By now you know that dvě ("two") takes a different noun form than pět ("five"): dvě koruny but pět korun. Compound numbers — dvacet jedna, sto dvacet tři, tisíc devět set devadesát devět — raise the obvious question: when the number has several parts, which part decides the noun's form? The answer is clean and worth memorizing as a single sentence: only the last element counts. Twenty-one, a hundred and fifty-two, three thousand and four — strip away everything but the final word and apply the rule for that word alone. This page shows you how to build the numbers and then how that last-element rule plays out.
Building the number: largest to smallest
Czech writes and says compound numbers in descending order — thousands, then hundreds, then tens, then units — just like English, and the parts are written as separate words.
| Numeral | Czech |
|---|---|
| 21 | dvacet jedna |
| 123 | sto dvacet tři |
| 152 | sto padesát dva |
| 1999 | tisíc devět set devadesát devět |
The conjunction a ("and") is optional and, in modern usage, usually dropped: you say sto dvacet tři, not sto a dvacet tři. You will still meet the a in older or more formal counting and in round expressions (tisíc a jedna noc, "a thousand and one nights"). (the connecting a is now largely optional/archaic in everyday counting)
Ten dům má číslo sto dvacet tři.
That house is number one hundred and twenty-three.
Narodil se v roce tisíc devět set devadesát devět.
He was born in 1999. (years are read as full cardinal numbers)
The last-element rule
This is the whole page in one table. Look at the final word of the compound and treat the noun as if that word were standing alone:
| Last element ends in… | Noun form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (jeden / jedna / jedno) | singular | dvacet jedna koruna — 21 crowns |
| 2, 3, 4 | nominative plural | dvacet tři koruny — 23 crowns |
| 5–9 or 0 | genitive plural | dvacet pět korun — 25 crowns |
It does not matter how big the rest of the number is. Sto padesát jedna koruna (151) ends in "one," so the noun is singular, exactly like plain jedna koruna. Sto padesát pět korun (155) ends in "five," so the noun is genitive plural, exactly like pět korun. The tens and hundreds are invisible to the noun.
Vstupné je sto padesát korun.
Admission is a hundred and fifty crowns. (ends in 0 → genitive plural korun)
Lístek stál dvacet dvě koruny.
The ticket cost twenty-two crowns. (ends in 2 → nominative plural koruny)
V regálu zbývá ještě třicet pět knih.
There are still thirty-five books left on the shelf. (ends in 5 → genitive plural knih)
The tricky one: numbers ending in 1
When the compound ends in 1, the prescriptive rule says the jeden/jedna/jedno agrees with the noun's gender and the noun goes singular — and in oblique cases the jeden and the noun both decline together.
Mám u sebe jen dvacet jednu korunu.
I've only got twenty-one crowns on me. (accusative: jednu korunu, both singular)
Bylo to přesně dvacet jedno procento.
It was exactly twenty-one percent. (neuter jedno → jedno procento, singular)
This is correct but, frankly, fussy — and in real speech almost nobody declines the jeden inside a long number. Which brings us to the shortcut everyone actually uses.
The colloquial shortcut: keep it indeclinable + genitive plural
In everyday Czech, speakers dodge the whole agreement headache by treating the last element as indeclinable and slapping the noun into the genitive plural regardless of what the number ends in. So dvacet jedna freezes, and you say dvacet jedna korun (gen. pl.) instead of the textbook dvacet jedna koruna. This is by far the most common pattern with "...1" numbers in speech and informal writing, especially for prices and counts.
| Number | Prescriptive (agreeing) | Colloquial (frozen + gen. pl.) |
|---|---|---|
| 21 crowns | dvacet jedna koruna | dvacet jedna korun |
| 31 children | třicet jedno dítě | třicet jedna dětí |
| 121 days | sto dvacet jeden den | sto dvacet jedna dní |
Ve třídě je třicet jedna dětí.
There are thirty-one children in the class. (colloquial — frozen number + genitive plural dětí)
Účet dělá sto dvacet jedna korun.
The bill comes to a hundred and twenty-one crowns. (colloquial — frozen + genitive plural)
A bonus: the colloquial one-word forms
Spoken Czech has a second, very common way to say the numbers 21–99: glue the units in front of the tens with -a- ("and"), as one word — jedenadvacet (21), dvaadvacet (22), pětadvacet (25), sedmatřicet (37). They are completely standard in speech and informal writing, and they always take a genitive plural noun, because the form ends in the tens word. (informal/colloquial)
Je mu pětadvacet, ale chová se jako náctiletý.
He's twenty-five, but he behaves like a teenager. (pětadvacet = 25, colloquial one-word form)
Bydlíme tady už jedenadvacet let.
We've been living here for twenty-one years now. (jedenadvacet = 21 + genitive plural let)
How this differs from English
English compound numbers are effortless: the noun is always a plain plural and never reacts to the last digit. "Twenty-one crowns," "twenty-two crowns," "twenty-five crowns" — crowns every time. Czech makes the final element reach back and reshape the noun: singular after "...1," nominative plural after "...2/3/4," genitive plural after "...5–9/0." That is three different noun forms where English has one. The good news is that you already know the rule from the simple numbers — jedna koruna, dvě koruny, pět korun — and a compound just applies it to its last word. The single most useful survival trick is the colloquial freeze: when in doubt on a "...1" number, say the genitive plural and move on.
Common Mistakes
❌ Dvacet pět koruny.
Incorrect — the last element is 5, so the noun is genitive plural: korun.
✅ Dvacet pět korun.
Twenty-five crowns.
❌ Sto dvacet tři korun stálo to jablko.
Incorrect for 123 — the last element is 3, so it's nominative plural koruny, not genitive plural korun.
✅ Sto dvacet tři koruny stálo to jablko.
That apple cost a hundred and twenty-three crowns.
❌ Ve třídě je třicet jedna dětě.
Incorrect — for '...1' use either singular (dítě) or the colloquial genitive plural (dětí); 'dětě' is not a form.
✅ Ve třídě je třicet jedna dětí.
There are thirty-one children in the class.
❌ Sto a dvacet a pět lidí.
Overdone — the 'a' between every part is not used; at most one optional 'a', usually none.
✅ Sto dvacet pět lidí.
A hundred and twenty-five people.
Key Takeaways
- Compound numbers are written largest to smallest as separate words; the connecting a is optional and now usually dropped.
- Only the last element decides the noun's form: ...1 → singular, ...2/3/4 → nominative plural, ...5–9/0 → genitive plural.
- The prescriptive "...1" pattern declines jeden with a singular noun (dvacet jedna koruna); the colloquial shortcut freezes the number and uses the genitive plural (dvacet jedna korun).
- Colloquial one-word forms for 21–99 (pětadvacet, jedenadvacet) put the units first and always take a genitive plural noun.
Now practice Czech
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Start learning Czech→Related Topics
- Declension of Cardinal NumbersA2 — Czech cardinal numbers are themselves declinable: jeden bends like ten, dva/tři/čtyři have their own oblique forms, and from pět up a single -i form serves every oblique case.
- Cardinal Numbers 5 and Up: the Genitive Plural RuleA2 — Why pět, deset, sto and the higher numbers take a genitive-plural noun and a singular neuter verb — the central oddity of Czech numeral syntax.
- Cardinal Numbers 0–4 and Nominative Plural AgreementA1 — jeden/dva/tři/čtyři, their gender forms, and why they take the nominative plural noun.
- Hundreds, Thousands and MillionsA2 — The counting forms of sto (sto/stě/sta/set), and how tisíc, milion and miliarda behave as nouns that force the counted item into the genitive.
- Case Agreement of Number + Noun in Oblique CasesB2 — Why se dvěma muži and o pěti lidech put the noun in the same case as the number, not the genitive.