Capitalization Rules | Czech Grammar

Czech reaches for capital letters far less often than English does — and almost never for the categories English speakers expect. Days of the week, months, languages, the adjective český ("Czech"): all lowercase. If you transfer English habits directly, half of what you write will look, to a Czech reader, like the over-capitalised English of a tourist menu. The underlying principle is simple and worth holding onto: Czech capitalises proper names, not categories. A specific named thing (a person, a particular place) gets a capital; a general class of thing (a weekday, a language, a nationality used as a label) does not.

Lowercase in Czech (but uppercase in English)

These are the categories that trip up every English speaker. In Czech they are ordinary common words and stay lowercase mid-sentence.

Category	Czech (lowercase)
Days of the week	pondělí, úterý, středa, čtvrtek, pátek, sobota, neděle
Months	leden, únor, březen, … září, říjen, listopad, prosinec
Seasons	jaro, léto, podzim, zima
Languages	čeština, angličtina, němčina
"in language X" adverbs	česky, anglicky, německy
Nationality adjectives	český, anglický, americký

Uvidíme se v pondělí po obědě.

See you on Monday after lunch. (pondělí — lowercase day)

Narodila se v únoru, takže je Vodnář.

She was born in February, so she's an Aquarius. (únor — lowercase month)

Učím se česky a trochu i německy.

I'm learning Czech, and a bit of German too. (česky, německy — lowercase)

Je to typický český zvyk.

It's a typical Czech custom. (český — nationality adjective stays lowercase)

💡

The English instinct to capitalise Monday, February, English, Czech is the single biggest source of capitalisation errors. In Czech these are all just ordinary words — lowercase, every time, unless one happens to start a sentence.

The crucial split: nationality as a noun versus as an adjective

Here is a contrast English doesn't make, because English capitalises Czech in every use. Czech splits them:

A person of that nationality — a noun — is capitalised: Čech (a Czech man), Češka (a Czech woman), Angličan (an Englishman), Němec (a German), Američan (an American).
The matching adjective, the language, and the "in X" adverb are all lowercase: český, čeština, česky.

One sentence holds all three:

Petr je Čech, mluví výborně česky a nejradši má český film.

Petr is a Czech, speaks Czech beautifully, and likes Czech film best of all. (Čech capital noun; česky, český lowercase)

Moje sousedka je Angličanka, ale po patnácti letech v Praze mluví skoro dokonale česky.

My neighbour is an Englishwoman, but after fifteen years in Prague she speaks almost perfect Czech. (Angličanka capital; česky lowercase)

The same logic capitalises an inhabitant of a named place — Pražan (a Praguer), Brňák (a Brno native), Evropan (a European) — because those nouns are derived from proper names too. But a generic občan (citizen) stays lowercase.

When something genuinely is a proper name

Capitalise the first word of a sentence, every personal name (both given name and surname: Jan Novák, Jana Nováková), and genuine proper place names.

The tricky part is multi-word names. Czech does not capitalise every word the way an English title does. The rule for most place and institution names: capitalise only the first word, plus any word that is itself inherently a proper noun. The generic noun inside the name (most "bridge", náměstí "square", republika "republic", unie "union") stays lowercase.

Name	Why
Karlův most	Karlův (from Karel) is a proper adjective → capital; most "bridge" is generic → lowercase
Václavské náměstí	first word capital; náměstí "square" generic → lowercase
Česká republika	first word capital; republika generic → lowercase
Evropská unie	first word capital; unie generic → lowercase
Univerzita Karlova	first word capital; Karlova (from Karel) is itself a proper adjective → also capital

Prošli jsme přes Karlův most až na Pražský hrad.

We walked across Charles Bridge up to Prague Castle. (Karlův most, Pražský hrad — only the first words and proper adjectives are capitalised)

Česká republika vstoupila do Evropské unie v roce 2004.

The Czech Republic joined the European Union in 2004. (republika, unie stay lowercase)

Studuje práva na Univerzitě Karlově.

He studies law at Charles University. (both words capital, because Karlova is itself a proper adjective)

There's one nuance worth flagging: when a generic noun is genuinely part of a settlement's official name, it gets promoted to a capital. So Nové Město (New Town, the Prague quarter) capitalises Město, because here Město isn't describing a town — it is the town's name.

Bydlí v Novém Městě, kousek od Karlova náměstí.

They live in Nové Město, a short way from Charles Square. (Město capitalised as part of the settlement name; náměstí stays lowercase)

Polite Vy and Ty in letters

In formal correspondence, the polite Vy (and its case forms Vám, Vás, Váš) is capitalised out of respect for the addressee — even though vy "you" is otherwise a perfectly ordinary lowercase word. The familiar ty gets the same courtesy capital (Ty, Tě, Tobě, Tvůj) when you write to someone directly. This is a (formal) convention of letters, e-mails and official messages; you would never capitalise it in narration about a third party. It ties into the broader tykání vs vykání distinction.

Vážený pane Nováku, děkuji Vám za Váš dopis a přeji Vám hezký den.

Dear Mr Novák, thank you for your letter and I wish you a nice day. (Vám, Váš capitalised in a formal letter)

Common Mistakes

❌ Uvidíme se v Pondělí.

Incorrect — days of the week are lowercase in Czech.

✅ Uvidíme se v pondělí.

See you on Monday.

❌ Mluvím Anglicky a učím se Čeština.

Incorrect — languages and 'in language X' adverbs are lowercase.

✅ Mluvím anglicky a učím se češtinu.

I speak English and I'm learning Czech.

❌ Je to skvělý Český film.

Incorrect — the nationality adjective český is lowercase.

✅ Je to skvělý český film.

It's a great Czech film.

❌ Šli jsme na Václavské Náměstí.

Incorrect — náměstí is a generic noun and stays lowercase.

✅ Šli jsme na Václavské náměstí.

We went to Wenceslas Square.

❌ Petr je čech a jeho žena je angličanka.

Incorrect — a person's nationality, as a noun, is capitalised.

✅ Petr je Čech a jeho žena je Angličanka.

Petr is a Czech and his wife is an Englishwoman.

Key Takeaways

Czech capitalises proper names, not categories — so days, months, seasons, languages and nationality adjectives are all lowercase.
A nationality noun for a person is capitalised (Čech, Angličan); the adjective, language and adverb are not (český, čeština, česky).
In multi-word names, capitalise the first word plus any inherent proper noun; generic most, náměstí, republika, unie stay lowercase.
A generic noun is capitalised when it's part of a settlement's name (Nové Město).
Polite Vy / Ty and their forms are capitalised in (formal) letters.

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