Most of the negation group is about how you say "not" — the ne- prefix on the verb, the ni-words, multiple negation. This page is about something negation does downstream: in older Czech, negating a verb could change the case of its object, pulling it from the accusative into the genitive. This is the genitiv záporový — the genitive of negation. It is a receding pattern, but it is not dead, and for a reader of Czech it is essential to recognise: you will meet a genitive object hanging off a negated verb and need to understand why the ending changed. (The case system's own treatment lives at genitive of negation in the Cases group; this page approaches it as a feature of negation — when the negator reaches out and re-marks the object.)
The historical rule, in one line
Old Slavic grammar: the direct object of a negated verb goes into the genitive. Vidím dům ("I see a house", accusative dům) becomes, when negated, nevidím domu (genitive domu), literally "I don't see of-the-house". Russian and Polish still apply this productively. Czech once did too — and the older layer of the language is full of it.
Nemám času. (older / literary)
I have no time. (genitive času under negation — the historical pattern)
Neznám té ženy. (archaic)
I don't know that woman. (genitive té ženy — this now sounds distinctly old-fashioned)
Read those and register the shape: a ne- verb, then an object that is not in the accusative you'd expect but in the genitive. That is the fingerprint of the genitive of negation.
What modern Czech actually does: accusative
Here is the crucial correction, and it is why this page carries an honest warning label. In today's Czech the object stays in the accusative under negation, exactly as in the positive sentence. Negation no longer changes the case for ordinary concrete objects. Nemám čas — accusative — is the living sentence; nemám času is a stylistic relic.
Nemám čas, musím běžet.
I don't have time, I have to run. (accusative čas — the normal modern form)
Neznám toho člověka.
I don't know that person. (accusative toho člověka; the negation leaves the case untouched)
Tu knihu jsem ještě nečetl.
I haven't read that book yet. (accusative tu knihu under negation — completely standard)
So the "rule" the older grammars state — negate the verb, genitivise the object — is now a historical rule. The everyday language keeps the accusative.
Where it genuinely survives
The genitive of negation has retreated into three living pockets. These are worth knowing because they are current, and the first is even obligatory.
1. After the negative existential není / nejsou. When you say something does not exist or isn't available, the thing standing in the genitive is standard, not archaic. This overlaps with the existential sentences pattern.
Není tu mléka.
There's no milk here. (genitive mléka after the existential není — alive and standard)
Není tu nikoho.
There's nobody here. (genitive nikoho after není — the normal way to say it)
O tom není pochyb.
There's no doubt about that. (frozen phrase, genitive plural pochyb)
2. Fixed and semi-fixed phrases. A cluster of idioms freeze the genitive object. Learn these whole.
Nemám ponětí, kde je.
I've no idea where he is. (frozen genitive ponětí — you'd rarely hear the accusative here)
Nedělej si starostí.
Don't worry. (genitive plural starostí in a set phrase)
Neztrácej času, pospěš si!
Don't waste time, hurry up! (idiomatic genitive času; the accusative neztrácej čas also exists)
3. Emphatic partitive "none at all". Here the genitive is a choice that adds colour — it says "not a scrap of X", leaning on the partitive sense of the genitive (a non-existent part of a mass). It is emphatic and slightly literary.
Na takové hlouposti nemám času.
I've no time at all for such nonsense. (genitive času — emphatic; neutral would be 'nemám čas')
Neměl jsem ani koruny.
I didn't have a single crown. (genitive koruny with 'ani' — 'not even a bit', the partitive-emphatic flavour)
The register split
The choice between accusative and genitive under negation is largely a register choice, and it's worth stating plainly. The accusative is neutral, universal, correct everywhere. The productive genitive of negation is literary / archaic — you meet it in older prose, in elevated or deliberately formal writing, and in the frozen idioms above. See written vs spoken Czech for the broader pattern of features that separate the two.
Nemám peníze.
I don't have money. / I've no money. (neutral, accusative — the everyday sentence)
Nemám peněz nazbyt.
I haven't money to spare. (genitive peněz — set, slightly elevated, partitive 'none to spare')
The two are not interchangeable in feel: the first is what you say at the shop, the second belongs to a more literary register or a fixed turn of phrase.
Common Mistakes
❌ Nevidím domu.
Archaic-sounding — productively genitivising a concrete object under negation; modern Czech keeps the accusative.
✅ Nevidím dům.
I don't see the house. (accusative dům)
❌ Nečetl jsem té knihy.
Over-applied genitive — sounds bookish/old; the living form keeps the accusative.
✅ Nečetl jsem tu knihu.
I haven't read that book.
❌ O tom není pochyba.
Unidiomatic — the frozen existential phrase takes the genitive plural, not the nominative singular.
✅ O tom není pochyb.
There's no doubt about that.
❌ Není tu mléko.
Off in the existential sense — 'there isn't any milk' standardly takes the genitive after není.
✅ Není tu mléka.
There's no milk here.
Key Takeaways
- The genitive of negation (genitiv záporový) is an older Slavic pattern: a negated verb pulled its object into the genitive (nevidím domu).
- Modern Czech has abandoned it for ordinary objects — negation keeps the accusative (nemám čas, neznám toho člověka). Don't generate the genitive productively.
- It survives after the negative existential není / nejsou (není mléka, není pochyb — standard, sometimes obligatory), in frozen phrases (nemám ponětí, nedělej si starostí), and as an emphatic partitive ("none at all").
- It's largely a register marker: accusative is neutral; the productive genitive is literary/archaic.
- Treat it as a reading skill and a stock of idioms; for the case-system view see the Cases-group genitive of negation page.
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Start learning Czech→Related Topics
- The Genitive of NegationB2 — The optional, receding genitive object under negation — nemám času vs. nemám čas — its partitive flavour, and the obligatory genitive after není.
- Negating the Verb with ne-A1 — How Czech negates a clause by gluing ne- onto the verb — no 'do/does/did', no separate word for 'not'.
- Existential Sentences: 'there is / there isn't'B1 — Expressing existence with být and word order, and the negative existential with není.
- The Partitive GenitiveA2 — Why a container, measure or portion forces the substance it holds into the genitive — sklenice vody, kilo masa, šálek kávy — with no word for 'of'.
- Written versus Spoken RegisterB2 — How grammar and word choice shift between writing and speech.