Montpáka je na stole.

to be

Breakdown of Montpáka je na stole.

• na: on
• stůl: the table
• montpáka: the tyre lever

Questions & Answers about Montpáka je na stole.

Why is stole used instead of the dictionary form stůl?

Because na stole means on the table, and after na when you are talking about a static location, Czech uses the locative case.

• base form: stůl = table
• locative singular: stole
• so: na stole = on the table

Compare:

• Montpáka je na stole. = The tire lever is on the table.
• Dám montpáku na stůl. = I’ll put the tire lever onto the table.

In the second sentence, there is movement onto the table, so na takes the accusative instead.

What case is montpáka in, and why?

Montpáka is in the nominative singular because it is the subject of the sentence, the thing that is somewhere.

So the structure is:

• Montpáka = subject
• je = is
• na stole = on the table

Even though montpáka is an object in real life, grammatically it is the subject here.

Why is je there?