Genitive Prepositions of Time: během, do, od | Czech Grammar

A surprising amount of Czech time-talk runs through the genitive case. When you say something lasts during a period, finishes by a deadline, or starts from a moment, Czech reaches for a genitive preposition — během, do, od — and the time word that follows must take its genitive ending. This page covers the three workhorses plus kolem/okolo ("around"), shows how do serves double duty for both until and by, and warns you about the one English habit that derails learners here: leaving the day or noun in its dictionary form instead of bending it into the genitive.

Genitive is Czech's "time-bracket" case

Think of these prepositions as the brackets around a stretch of time: where it starts (od), where it ends (do), and the span it fills (během). Every noun after them goes into the genitive, so before anything else, get comfortable with the genitive forms of the common time words.

Word	Meaning	Genitive
den	day	dne
týden	week	týdne
večer	evening	večera
ráno	morning	rána
noc	night	noci
pátek	Friday	pátku
víkend	weekend	víkendu
prázdniny	holidays	prázdnin

během — during, in the course of

Během + genitive means during or in the course of a stretch of time. It is the cleanest, most general way to say "while X was going on."

Během dne mi přišlo deset e-mailů.

During the day ten emails came in. (den → dne)

Během schůze nikdo neřekl ani slovo.

During the meeting nobody said a word. (schůze → genitive)

Stihnu to udělat během týdne.

I'll manage to do it during the week. (týden → týdne)

Everyday Czech also uses přes + accusative for a similar "over / across a period" meaning — přes den ("during the daytime"), přes léto ("over the summer"). And for pure duration with no preposition at all, Czech uses the bare accusative: celý den ("the whole day"). So během dne (genitive) and přes den (accusative) overlap; pick během when you mean "at some point in the course of."

do — until and by (the same word for both)

Here is a trap English builds for you. English keeps until and by apart — until Friday means "the whole time up to Friday," by Friday means "no later than Friday" — but Czech collapses both into do + genitive. Context, not the preposition, tells you which reading is meant.

Musím ten úkol odevzdat do pátku.

I have to hand in the assignment by Friday. (do + genitive — pátek → pátku)

Počkám do večera.

I'll wait until the evening. (do + genitive — večer → večera)

Banka má otevřeno do šesti.

The bank is open until six. (do + genitive — šest → šesti)

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One Czech word, do, covers both English until and by. Do pátku can mean "until Friday" or "by Friday" depending on the verb: with a deadline verb (odevzdat, dodělat) it is "by"; with a waiting verb (počkat, zůstat) it is "until."

Spatial do vs temporal do

The very same do + genitive that builds deadlines also builds into a place. There is nothing to memorize separately — it is one preposition with two readings, place and time, both taking the genitive.

Jdu do školy.

I'm going to school. (spatial do — into a place — škola → školy)

Do školy musím přijít do osmi.

I have to get to school by eight. (the first 'do' is spatial, the second is temporal — both genitive)

That second sentence is a tidy demonstration: do školy (into the place) and do osmi (by the time) sit side by side, identical preposition, identical case, two different jobs.

od — from / since

Od + genitive marks the start point of a stretch of time — from a moment or since a moment. Where English chooses between from and since, Czech again uses one word.

Od rána mě bolí hlava.

My head has been hurting since morning. (ráno → rána)

Učím se česky od září.

I've been learning Czech since September. (září → genitive, unchanged)

Od pondělí mám dovolenou.

I'm on holiday from Monday. (pondělí → genitive, unchanged)

od ... do — bracketing a span

Pair od with do and you bracket a whole span: from … to / from … until. This is the standard way to give opening hours, working hours, and date ranges. Both ends take the genitive.

Pracuju od devíti do pěti.

I work from nine to five. (devět → devíti, pět → pěti)

Učila se od rána do noci.

She studied from morning till night. (ráno → rána, noc → noci)

Obchod má otevřeno od pondělí do pátku.

The shop is open from Monday to Friday. (pondělí → genitive, pátek → pátku)

kolem / okolo — around (approximate time)

To say around a time — an approximate point — use kolem or okolo + genitive. The two are interchangeable; kolem is a touch more common in speech.

Přijdu kolem osmé.

I'll come around eight. (osmá → osmé)

Sejdeme se okolo poledne.

Let's meet around noon. (poledne → genitive)

A note on za + genitive (during an era)

There is one more genitive time-preposition worth recognizing, though it is less of a beginner's tool: za + genitive meaning during the time of / under. It typically frames a historical era and lives mostly in set phrases.

Za války se tu skrývali lidé.

During the war people hid here. (válka → války) — set-phrase register

Za starých časů to bylo jinak.

In the old days it was different. (literary / nostalgic register)

Be careful: za governs different cases for different meanings (it takes the accusative for za hodinu = "in an hour"). Only the "during an era" sense takes the genitive.

Not everything is genitive: a quick contrast

Don't over-generalize. Plenty of time expressions use other cases, and forcing the genitive there is wrong. Days of the week take v + accusative (ve středu = "on Wednesday"); months and seasons take v + locative (v lednu = "in January", v zimě = "in winter").

Ve středu nemám čas.

I don't have time on Wednesday. (v + accusative — středa → středu, not genitive)

V lednu bývá zima.

It's usually cold in January. (v + locative — leden → lednu)

The genitive prepositions on this page are specifically about brackets and spans: start, end, duration, approximate point. For the broader map of which preposition each time concept uses, see time expressions with prepositions.

Common mistakes

❌ Musím to udělat do pátek.

Incorrect — after 'do' the day must be genitive, not nominative.

✅ Musím to udělat do pátku.

I have to do it by Friday.

❌ Pracuju od devět do pět.

Incorrect — both numbers must be genitive after od…do.

✅ Pracuju od devíti do pěti.

I work from nine to five.

❌ Počkám až pátek.

Incorrect — 'až' is 'until' only before a clause or event, not a bare time point; use do + genitive.

✅ Počkám do pátku.

I'll wait until Friday.

❌ Během den se nic nestalo.

Incorrect — 'den' must become the genitive 'dne' after během.

✅ Během dne se nic nestalo.

Nothing happened during the day.

Key takeaways

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Memorize the three brackets together: od (from/since) marks the start, do (until/by) marks the end, během (during) fills the middle — all three demand the genitive. And remember that do alone covers both English "until" and "by."

For the underlying case forms, review the core genitive prepositions and the genitive after prepositions. To see how the opposite strategy works — duration with no preposition at all — read the accusative of time and duration.

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