Punctuation feels like the last, cosmetic layer of a language, but in Czech two of its rules are genuinely grammatical, not stylistic: the comma before a subordinate clause is obligatory, and the quotation marks have a shape English keyboards don't even produce. Add the everyday abbreviations — atd., tj., např. — that pepper any Czech text, plus the decimal comma and the space-grouped thousands, and you have a compact set of conventions that instantly separate writing that looks Czech from writing that looks like an English speaker guessing. This page collects them.
Everyday abbreviations
These zkratky appear constantly in ordinary prose. Note that each ends in a period, and most are followed by a normal space.
| Abbreviation | Full form | English |
|---|---|---|
| atd. | a tak dále | and so on, etc. |
| apod. | a podobně | and the like |
| tj. | to jest | that is (i.e.) |
| tzn. | to znamená | that means |
| např. | například | for example (e.g.) |
| tzv. | takzvaný | so-called |
| č. | číslo | number (No.) |
| str. | strana | page |
| ul. | ulice | street |
| tel. | telefon | telephone |
| p. / pí | pan / paní | Mr / Mrs (pí takes no period) |
Kup mléko, chleba, máslo apod.
Buy milk, bread, butter, and the like. — apod. closes a list, always with its period.
Nabízíme ovoce, např. jablka a hrušky.
We offer fruit, e.g. apples and pears. — např. = for example.
Bydlí v ulici Nová, č. 12.
They live at Nová Street, No. 12. — ul. and č. are the standard address abbreviations.
Academic and professional titles
Titles abbreviated before a name take a period and are written before the name (unlike English John Smith, PhD). They are also not followed by a comma before the name.
| Abbreviation | Full form | Rough English |
|---|---|---|
| Ing. | inženýr | engineer / MSc-level degree |
| Mgr. | magistr | master's degree |
| Bc. | bakalář | bachelor's degree |
| Dr. / PhDr. | doktor | doctor |
| MUDr. | medicinae universae doktor | medical doctor |
| prof. | profesor | professor (lowercase p) |
Přednášku vede prof. Ing. Jan Novák.
The lecture is given by Prof. Ing. Jan Novák. — titles stack before the name, each with a period, prof. lowercase.
Objednala jsem se k MUDr. Svobodové.
I made an appointment with Dr. Svobodová. — MUDr. before the surname, which itself declines (dative Svobodové).
The comma before subordinate clauses
This is the rule English speakers break most, because English usually omits the comma here. In Czech a comma is required before a subordinate (dependent) clause — before že, který, protože, když, aby, jestli, kdo, co and the rest. See subordinate clauses and the comma and the subordinating conjunctions for the full inventory.
Vím, že přijdeš.
I know (that) you'll come. — comma before že is obligatory, even though English drops both the comma and often 'that'.
Myslím, že ano.
I think so. — even this tiny two-word clause after že takes the comma.
To je ten člověk, který mi pomohl.
That's the person who helped me. — comma before the relative který.
Nepřišel, protože byl nemocný.
He didn't come because he was ill. — comma before protože, unlike English 'because'.
The comma also closes an embedded clause. If a subordinate clause sits inside the main sentence, you fence it with a comma on each side:
Ta kniha, kterou jsi mi půjčil, byla skvělá.
The book you lent me was great. — commas both before AND after the embedded relative clause.
Quotation marks: „low-high“, not straight
Czech quotation marks are not the straight English pair. The opening mark sits at the baseline and the closing mark is raised — the „…“ shape (the same pair German uses). The opening mark looks like two commas on the line; the closing mark looks like the raised English closing quotes.
Řekla mi: „Ahoj, jak se máš?“
She said to me: 'Hello, how are you?' — note the low opening mark and the raised closing mark.
Na dveřích stálo „Zavřeno“.
The door said 'Closed'. — the quoted single word is fenced with the low-then-high pair.
For a quote inside a quote, Czech uses the single marks ‚…‘ (a low opening single mark and a raised single closing mark).
Povídá: „A on na to ‚Nikam nejdu‘.“
He goes: 'And then he says, I'm not going anywhere.' — the inner quote uses the single low-high pair inside the double one.
Numbers: the decimal comma and grouped thousands
Czech uses a comma as the decimal separator and a space (a thin, non-breaking space in careful typesetting) to group thousands — the exact reverse of English, which uses a dot for decimals and a comma for thousands. This is covered fully on dates, numbers, and the decimal comma; here is the essential contrast.
| English | Czech |
|---|---|
| 3.14 | 3,14 |
| 1,000,000 | 1 000 000 |
| 19.99 | 19,99 |
Ta kniha stojí 199,90 korun.
That book costs 199.90 crowns. — decimal COMMA, not a dot.
Ve městě žije přes 1 200 000 lidí.
Over 1,200,000 people live in the city. — thousands are grouped with spaces, not commas.
Spacing and the dash
Two spacing habits round this out. First, an abbreviation is separated from what follows by a normal space (str. 42, č. 7), and units are separated from their number by a space (5 kg, 20 °C). Second, Czech distinguishes the short hyphen (spojovník, used inside words like česko-anglický) from the longer dash (pomlčka, used for parenthetical breaks and ranges), and the dash normally has spaces around it when it breaks a sentence.
Přinesla česko-anglický slovník.
She brought a Czech-English dictionary. — a short hyphen, no spaces, joins the two adjectives.
Přijdu později – musím ještě něco zařídit.
I'll come later – I still have something to sort out. — a spaced dash marks the break, not a hyphen.
Common Mistakes
❌ Myslím že máš pravdu.
Incorrect — a comma is obligatory before že.
✅ Myslím, že máš pravdu.
I think you're right.
❌ Řekla mi: "Ahoj."
Incorrect — straight English keyboard quotes instead of the Czech low-high pair.
✅ Řekla mi: „Ahoj.“
She said to me: 'Hi.' — Czech marks: low opening, raised closing.
❌ Ta kniha stojí 199.90 korun.
Incorrect — Czech uses a decimal comma, not a dot: 199,90.
✅ Ta kniha stojí 199,90 korun.
That book costs 199.90 crowns.
❌ Kup chleba, mléko a tak dále..
Incorrect — 'a tak dále' abbreviates to atd. with a single period; no double dot at sentence end either.
✅ Kup chleba, mléko atd.
Buy bread, milk, etc.
❌ To je ten člověk který mi pomohl.
Incorrect — a comma is required before the relative pronoun který.
✅ To je ten člověk, který mi pomohl.
That's the person who helped me.
Key Takeaways
- Common abbreviations (atd., apod., tj., tzn., např., tzv., č., str.) each end in a period; a period at sentence end is not doubled.
- Titles (Ing., Mgr., Bc., MUDr., prof.) go before the name, each with a period, no comma before the name.
- The comma before a subordinate clause (že, který, protože, když, aby) is obligatory — the opposite of the usual English habit — and embedded clauses are fenced on both sides.
- Quotation marks are „low-high“, never straight English quotes; inner quotes use ‚…‘.
- Numbers use a decimal comma and space-grouped thousands (1 000 000; 199,90) — the reverse of English.
Now practice Czech
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Start learning Czech→Related Topics
- Writing Dates, Numbers, and the Decimal CommaA2 — Czech conventions for dates, thousands separators, and decimals.
- Subordinate Clauses and the Comma RuleB1 — Why Czech almost always puts a comma before a subordinate clause.
- Subordinating ConjunctionsA2 — The conjunctions that introduce dependent clauses — že, protože, když, aby, kdyby and the rest — always with a preceding comma.
- Spelling of Foreign and Loan WordsB1 — How Czech adapts borrowings, and the cases where two spellings coexist.
- Capitalization RulesA2 — Why months, days, and nationalities are lowercase, and how proper names work.