Real conversations are full of numbers that are roughly right and small sums done out loud. "About ten people," "somewhere between five and ten," "two and two is four," "five times three." Czech has tidy tools for both, and one of them — using word order to mean "about" — has no parallel in English at all. This page covers how to say a number is approximate, how to give a range, and how to read basic arithmetic aloud.
Saying "about / around": the adverb method
The straightforward way to make a number fuzzy is to put an adverb in front of it. The common ones are roughly interchangeable, with small differences in register:
| Word | Sense | Register |
|---|---|---|
| asi | about, roughly, I guess | everyday, very common |
| přibližně | approximately | neutral, slightly formal |
| zhruba | roughly, ballpark | everyday, informal |
| kolem + genitive | around (a figure) | everyday |
| okolo + genitive | around (a figure) | everyday, = kolem |
| tak | like, about | colloquial |
The first three (asi, přibližně, zhruba) just stand in front of the number and change nothing else:
Přišlo asi deset lidí.
About ten people came.
Trvalo to přibližně dvacet minut.
It took approximately twenty minutes.
Bylo tam zhruba sto aut.
There were roughly a hundred cars there.
kolem and okolo are different: they are prepositions, so the number after them goes into the genitive. With round figures this is very natural — kolem stovky ("around a hundred"), kolem deseti ("around ten").
Na koncert přišlo kolem sta lidí.
Around a hundred people came to the concert.
Stálo to okolo tisíce korun.
It cost around a thousand crowns.
The inversion trick — "about" with word order alone
Here is the device that surprises every English speaker. In Czech you can signal "about" simply by reversing the order of the number and the noun. Number-before-noun is exact; noun-before-number is approximate.
- deset lidí = ten people (exactly ten)
- lidí deset = about ten people (some ten or so)
Nothing is added — no asi, no kolem. The inversion itself carries the "roughly" meaning. It is colloquial and extremely common in speech.
Bylo nás deset.
There were ten of us.
Bylo nás tak deset.
There were about ten of us.
Čekali jsme hodinu.
We waited an hour.
Čekali jsme hodinu dvě.
We waited an hour or two.
That last pattern — hodinu dvě, den dva, korunu dvě — is a fixed colloquial way of saying "an X or two," and it leans on the same noun-before-number inversion. You can stack the trick with an adverb for emphasis (tak deset, "like ten"), but the inversion alone already does the job.
Ranges with až
A span between two figures is joined with až ("up to," "through to"). It works for quantities, ages, times, and prices.
Přijde pět až deset hostů.
Five to ten guests will come.
Vlak jede dvě až tři hodiny.
The train takes two to three hours.
Vstupné je sto až sto padesát korun.
Admission is a hundred to a hundred and fifty crowns.
You may also see the dash read as až in writing (5–10 spoken as pět až deset). For "between X and Y" you can use mezi + instrumental (mezi pěti a deseti), but the až construction is the everyday default.
Basic arithmetic out loud
Reading sums aloud uses a small fixed vocabulary. Note that the result verb is plural jsou ("are") when the answer is 2–4 and the genitive-governing je ("is") elsewhere, mirroring the normal number-noun agreement — though in casual speech people often just say je throughout.
| Operation | Czech | Noun for the operation |
|---|---|---|
| plus / a ("and") | sčítání (addition) |
| − (minus) | mínus | odčítání (subtraction) |
| × (times) | krát | násobení (multiplication) |
| ÷ (divided by) | děleno | dělení (division) |
| = (equals) | je / jsou / rovná se | — |
Dvě a dvě jsou čtyři.
Two and two is four.
Pět plus tři je osm.
Five plus three is eight.
Deset mínus čtyři je šest.
Ten minus four is six.
Pět krát tři je patnáct.
Five times three is fifteen.
Dvacet děleno čtyřmi je pět.
Twenty divided by four is five.
Two details worth noticing. First, addition has two readings: the colloquial a ("and") and the more technical plus — dvě a dvě and dvě plus dvě are both fine, the former more like a child's sum, the latter more like a calculator. Second, děleno is followed by the instrumental in careful speech (děleno čtyřmi, "divided by four"), though děleno čtyři is widely heard.
Kolik je sedm krát osm?
What's seven times eight?
To ask a sum, lead with Kolik je…? ("How much is…?"). The answer can use rovná se ("equals") for a more formal, written-out feel: Sedm krát osm se rovná padesát šest.
Multiplicative adverbs in -krát
The word krát ("times") is also the building block of the multiplicative adverbs — the "once, twice, three times" series. These attach krát to the number, written as one word:
| Number | "X times" |
|---|---|
| 1 | jednou (once — irregular) |
| 2 | dvakrát |
| 3 | třikrát |
| 4 | čtyřikrát |
| 5 | pětkrát |
| 10 | desetkrát |
| 100 | stokrát |
Note the irregular jednou ("once") — it is not jedenkrát in everyday speech (though jedenkrát exists in formal/technical contexts). From two upward the pattern is regular: number + -krát.
Byl jsem tam jen jednou.
I've only been there once.
Volal ti třikrát, než to vzal.
He called you three times before you picked up.
Tahle kniha je dvakrát dražší než ta druhá.
This book is twice as expensive as the other one.
These adverbs do not take a counted noun — they modify a verb or an adjective ("called three times," "twice as expensive"), so there is no genitive after them. That is a key difference from the bare cardinal pět ("five"), which does govern the genitive plural of a counted noun. Compare pět knih ("five books," genitive plural) with pětkrát ("five times," an adverb with no noun).
For how the bare cardinals govern their nouns, see cardinal numbers 5 and up; for indefinite "a few / several," see indefinite quantity words.
Common Mistakes
❌ Přišlo kolem deset lidí.
Incorrect — kolem is a preposition and requires the genitive.
✅ Přišlo kolem deseti lidí.
Around ten people came.
After kolem the number must go into the genitive: kolem deseti. The nominative deset is wrong here, even though it looks like the "normal" number.
❌ Zavolal mi pětkrát lidí.
Incorrect — pětkrát is an adverb and cannot take a counted noun.
✅ Zavolalo mi pět lidí.
Five people called me.
If you want to count people, use the cardinal pět + genitive plural (pět lidí). pětkrát means "five times" and modifies the verb, never a noun.
❌ Dvě a dvě je čtyři lidé.
Nonsense — arithmetic results are bare numbers, not counted nouns.
✅ Dvě a dvě jsou čtyři.
Two and two is four.
A sum's result is just a number; don't attach a noun to it. Dvě a dvě jsou čtyři stands complete on its own.
❌ Čekali jsme deset lidí, ale myslím že to bylo víc.
Word order says exactly ten — wrong if you mean 'about ten'.
✅ Čekali jsme tak deset minut, ale možná to bylo víc.
We waited about ten minutes, but maybe it was more.
To convey "about," either invert (minut deset) or add an adverb like tak / asi. Plain deset minut reads as an exact ten, which contradicts "maybe it was more."
❌ Pět krát tři jsou patnáct.
Off — fifteen takes the singular je, not the plural jsou.
✅ Pět krát tři je patnáct.
Five times three is fifteen.
Use plural jsou only when the result is 2–4 (dvě a dvě jsou čtyři). For 5 and up the verb is the singular je (je patnáct), matching the number's genitive government.
Key Takeaways
- Make a number approximate with asi / přibližně / zhruba in front of it, or with kolem / okolo + genitive (kolem sta).
- The inversion trick signals "about" by putting the noun before the number (lidí deset = "about ten people") — an option English lacks.
- Give ranges with až: pět až deset ("five to ten").
- Read sums with plus/a, mínus, krát, děleno, result je / jsou / rovná se; result is plural jsou only for 2–4.
- The -krát adverbs (jednou, dvakrát, pětkrát) mean "X times" and take no counted noun — don't confuse pětkrát with the cardinal pět.
Now practice Czech
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Start learning Czech→Related Topics
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- Compound Cardinal NumbersA2 — How to build numbers like dvacet jedna and sto dvacet tři — and the rule that the LAST element decides whether the noun is singular, nominative plural, or genitive plural (plus the colloquial shortcut that sidesteps it).
- Quantifiers and the Genitive: mnoho, málo, několik, hodněB1 — Quantity words that govern the genitive and take a singular-neuter verb.