Declension of náš and váš | Czech Grammar

English our and your are frozen words. Czech náš (our) and váš (your — plural, or polite singular) are pronouns that decline fully, and they agree with the thing possessed, not the possessor. They run on the same paradigm as each other, so master náš and you get váš for free. Their endings are close to those of můj and tvůj but distinctly softer, built on the recurring stem naš- / vaš-. Two quirks make this paradigm worth a careful look: the long á in the nominative náš/váš shortens everywhere else, and the single form naše does the work of several cells.

Agreement is with the thing owned

As with every Czech possessive, the form tracks the gender, number, and case of the noun it modifies — never the people who own it.

Náš dům je hned za rohem.

Our house is just around the corner. (dům masculine → náš)

To je naše auto, zaparkovali jsme tamhle.

That's our car, we parked over there. (auto neuter → naše)

Naše dcera teď studuje v Brně.

Our daughter is studying in Brno now. (dcera feminine → naše)

Same owners — we — but three different forms, because house, car, and daughter belong to three different genders.

The full paradigm of náš

Singular	Masc. animate	Masc. inanimate	Feminine	Neuter
Nom.	náš	náš	naše	naše
Gen.	našeho	našeho	naší	našeho
Dat.	našemu	našemu	naší	našemu
Acc.	našeho	náš	naši	naše
Loc. (o…)	našem	našem	naší	našem
Instr.	naším	naším	naší	naším

Plural	Masc. animate	Masc. inanimate	Feminine	Neuter
Nom.	naši	naše	naše	naše
Gen.	našich	našich	našich	našich
Dat.	našim	našim	našim	našim
Acc.	naše	naše	naše	naše
Loc. (o…)	našich	našich	našich	našich
Instr.	našimi	našimi	našimi	našimi

váš is identical with v for n: váš/vaše/vaše; vašeho/vaší/vašeho; vašemu/vaší/vašemu; váš…vaši/vaše; vašem/vaší/vašem; vaším/vaší/vaším, and in the plural vaši/vaše, vašich, vašim, vaše, vašich, vašimi. Learn one table, you have both.

The stem shortens: náš but našeho

The nominative masculine náš (and váš) carries a long á, but that vowel is a feature of the bare nominative only. The moment you add any ending, the stem shortens to naš- / vaš-: našeho, našemu, naším — never nášeho. This is a frequent spelling slip, so fix it early.

Bydlíme v našem domě už deset let.

We've lived in our house for ten years now. (locative — našem, short a)

Bez vašeho souhlasu to bohužel nejde.

Without your consent it unfortunately can't be done. (genitive — vašeho)

The form naše does a lot of work

Unlike můj, where the contracted má/mé split the feminine and neuter, naše is a single form that covers the feminine nominative, the neuter nominative and accusative, and several plural cells (masculine inanimate, feminine, and neuter nominative/accusative). When in doubt about a non-masculine-singular subject or object, naše is very often the answer.

Be careful, though, with the feminine accusative singular, which is naši with a short -i (not naše), while the other oblique feminine cases are naší with a long -í:

Pozdravujte ode mě vaši maminku.

Give my regards to your mum. (feminine accusative — vaši, short -i)

Mluvili jsme o naší dovolené v Itálii.

We talked about our holiday in Italy. (feminine locative — naší, long -í)

💡

Don't confuse the lookalikes: naši (short -i) is both the masculine-animate nominative plural (naši sousedé) and the feminine accusative singular (vidím naši sousedku), while naší (long -í) is the feminine genitive/dative/locative/instrumental (od naší sousedky).

náš and váš running through the cases

Viděl jsem vašeho syna včera ve městě.

I saw your son in town yesterday. (masculine animate accusative — vašeho syna)

Mluvil jsem s vaším novým kolegou.

I spoke with your new colleague. (instrumental — vaším kolegou)

Naši sousedé jsou moc milí lidé.

Our neighbours are very nice people. (masculine animate nominative plural — naši)

Dej to našemu učiteli, on to vyřídí.

Give it to our teacher, he'll sort it out. (dative — našemu učiteli)

váš and the polite Vy

váš is the possessive that goes with vy — both the genuine plural you and the polite singular you used with one person you address formally. In letters and formal correspondence, this polite possessive is conventionally capitalised as Váš, just as the polite pronoun Vy is capitalised out of courtesy. The pronoun side of this convention is covered on formal vy.

Děkujeme za Váš dopis a přejeme hezký den.

Thank you for your letter and have a nice day. (formal letter — capitalised Váš)

In ordinary conversation and texting the lowercase váš is normal; the capital is reserved for the (formal) written register.

Common Mistakes

❌ Bydlíme v náš dům.

Incorrect — v + location takes the locative, so both words inflect: v našem domě.

✅ Bydlíme v našem domě.

We live in our house.

❌ Mluvil jsem s váš přítelem.

Incorrect — the preposition s takes the instrumental: s vaším přítelem.

✅ Mluvil jsem s vaším přítelem.

I spoke with your friend.

❌ Bez nášeho souhlasu to nejde.

Incorrect — the stem shortens once an ending is added: bez našeho souhlasu.

✅ Bez našeho souhlasu to nejde.

It can't be done without our consent.

❌ Viděl jsem váš syn ve městě.

Incorrect — a masculine animate object takes the accusative: vašeho syna.

✅ Viděl jsem vašeho syna ve městě.

I saw your son in town.

❌ To je náš auto.

Incorrect — auto is neuter, so the form is naše, not the masculine náš.

✅ To je naše auto.

That's our car.

Key Takeaways

náš and váš share one paradigm — learn náš, swap n for v, and you have váš.
They agree with the possessed noun's gender, number, and case, not with the owners.
The long á in náš/váš shortens to naš-/vaš- as soon as any ending is added: našeho, never nášeho.
naše covers the feminine and neuter nominative plus many plural cells; the feminine accusative singular is naši (short -i), distinct from the long naší.
With the polite Vy, the possessive Váš is capitalised in formal letters.

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