahopřát and gratulovat ("to congratulate") govern k + dative for the occasion being congratulated on: blahopřeji k narozeninám ("congratulations on your birthday"). For the full inventory of these formulas, see the congratulations and wishes expressions page.

Toasts: Na zdraví! and the na + accusative wish

The classic Czech toast is Na zdraví! — literally "to health", with na + accusative (zdraví is neuter, so it doesn't change shape here, but the case is accusative). The preposition na meaning "to/for (the benefit of)" governs the accusative throughout this family of toasts:

The everyday clink-glasses word is Na zdraví!; a more elaborate toast might open with Připíjím na… ("I raise a toast to…"). The same Na zdraví! doubles as "Bless you!" after a sneeze — a small overlap that surprises learners.

Jaký in exclamations: "what a…!"

The interrogative word jaký ("what kind of") has a second life as an exclamatory word meaning "what a…! / how…!". In this use it expresses admiration, dismay, or astonishment about the quality of something. Crucially, jaký agrees in gender, number, and case with the noun it modifies — so it appears as jaký (masculine), jaká (feminine), jaké (neuter), and so on.

The single most common one is the fixed Jaká škoda! ("What a pity! / What a shame!"), your go-to reaction to disappointing news. Note the feminine ending -á on jaká, agreeing with feminine škoda.

Alongside jaký you'll also hear To je ale…! ("What a…!", using the intensifier ale) and plain To je…! reactions:

The exclamatory ale intensifier deserves its own treatment — see the emphatic intensifiers page. For jaký in its plain question role and its contrast with který, see jaký vs který.

Common Mistakes

The commonest slip: using the dictionary (nominative) form of a good-wish noun phrase. These wishes are accusative because an "I wish you" is understood in front — Dobr*ou noc, Šťastnou cestu, Hezký den*.

Exclamatory jaký agrees with its noun in gender. Škoda is feminine, so the form is jak*á. English "what a" gives no clue here — you must know the noun's gender.

Greetings encode register. Pairing the intimate ahoj with a formal vy address (and a title like pane doktore) is jarring — match the greeting to the relationship.

Blahopřát / gratulovat takes k + dative for the thing you're congratulating someone on: k narozeninám, k svatbě, k úspěchu.

Key Takeaways

• Greetings encode register: informal ahoj / čau / měj se vs formal Dobrý den / Na shledanou / vítejte. Pick by whether you're on ty or vy terms.
• Bare good-wish phrases are in the accusative because they're the stranded object of a dropped přeji ti / vám ("I wish you"): Dobrou noc, Šťastnou cestu, Hezký den, Rychlé uzdravení.
• Holiday wishes follow the same accusative logic: Veselé Vánoce, Šťastný nový rok, Všechno nejlepší.
• Toasts use na + accusative: Na zdraví! ("to health"), připíjím na úspěch.
• Exclamatory jaký means "what a…!" and agrees with its noun's gender: Jaká škoda!, Jaký výhled!, Jaké překvapení!