A handful of Czech nouns have no singular at all. Grammarians call them pluralia tantum — "plurals only." Some name things that come in two joined parts (scissors, glasses, trousers), exactly like English scissors and trousers; but Czech extends the idea much further, to a single door, to a clock, to Christmas, and to money. Because these words live permanently in the plural, two things follow that trip learners up: everything that agrees with them must be plural, and you cannot count them with the ordinary numbers dvě, tři, čtyři.
The core list
Here are the everyday ones, with the gender each is assigned (for agreement) and a note on what it means.
| Word | Gender | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| dveře | feminine | door (one or many) |
| nůžky | feminine | scissors |
| kalhoty | feminine | trousers |
| brýle | feminine | glasses |
| hodiny | feminine | clock |
| narozeniny | feminine | birthday |
| prázdniny | feminine | holidays, school break |
| Vánoce | feminine | Christmas |
| peníze | masculine | money |
| záda | neuter | back (of the body) |
The gender is invisible in the noun itself but very real for agreement. Záda is neuter, so verbs and adjectives around it take neuter-plural endings; peníze is masculine, so it takes the masculine-inanimate plural; the rest are feminine. You memorise the gender the way you memorise the word.
They are always plural — so everything agrees in the plural
This is the half that English speakers get for free with scissors but forget with door and clock. Whatever the English number, the Czech verb, adjective, and pronoun are plural.
Dveře jsou otevřené, pojď dál.
The door is open, come in. (dveře + plural jsou + plural adjective otevřené)
Ty hodiny jdou o pět minut napřed.
That clock is five minutes fast. (ty hodiny — plural demonstrative and verb for a single clock)
Záda mě bolí už týden.
My back has been hurting for a week. (záda, neuter plural — note bolí is plural here)
Kde mám brýle? Nikde je nevidím.
Where are my glasses? I can't see them anywhere. (je = them, plural)
In the past tense the gender shows itself, because the Czech past participle agrees in gender and number:
Dveře byly zamčené, museli jsme zazvonit.
The door was locked, we had to ring the bell. (byly — feminine plural -y)
Záda mě bolela celou noc.
My back hurt all night. (bolela — neuter plural -a)
Peníze došly rychleji, než jsem čekal.
The money ran out faster than I expected. (došly — masculine-inanimate plural -y)
One object, plural word
The mental hurdle is that several of these name a single thing. One door is jedny dveře — literally "one doors," with the number jeden itself forced into the plural to agree. One pair of trousers is jedny kalhoty, one clock is jedny hodiny. Czech is not counting the panels of the door or the legs of the trousers; the word is simply plural by nature, and jeden bends to it.
V bytě jsou jen jedny dveře, a to do koupelny.
There's only one door in the flat, the bathroom one. (jedny dveře = a single door)
Vzal jsem si na cestu jen jedny kalhoty.
I only took one pair of trousers for the trip. (jedny kalhoty)
Counting them: the collective numerals
You cannot say dvě dveře the way you say dvě okna. To count a plural-only noun you reach for a separate set of words, the collective (set) numerals: dvoje, troje, čtvery, patery… They mean "two sets of," "three sets of," and they exist precisely for nouns that have no countable singular.
| Number | With a normal noun | With a plurale tantum |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | jedno okno | jedny dveře |
| 2 | dvě okna | dvoje dveře |
| 3 | tři okna | troje dveře |
| 4 | čtyři okna | čtvery dveře |
Koupili jsme dvoje dveře, jedny do ložnice a jedny do kuchyně.
We bought two doors, one for the bedroom and one for the kitchen. (dvoje dveře)
Potřebuju ještě troje nůžky do kuchyně.
I still need three pairs of scissors for the kitchen. (troje nůžky)
The full system of these numerals — dvoje, troje, čtvery, patery and how they decline — lives in the collective numerals page. For now, just register the reflex: a plural-only noun never takes dvě/tři/čtyři directly.
A note on Vánoce and birthday wishes
Vánoce (Christmas) and narozeniny (birthday) are plural too, which is why the greetings are plural: Veselé Vánoce! ("Merry Christmas," accusative plural), k Vánocům (dative, "for Christmas"), o Vánocích (locative, "at Christmas"). The same with prázdniny — o prázdninách ("during the holidays").
Veselé Vánoce a šťastný nový rok!
Merry Christmas and a happy New Year! (Veselé Vánoce, accusative plural)
Všechno nejlepší k narozeninám!
Happy birthday! (literally 'all the best for the birthday' — narozeninám, dative plural)
Common mistakes
❌ Dveře je otevřená.
Incorrect — dveře is always plural, so the verb and adjective must be plural: jsou otevřené.
✅ Dveře jsou otevřené.
The door is open. (plural agreement)
❌ Koupil jsem dvě kalhoty.
Incorrect — you cannot count a plurale tantum with dvě; use the collective numeral dvoje.
✅ Koupil jsem dvoje kalhoty.
I bought two pairs of trousers. (dvoje kalhoty)
❌ Potřebuju nový nůžky.
Incorrect — gender/number mismatch; nůžky is feminine plural, so the adjective is nové.
✅ Potřebuju nové nůžky.
I need new scissors. (nové nůžky)
❌ Otevři ten dveř.
Incorrect — there is no singular *dveř; the word only exists as plural dveře.
✅ Otevři ty dveře.
Open the door. (ty dveře, plural)
❌ Záda mě bolí, je celá ztuhlá.
Incorrect — záda is neuter plural; agreement must be plural and neuter: jsou celá ztuhlá.
✅ Záda mě bolí, jsou celá ztuhlá.
My back hurts, it's all stiff. (neuter plural agreement)
Key takeaways
- Pluralia tantum have no singular: dveře, nůžky, kalhoty, brýle, hodiny, narozeniny, prázdniny, Vánoce, peníze, záda.
- Everything agreeing with them is plural — even for a single door or clock: dveře jsou otevřené.
- Learn the assigned gender (mostly feminine; peníze masculine, záda neuter); it surfaces in the past tense and in adjectives.
- "One door" is jedny dveře; count them with collective numerals dvoje, troje, čtvery, never with dvě, tři, čtyři.
Now practice Czech
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Start learning Czech→Related Topics
- Collective Numerals: dvoje, trojeB2 — Counting pluralia tantum and paired items with dvoje dveře, troje brýle.
- Singular and Plural in CzechA1 — Czech has singular and plural, but there's no single plural marker like English -s — the plural form depends on gender, paradigm, and case.
- Uncountable and Collective NounsA2 — Mass nouns, collectives, and how Czech quantifies what it cannot count one-by-one.
- The Three Genders of Czech NounsA1 — Every Czech noun is masculine, feminine, or neuter — a grammatical property that drives its declension and forces agreement on everything around it.
- Choosing dva versus dvěA2 — The gender split in the number two and other low numerals.