Percentages, temperatures, and measurements come up constantly — weather reports, recipes, prices, news headlines — and they are governed by the same agreement rule that controls every counted noun in Czech: the 2–4 versus 5-and-up split. The number decides the case and form of the unit that follows. dvě procenta but pět procent; dva stupně but deset stupňů; tři kilogramy but pět kilogramů. English speakers reliably trip here, either treating units as invariable ("five percent" with no change to the noun) or forgetting the genitive plural. This page drills the pattern through the three most common measurement words and adds the o + accusative construction for expressing change ("rose by ten percent").
The agreement rule in one table
The unit noun changes form according to the number in front of it. Three zones:
| Number | Case of the noun | Example (with procento) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (jedno) | nominative singular | jedno procento |
| 2, 3, 4 | nominative plural | dvě / tři / čtyři procenta |
| 5 and up | genitive plural | pět procent |
This split applies to every counted noun, so once you have it for procento you have it for stupeň, metr, kilogram and the rest. For the underlying rules, see Cardinal Numbers 0–4 and Cardinal Numbers 5 and Up: the Genitive Plural Rule.
Percentages: procento
procento is a neuter noun. Its three forms:
| Number | Form | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | procento | jedno procento |
| 2, 3, 4 | procenta | dvě / tři / čtyři procenta |
| 5+ | procent | pět / dvacet / sto procent |
Inflace letos dosáhla tří procent.
Inflation reached three percent this year.
Skoro pět procent lidí na schůzi nepřišlo.
Almost five percent of people didn't come to the meeting.
Sleva je dvacet procent na všechno zboží.
The discount is twenty percent on all goods.
In writing, the symbol % is read aloud with whichever form the number demands: 2 % is read dvě procenta, 5 % as pět procent. The symbol does not change the grammar — say the right form.
Půjčka má úrok tři a půl procenta.
The loan has an interest rate of three and a half percent.
After a fractional figure like tři a půl ("three and a half") or a decimal, the unit goes into the genitive singular (procenta, stupně) — the half drags the noun down to a singular genitive, just as půl always governs the genitive. So you say tři a půl procenta, o půl stupně tepleji ("half a degree warmer").
Degrees and temperature: stupeň
stupeň ("degree") is a masculine inanimate noun. Watch the stem: the soft -ň of stupeň becomes -n- before endings, and the genitive plural has a fill vowel — stupňů.
| Number | Form | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | stupeň | jeden stupeň |
| 2, 3, 4 | stupně | dva / tři / čtyři stupně |
| 5+ | stupňů | pět / deset stupňů |
Ráno bylo jenom pět stupňů, vezmi si bundu.
It was only five degrees this morning — take a jacket.
Voda se vaří při sto stupních Celsia.
Water boils at a hundred degrees Celsius.
Note Celsia (genitive of Celsius) — "degrees of Celsius." For temperature of the moment, Czech says je + the figure:
Dnes je dvacet pět stupňů, konečně teplo.
It's twenty-five degrees today — warm at last.
For below-zero temperatures, prefix mínus; the noun still follows the count's form:
V noci bylo mínus tři stupně.
It was minus three degrees overnight.
Measurement units: metr, kilogram, litr
The same three-way split governs every unit of measure. All three of these are masculine inanimate, like stupeň.
| Unit | 1 | 2–4 (nom. pl.) | 5+ (gen. pl.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| metr | jeden metr | dva / tři / čtyři metry | pět metrů |
| kilogram | jeden kilogram | dva / tři / čtyři kilogramy | pět kilogramů |
| litr | jeden litr | dva / tři / čtyři litry | pět litrů |
Ten stůl je dlouhý dva metry.
That table is two metres long.
Koupila jsem tři kilogramy brambor.
I bought three kilograms of potatoes.
Do nádrže se vejde padesát litrů.
The tank holds fifty litres.
Notice that the thing measured goes into the genitive plural too (tři kilogramy brambor — "three kilos of potatoes"), exactly as quantities always govern the genitive in Czech. So you stack two genitive-plural effects in pět kilogramů brambor: the unit is genitive plural after pět, and brambor is genitive plural after the measure.
Dej mi prosím pět deka šunky.
Give me fifty grams of ham, please.
(Deka — colloquial for dekagram, 10 g — is indeclinable in this counting use; pět deka is what you say at the deli counter.)
Expressing change: o + accusative
To say something rose, fell, or grew by an amount, Czech uses o + the accusative. This is the construction English renders with "by": "rose by ten percent," "warmer by five degrees."
Ceny stouply o deset procent.
Prices rose by ten percent.
Tržby klesly o pět procent.
Revenues fell by five percent.
Zítra bude o tři stupně tepleji.
Tomorrow it'll be three degrees warmer.
The number itself sits inside the o-phrase; the unit still obeys the 2–4 / 5+ rule (o tři stupně, o deset procent). Don't confuse this o + accusative ("by how much it changed") with na + accusative ("to what level it reached"):
Teplota stoupla na třicet stupňů.
The temperature rose to thirty degrees.
Stoupla o pět stupňů = rose by five; stoupla na třicet stupňů = rose to thirty. For the broader use of the accusative in measure and price, see The Accusative for Measure, Price, and Distance.
Common Mistakes
❌ pět procenta
Incorrect — after 5+ the noun takes the genitive plural.
✅ pět procent
five percent
After five and up, switch to the genitive plural (procent), not the 2–4 nominative plural (procenta).
❌ dvě procent
Incorrect — after 2–4 the noun takes the nominative plural.
✅ dvě procenta
two percent
After two, three, four, use the nominative plural (procenta), not the genitive plural.
❌ Koupila jsem pět kilogramy brambor.
Incorrect — five takes the genitive plural of the unit.
✅ Koupila jsem pět kilogramů brambor.
I bought five kilograms of potatoes.
The unit kilogram follows the same rule as everything else: nom. pl. kilogramy for 2–4, gen. pl. kilogramů for 5+.
❌ Ceny stouply na deset procent.
Wrong meaning — this says prices rose 'to' 10%, not 'by' 10%.
✅ Ceny stouply o deset procent.
Prices rose by ten percent.
"By an amount of change" is o + accusative; na + accusative would mean the new total level, a different statement.
❌ Bylo mínus tři stupňů.
Incorrect — the count 'tři' takes the nominative plural.
✅ Bylo mínus tři stupně.
It was minus three degrees.
Mínus is irrelevant to agreement; the number tři still demands the nominative plural stupně.
Key Takeaways
- The unit noun follows the universal count rule: 1 = nom. sg., 2–4 = nom. pl., 5+ = gen. pl.
- procento: jedno procento, dvě/tři/čtyři procenta, pět procent.
- stupeň: jeden stupeň, dva stupně, pět stupňů — and při sto stupních Celsia.
- Units behave identically: dva metry / pět metrů, tři kilogramy / pět kilogramů, tři litry / pět litrů; the measured substance goes in the genitive too.
- Compound numbers obey their last word (dvacet dva procenta), and mínus never disturbs agreement.
- Change is o + accusative (stoupl o deset procent); the resulting level is na + accusative (stoupl na třicet stupňů).
Now practice Czech
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Czech→Related Topics
- Cardinal Numbers 0–4 and Nominative Plural AgreementA1 — jeden/dva/tři/čtyři, their gender forms, and why they take the nominative plural noun.
- 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.
- Genitive Plural Noun Forms Used After NumbersA2 — How to actually build the genitive plural — mužů, žen, oken, sester, lidí, let — that every number from five up demands.
- Approximate Numbers and Basic ArithmeticB1 — Expressing 'about/around', number ranges, and saying plus/minus/times/divided by.
- The Accusative for Measure, Price, and DistanceB1 — Using the accusative to state how much something costs, weighs, or how far it extends.