Půda potřebuje hnojivo.

to need

Breakdown of Půda potřebuje hnojivo.

• půda: the soil
• hnojivo: the fertilizer

Questions & Answers about Půda potřebuje hnojivo.

What is the grammatical role of each word in Půda potřebuje hnojivo?

• půda = the subject of the sentence, in nominative singular
• potřebuje = the verb, 3rd person singular present tense of potřebovat (to need)
• hnojivo = the direct object, in accusative singular

So the structure is the normal Czech equivalent of subject + verb + object.

Why is hnojivo in the same form as the dictionary form? Shouldn’t the object change?

Yes, the direct object after potřebovat normally goes in the accusative. But here hnojivo is a neuter singular noun, and for many neuter nouns the nominative and accusative forms are identical.

So:

• dictionary form: hnojivo
• accusative singular: hnojivo

That is why you do not see any visible ending change.

A useful comparison:

• voda (water) → accusative vodu
• hnojivo (fertilizer) → accusative hnojivo

What gender are půda and hnojivo, and does that matter here?