The passive participle is the verbal adjective that means "the one that has been V-ed" — napsaný dopis "a written letter," otevřené okno "an open window," zlomená noha "a broken leg." It ends in -ný or -tý in its full, adjectival form, and it describes the resultant state of something that has undergone the action. It is the exact counterpart of the active participle: where the active participle marks the noun as the doer (píšící student "the writing student"), the passive participle marks it as the thing acted upon (napsaný dopis "the written letter"). The one thing English speakers must keep straight is the difference between this long attributive form and the short form used to build the verbal passive.
The long form: -ný and -tý
The long passive participle is built from a transitive verb (usually perfective) and ends in -ný or -tý, then takes the full adjective endings. Most verbs give -ný; a smaller set whose stem ends in a vowel or certain consonants gives -tý.
| Verb | Passive participle | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| udělat | udělaný | done |
| napsat | napsaný | written |
| otevřít | otevřený | open(ed) |
| zavřít | zavřený | closed |
| zlomit | zlomený | broken |
| rozbít | rozbitý | broken, smashed (-tý) |
| vzít | vzatý | taken (-tý) |
| umýt | umytý | washed (-tý) |
Napsaný dopis ležel na stole celý týden.
The written letter lay on the table for a whole week. (napsaný — attributive)
Zavřený obchod nás nepříjemně překvapil.
The closed shop took us by unpleasant surprise. (zavřený)
Měla zlomenou nohu, takže celé léto proseděla doma.
She had a broken leg, so she sat at home all summer. (zlomenou — feminine accusative)
It declines like a hard (mladý) adjective
The long passive participle is an adjective, and it declines fully — agreeing with its noun in gender, number, and case. It follows the hard adjective pattern, the mladý type (-ý / -á / -é in the nominative). This is the key contrast with the active participle, which is soft (jarní, -í throughout). English participles are frozen ("the open window," "to the open window" — always open); Czech inflects every time.
| Case | Masc. sg. | Fem. sg. | Neut. sg. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | otevřený | otevřená | otevřené |
| Genitive | otevřeného | otevřené | otevřeného |
| Dative | otevřenému | otevřené | otevřenému |
| Accusative | otevřený / -ého | otevřenou | otevřené |
| Locative | otevřeném | otevřené | otevřeném |
| Instrumental | otevřeným | otevřenou | otevřeným |
If you know the hard mladý adjective declension, you know these endings already. (For why some participles are hard and the active type is soft, see hard vs soft adjectives.)
O rozbitém okně se nikdo nezmínil.
Nobody mentioned the broken window. (rozbitém — locative -tém)
Přišli jsme k zavřeným dveřím.
We came to a closed door. (zavřeným — dative plural)
The crucial contrast: long attributive vs short predicative
This is the heart of the page. Czech has two shapes of the passive participle, and they do different jobs:
- The long form (otevřený, fully declined) is an attribute — it sits in front of (or beside) a noun and describes its state: otevřené okno "the open window."
- The short form (otevřen, otevřena, otevřeno) is predicative — it combines with být to build the verbal passive, reporting that the action happened: okno bylo otevřeno "the window was opened."
| Long (attributive) | Short (predicative passive) | |
|---|---|---|
| Form | otevřené (adjective endings) | otevřeno (short, agrees like nominal) |
| Role | modifies a noun | combines with být |
| Meaning | resultant state: "open" | the event: "was opened" |
| Example | otevřené dveře | dveře byly otevřeny |
Otevřené dveře pouštěly dovnitř studený vzduch.
The open door let cold air inside. (long attributive — describing the state)
Dveře byly otevřeny přesně v devět.
The door was opened at exactly nine. (short predicative — reporting the event)
Notice the difference in meaning, not just form. Otevřené dveře describes the door as it is now — open. Dveře byly otevřeny reports an action: someone opened them (at nine). English blurs this with one word, "open(ed)"; Czech keeps the state and the event in separate forms.
It replaces a passive který-clause
Like the active participle, the long passive participle compresses a relative clause — this time a passive one. Napsaný dopis unfolds to dopis, který byl napsán "a letter that was written"; přeložená kniha to kniha, která byla přeložena "a book that was translated." The unfolding test confirms you have the right participle: if the noun underwent the action, the passive participle is correct.
Kniha přeložená do dvaceti jazyků se stala bestsellerem.
The book translated into twenty languages became a bestseller. (= kniha, která byla přeložena)
When the participle carries its own complement (přeložená do dvaceti jazyků), the whole bundle typically follows the noun, just as with the active type. The full account of how active and passive participles fold relative clauses together is on participial attributes as reduced relatives.
State versus event, even without být
Because the long form names a state, it pairs naturally with stative verbs other than být — zůstat "to remain," mít "to have (something in a state)," nechat "to leave (in a state)." These all keep the long, adjectival form.
Nech to okno otevřené, je tu vedro.
Leave that window open, it's hot in here. (otevřené — long, the resultant state)
Obchod zůstal zavřený celý týden.
The shop stayed closed all week. (zavřený — long, state)
Mám tu práci skoro udělanou.
I've got the work almost done. (udělanou — long, describing the state of the work)
Register and aspect
The long passive participle is at home in every register — otevřené okno, rozbité auto, udělaná práce are completely everyday — unlike the active participle, which is bookish. It is normally built from perfective verbs, because a resultant state presupposes a completed action: napsaný (from perfective napsat) "written and finished," udělaný "done." An imperfective passive participle exists but is rarer and leans formal (čtený, stavěný).
Tohle je nejčtenější kniha letošního roku.
This is the most-read book of this year. (čtený — imperfective, here in the superlative)
Common mistakes
❌ Okno bylo otevřené míčem.
Incorrect — to report the event (passive) use the short form; the long form describes a state, not who did it.
✅ Okno bylo otevřeno.
The window was opened.
❌ napsán dopis na stole
Incorrect — before a noun you need the long attributive form, not the short predicative one.
✅ napsaný dopis na stole
the written letter on the table
❌ Měla zlomený nohu.
Incorrect — noha is feminine, so the participle must agree: zlomenou (accusative feminine).
✅ Měla zlomenou nohu.
She had a broken leg.
❌ o otevřeným okně
Incorrect colloquial ending — the standard locative of a hard adjective is -ém: o otevřeném okně.
✅ o otevřeném okně
about the open window
❌ píšící dopis
Incorrect — the letter is written, not writing; use the passive participle, not the active one.
✅ napsaný dopis
the written letter
Key takeaways
- The long passive participle ends in -ný / -tý and declines like a hard mladý adjective, agreeing fully with its noun.
- It describes a resultant state and modifies a noun attributively: otevřené okno, napsaný dopis, zlomená noha.
- Keep it apart from the short form (otevřeno), which combines with být to report the event in the verbal passive (okno bylo otevřeno).
- Rule of thumb: long before a noun, short after být.
- It is the passive mirror of the active participle: active = the doer (píšící, soft), passive = the thing acted on (napsaný, hard).
- Unlike the active participle, it is everyday in all registers and normally built from perfective verbs.
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Start learning Czech→Related Topics
- Hard Adjectives: the -ý/-á/-é PatternA2 — The largest Czech adjective class — model mladý — agrees with its noun in gender, number, and case, with the long vowels -ého, -ému, -ým as its signature.
- The Passive: Participial versus ReflexiveB2 — The two Czech passives, their meanings, and when each is preferred.
- The Active Participle (-oucí, -ící)B2 — The present active participle used as an adjective: spící, píšící, nesoucí.
- Participial Attributes as Reduced RelativesC1 — Active and passive participles modifying nouns in place of relative clauses.
- Telling Hard and Soft Adjectives ApartA2 — A one-step test for sorting any Czech adjective into the hard (-ý/-á/-é) or soft (-í) class — read the dictionary form, and the entire case table follows.