Breakdown of Ostatní jsou s vítězem.
být
to be
s
with
vítěz
the winner
ostatní
the others; the remaining ones
Questions & Answers about Ostatní jsou s vítězem.
What does ostatní mean here?
Why is it jsou?
Why is it s vítězem and not s vítěz?
The preposition s meaning with requires the instrumental case in Czech.
The basic form is:
But after s, it changes to instrumental:
So this is not a random ending — it is required by the preposition s.
Vítězem is in the instrumental singular.
For masculine nouns like vítěz, the instrumental singular often ends in -em.
So:
Because the sentence uses s (with), Czech needs the instrumental: s vítězem.
Because they play different roles in the sentence.
So the sentence structure is:
Grammatically, ostatní is originally an adjective meaning remaining or other, but here it is used substantively, meaning it functions like a noun.
That is very common in Czech.
Compare:
So in this sentence, ostatní means the others without needing to say the noun explicitly.
Yes, Czech word order is more flexible than English word order.
The neutral order here is:
But you might also see:
Changing the order usually changes emphasis, not the basic meaning.
The given sentence sounds neutral and natural.
Not always, but very often.
In this sentence, s clearly means with:
However, in some contexts s can also mean something like together with or be part of other expressions.
A useful thing to remember is:
Also note that Czech has both s and z/ze, and English speakers sometimes confuse them:
A rough pronunciation guide is:
Ostatní jsou s vítězem
≈ oh-staht-nee zsoh s vee-tye-zem
A few useful points:
Stress in Czech usually falls on the first syllable of each word:
No. Czech does not have articles like English the and a/an.
So:
The exact meaning depends on context. If the meaning shown to you is The others are with the winner, that comes from the context, not from an article.
Possibly, depending on context, but literally it means The others are with the winner.
In Czech, být s někým can sometimes imply:
So if the context is political, competitive, or emotional, it could suggest support or standing by the winner. But the basic literal structure is still are with the winner.
The dictionary forms are:
So if you were looking the words up, you would search for:
Yes. Vítěz is a masculine animate noun.
That matters because masculine animate nouns often have their own case patterns.
Here the singular forms are:
If the noun were plural, it would change differently:
So vítězem tells you it is singular instrumental.