Once you know the everyday ně- indefinites (někdo, něco, nějaký — "some-"), Czech offers three more indefinite families that carve up "some/any" far more finely than English does. The -koli(v) suffix gives free-choice any- ("anyone at all"); the -si suffix marks something specific but unidentified ("a certain someone I can't name"); and the prefixes lec-, leda-, kde-, málo- give the sense "various / quite a few / all sorts of." English blurs all of these into "some" and "any," so this is exactly the kind of distinction where a native speaker will hear your Czech get sharper. All of them are built on the same question words — kdo, co, jaký, který, kde, kdy — and, as with ně-, the base keeps declining while the affix rides along.
The three families at a glance
| Base | -koli(v) (free choice) | -si (specific-vague) | lec-/leda- (various) |
|---|---|---|---|
| kdo (who) | kdokoli(v) — anyone at all | kdosi — someone (unknown) | leckdo / ledakdo — many a person |
| co (what) | cokoli(v) — anything whatever | cosi — something (unknown) | leccos / ledacos — all sorts of things |
| jaký (what kind) | jakýkoli(v) — any kind at all | jakýsi — a certain (kind of) | ledajaký — all sorts of |
| který (which) | kterýkoli(v) — any one you like | kterýsi — a certain one | leckterý / lecikterý — quite a few |
| kde (where) | kdekoli(v) — anywhere at all | kdesi — somewhere (unknown) | leckde / ledakde — in all sorts of places |
| kdy (when) | kdykoli(v) — anytime at all | kdysi — once, at some past time | leckdy — many a time, often |
The final -v on the -koli(v) words (kdokoliv, cokoliv) is optional and purely a matter of taste — both kdokoli and kdokoliv are correct and neutral. The rest of this page uses the shorter form.
-koli(v): free choice — "any at all"
The -koli words mean any — take your pick, it doesn't matter which. This is the free-choice "any" of English "anyone can do it," "help yourself to anything," "any of them will do." The defining feature is indifference: the speaker is explicitly saying the choice is open and unrestricted.
Zavolej mi kdykoli, klidně i v noci.
Call me anytime — even at night, I don't mind.
Vyber si kterýkoli dort, všechny jsou vynikající.
Choose any cake you like — they're all excellent.
Tohle ti potvrdí kdokoli, kdo tam byl.
Anyone who was there will confirm this for you.
Můžeš sedět kdekoli, není to místenka.
You can sit anywhere — there's no assigned seat.
Because the base keeps its own declension, the endings appear before the suffix: kohokoli (gen./acc. of kdokoli), čehokoli, komukoli, kýmkoli; kteréhokoli, kterýmkoli. The -koli itself never changes.
Neboj se zeptat kohokoli z nás.
Don't be afraid to ask any of us. (kohokoli = accusative)
Je schopná mluvit o čemkoli.
She's capable of talking about anything. (o + čemkoli = locative)
-si: specific but unidentified — "a certain, some (I can't name)"
The -si words point to a particular, real referent that the speaker cannot or will not identify. The thing is definite in the world — it exists, it is one specific thing — but its identity is unknown or withheld. English reaches for "a certain," "some … or other," or a "some-" said with a shrug.
Volal ti jakýsi pan Dvořák, prý se ozve znovu.
A certain Mr Dvořák called you — apparently he'll call again. (a real, specific man, name half-caught)
Cosi mi na tom nesedí.
Something about it doesn't sit right with me. (a definite but unnameable something)
Bydlí teď kdesi na Moravě.
He lives somewhere in Moravia now. (a specific place I don't know exactly)
Kdysi jsme se potkali, ale nevzpomínám si kde.
We met once, some time ago, but I can't recall where.
The -si forms carry a faint literary or reflective tone and are common in narrative prose. They decline on the base just like the others: kohosi, čehosi, komusi, jakéhosi, kýmsi.
V dopise se zmiňoval o jakémsi setkání v Praze.
In the letter he mentioned some meeting in Prague (a specific one, unspecified to us). (o + jakémsi = locative)
The heart of the matter: nějaký vs jakýsi vs kterýkoli
These three sit closest together and are the whole reason this page exists. Line them up on the same noun and the meanings separate cleanly:
Přišel nějaký člověk.
Some person came. (nějaký = just 'a', identity irrelevant/unknown — the neutral default)
Přišel jakýsi člověk, ani jsem ho neznal.
A certain person came — I didn't even know him. (jakýsi = a specific individual whose identity I can't supply)
Může přijít kterýkoli člověk, dveře jsou otevřené.
Any person at all may come — the door is open. (kterýkoli = free choice, no restriction)
Rule of thumb: reach for nějaký by default ("a / some"); switch to jakýsi when you want to flag "specific, but I can't name it"; use kterýkoli / kdokoli only for genuine "any, take your pick." Getting this right is a hallmark of B2+ Czech; collapsing all three into nějaký is understandable but flattens the meaning.
lec-, leda-, kde-: "various / quite a few / all sorts of"
The last family expresses plurality and variety — "many a," "all sorts of," "quite a few." The most common prefix is lec- (and its twin leda-), giving leckdo / ledakdo (many a person, plenty of people), leccos / ledacos (all sorts of things), leckterý (quite a few, more than one). There is also a kde- prefix in the same meaning (kdekdo = "just about everybody," kdeco = "all sorts of things"), and málo- for "few a" (málokdo = "hardly anyone," máloco = "hardly anything," málokdy = "seldom").
Leckdo by ti to záviděl.
Many a person would envy you that.
Na trhu se dá koupit leccos, od bylinek po staré knihy.
You can buy all sorts of things at the market, from herbs to old books.
Leckterý politik by se za to styděl.
Quite a few politicians would be ashamed of that.
To ví přece kdekdo.
Just about everybody knows that, surely.
Note the neat opposition between leckdo / kdekdo ("many a person, most people") and málokdo ("hardly anyone"): the lec-/kde- prefixes push toward a lot, málo- toward very few. These belong to a lively, slightly colloquial-to-neutral register and make writing sound idiomatic.
Málokdo si dnes ještě píše dopisy rukou.
Hardly anyone still writes letters by hand these days.
Chodíme tam málokdy, je to daleko.
We go there seldom — it's far.
Common Mistakes
1. Using free-choice -koli where English "any" is really negative. After a negated verb, Czech needs the ni- series, not -koli.
❌ Nikdy jsem o tom s kýmkoli nemluvil.
Incorrect for 'I never talked about it with anyone' — negative context needs 's nikým'.
✅ Nikdy jsem o tom s nikým nemluvil.
I never talked about it with anyone.
2. Collapsing jakýsi into nějaký. When you mean "a specific one I can't name," the flat nějaký loses the nuance.
❌ Ptal se na tebe nějaký muž — nevím, jak se jmenoval.
Understandable but flat — the 'I don't know who' reading wants 'jakýsi muž'.
✅ Ptal se na tebe jakýsi muž — nevím, jak se jmenoval.
Some man was asking about you — I don't know his name.
3. Not declining the base. The suffix does not "freeze" the word; the pronoun inside still inflects.
❌ Dej to kdokoli, kdo o to požádá.
Incorrect — the verb wants a dative, and the ending goes inside the word: 'komukoli', not the frozen nominative 'kdokoli'.
✅ Dej to komukoli, kdo o to požádá.
Give it to anyone who asks for it. (komukoli = dative)
4. Treating leckdo/málokdo as plural for agreement. Like kdo, they take masculine singular verb agreement, even though the sense is "many people."
❌ Leckdo si to mysleli.
Incorrect — leckdo is grammatically singular: 'myslel'.
✅ Leckdo si to myslel.
Many a person thought so.
Key Takeaways
- -koli(v) = free choice, "any at all," indifference to the choice: kdokoli, cokoli, kterýkoli, kdekoli, kdykoli. The -v is optional.
- -si = a specific but unidentified referent, "a certain / some … I can't name": kdosi, cosi, jakýsi, kdesi, kdysi. Slightly literary.
- lec-/leda-/kde- = "various / all sorts of / many a" (leckdo, leccos, leckterý, kdekdo); málo- = "hardly any / seldom" (málokdo, málokdy).
- The base always keeps its own declension — the affix rides along: kohokoli, čehosi, komukoli.
- Negative "any" (after a negated verb) is never -koli; it is the ni- series with a doubled negative.
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Start learning Czech→Related Topics
- The Indefinite ně- Series: někdo, něco, nějakýA2 — The productive ně- prefix turns question words into indefinites — someone, something, some, somewhere — while the base keeps its own declension.
- The Negative ni- Series and Negative ConcordA2 — Czech negatives like nikdo and nic demand that the verb ALSO be negated — obligatory double (and triple, and quadruple) negation that is fully correct at every register.
- kdo and co: Who and WhatA2 — The pronouns kdo (who) and co (what) as both question words and relatives, with their full declension and their fixed singular agreement.
- 'Some', 'Certain', 'Other': nějaký, některý, jinýB1 — Distinguishing the indefinite/selective determiners nějaký, některý, jiný, další, ostatní.
- který: The Main Relative PronounB1 — který/která/které declined as a hard adjective, the workhorse relative 'which/that/who'.