Prepositions with the Instrumental: s, před, za, nad, pod, mezi | Czech Grammar

A small, high-frequency set of prepositions puts its noun into the instrumental case: s (with), and the spatial group před (in front of), za (behind), nad (above), pod (under), and mezi (between). These are the words you need to say where the cat is sleeping, who you're going to the cinema with, and what's hanging on the wall. The catch is that five of them are two-faced: with the instrumental they mean static location, but with the accusative they mean motion toward. This page sorts out both halves.

s / se — "with" (togetherness)

s means with in the sense of accompaniment — being alongside a person or thing. It takes the instrumental.

Noun	Instrumental	With s
bratr (brother)	bratrem	s bratrem
kamarád (friend)	kamarádem	s kamarádem
mléko (milk)	mlékem	s mlékem
cukr (sugar)	cukrem	s cukrem

Jdu večer na pivo s kamarádem.

I'm going out for a beer with a friend tonight.

Dáte si kávu s mlékem, nebo bez?

Would you like your coffee with milk, or without?

Bydlím ještě s rodiči.

I still live with my parents.

The trap that catches every English speaker: "with a pen"

English uses with for two completely different ideas: with my friend (togetherness) and with a pen (the tool I'm using). Czech splits these. Togetherness is s + instrumental. But the instrument — the tool, the means — takes the bare instrumental with no preposition at all.

Píšu perem, ne tužkou.

I write with a pen, not a pencil.

Krájím chleba ostrým nožem.

I'm cutting the bread with a sharp knife.

Jel jsem tam autem.

I went there by car.

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Quick test: if you could replace "with" by "by means of," drop the s — that's the bare instrumental (píšu perem). If you could replace it by "together with," keep the s (jdu s kamarádem). Saying "píšu s perem" is the single most common instrumental error English speakers make.

s (with) vs z (from): don't confuse the lookalikes

s + instrumental means with. The almost-identical-sounding z + genitive means from / out of. They are unrelated, but because both shrink to a single consonant in fast speech, learners mix them up constantly.

Káva s mlékem je nahoře, ta z automatu dole.

The coffee with milk is upstairs, the one from the machine is downstairs.

Právě se vrátil z Prahy.

He's just come back from Prague.

If you mean accompanied by, it's s. If you mean coming out of a place or source, it's z. The dedicated page on s vs z drills this distinction.

před, za, nad, pod, mezi — static position

These five locate something in space relative to a landmark, and with the instrumental they answer the question kde? (where is it standing/lying/hanging?).

Preposition	Meaning	Example (instrumental)
před	in front of / before	před domem (in front of the house)
za	behind / beyond	za domem (behind the house)
nad	above / over	nad stolem (above the table)
pod	under / below	pod postelí (under the bed)
mezi	between / among	mezi stromy (among the trees)

Auto stojí před domem.

The car is parked in front of the house.

Lampa visí přímo nad stolem.

The lamp is hanging right above the table.

Kočka zase spí pod postelí.

The cat is sleeping under the bed again.

Zahrada je hned za domem.

The garden is right behind the house.

Mezi námi, moc se mi to nelíbí.

Between us, I don't really like it.

The two-case twist: location vs motion

před, za, nad, pod, mezi are two-case prepositions. With the instrumental they mark static location (kde? — where is it?). Switch the noun to the accusative and the very same preposition marks motion toward (kam? — where to?). The preposition doesn't change; the case carries the entire difference between "the cat is under the bed" and "the cat crawled under the bed."

Static (kde? + instrumental)	Motion (kam? + accusative)
Pes leží pod stolem. (under the table)	Pes vlezl pod stůl. (to under the table)
Stojím před domem. (in front of the house)	Zaparkoval před dům. (to in front of the house)
Obraz visí nad postelí. (above the bed)	Pověsil obraz nad postel. (to above the bed)

Pes leží pod stolem.

The dog is lying under the table.

Pes vlezl pod stůl.

The dog crawled under the table.

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The verb usually tips you off. A verb of resting or staying (ležet, stát, viset, být, spát) goes with the instrumental; a verb of movement (vlézt, dát, pověsit, jít) goes with the accusative. See the full treatment on the two-case prepositions page.

Vocalized forms: přede mnou, nade mnou

Before an awkward consonant cluster — most famously before the pronoun mnou (me) — these prepositions add a connecting -e: s → se, před → přede, nad → nade, pod → pode. (za is the exception: it stays za mnou, with no extra vowel.) This is purely about being pronounceable.

Sedí přímo přede mnou.

He's sitting right in front of me.

Co to máš nade mnou na poličce?

What's that you've got above me on the shelf?

Pojď se mnou, nechci jít sám.

Come with me, I don't want to go alone.

The vocalized se also appears before nouns beginning with s, z, š, ž: se sestrou (with my sister), se ženou (with my wife), se psem (with the dog). The full list of when each preposition vocalizes is on the vocalized forms page.

Common mistakes

The instrument-vs-companion confusion is the headline error, so it comes first.

❌ Píšu s perem.

Incorrect — the tool you use takes the bare instrumental, with no preposition.

✅ Píšu perem.

I write with a pen.

Next, confusing with (s) and from (z):

❌ Vrátil se s Prahy.

Incorrect — 'from' is z + genitive, not s.

✅ Vrátil se z Prahy.

He came back from Prague.

Using the instrumental where the sentence describes motion toward a spot:

❌ Dej tu tašku pod stolem.

Incorrect — putting something somewhere is motion, so use the accusative: pod stůl.

✅ Dej tu tašku pod stůl.

Put that bag under the table.

And forgetting to vocalize before mnou:

❌ Pojď s mnou.

Incorrect — s must become se before the cluster in mnou.

✅ Pojď se mnou.

Come with me.

Key takeaways

s + instrumental = accompaniment ("with a friend"); the bare instrumental (no preposition) = the instrument or means ("with a pen").
Don't confuse s (with, instrumental) with z (from, genitive) — they only sound alike.
před, za, nad, pod, mezi take the instrumental for static location and the accusative for motion toward. The verb usually signals which.
Before mnou and similar clusters the prepositions vocalize: se mnou, přede mnou, nade mnou, pode mnou.

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