Mission—Team—FAQ—Privacy—Terms—Sponsors—Grammar—Typing Course—Donate

© 2026 Elon Automation B.V.

Learn Hardcore Czech: V peněžence chybí průkaz. - The identity card is missing from the wallet.

Hardcore Czech
/Reporting a stolen wallet
/V peněžence chybí průkaz.

V peněžence chybí průkaz.

V peněžence chybí průkaz.

The identity card is missing from the wallet.

Breakdown of V peněžence chybí průkaz.

the identity card; the pass

Questions & Answers about V peněžence chybí průkaz.

Why is it v peněžence and not v peněženka?

Because v meaning in takes the locative case when it describes location.

The basic dictionary form is peněženka = wallet. After v, it changes to peněžence.

So:

peněženka = nominative singular
v peněžence = locative singular, in the wallet

This is a very common Czech pattern:

v tašce = in the bag
v krabici = in the box
v peněžence = in the wallet

What case is průkaz, and why is it not accusative?

Průkaz is in the nominative singular.

That can feel surprising to an English speaker, because in English we often think of the missing thing as an object. But with the Czech verb chybět, the missing thing is usually the grammatical subject.

So in this sentence:

průkaz = subject
chybí = verb
v peněžence = location phrase

A very literal way to think of it is:

In the wallet, an ID/pass is missing.

So Czech is not treating průkaz as a direct object here.

How does the verb work in Czech?

Elon.io is an online learning platform

We have an entire course teaching Czech grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning Czech now

chybět

Chybět means something like:

to be missing
to be lacking
to be absent

Its structure is often different from what an English speaker expects.

Common patterns:

Chybí průkaz. = The ID is missing.
Chybí mi průkaz. = My ID is missing / I’m missing my ID.
Ve třídě chybí student. = A student is absent from the classroom.

A useful rule is:

the thing that is missing is usually in the nominative
the person affected can be in the dative
a place can be added with a prepositional phrase such as v peněžence

So your sentence only states the location of the absence, not who specifically is missing it.

What form is chybí?

Chybí is the present tense, 3rd person form of chybět.

In the present tense, this form is used for both:

he/she/it is missing
they are missing

So:

Průkaz chybí. = The ID is missing.
Průkazy chybí. = The IDs are missing.

The noun tells you whether it is singular or plural.

In your sentence, průkaz is singular, so the meaning is singular.

Does průkaz specifically mean ID card?

Not always. Průkaz is a fairly general word meaning a card, pass, certificate, or ID-type document, depending on context.

For example:

občanský průkaz = identity card / national ID card
řidičský průkaz = driver’s license
studentský průkaz = student card
průkaz pojištěnce = insurance card

So by itself, průkaz can be slightly general. In many contexts, though, people may understand it as some kind of important identification document.

Could I also say V peněžence není průkaz?

Yes, and it would be grammatical, but the nuance is a little different.

V peněžence není průkaz. = There is no ID in the wallet.
V peněžence chybí průkaz. = An ID is missing from the wallet / The ID is absent from the wallet.

The verb chybí often suggests that the item is expected to be there, but it is not there. It sounds more like something is lacking.

By contrast, není is more neutral and simply states non-existence in that place.

So if you want the idea of it should be there, but it isn’t, chybí is often the better choice.

Is the word order fixed in this sentence?

No, Czech word order is fairly flexible, but different orders change the focus or emphasis.

V peněžence chybí průkaz is natural and neutral in many situations. It sets the scene first:

In the wallet — what’s the issue there?
An ID is missing.

Other orders are possible, for example:

Průkaz chybí v peněžence.
V peněžence průkaz chybí.

These are not identical in feel. Czech word order often reflects information structure:

what is already known
what is being highlighted
what is the new or important information

In your sentence, putting průkaz at the end can make it the key new piece of information.

Why is there no word for the or a?

Because Czech does not have articles like English a/an and the.

So průkaz can mean:

a card / an ID
the card / the ID

The exact meaning depends on the context.

That means Czech learners coming from English have to get used to leaving articles out, and English speakers learning Czech have to get used to understanding definiteness from context rather than from a separate word.

Why is it v and not ve?

Czech sometimes uses ve instead of v to make pronunciation easier, especially before awkward consonant clusters.

For example:

ve škole
ve městě
ve středu

But peněžence begins with p, and v peněžence is easy enough to pronounce, so the normal form is v peněžence.

Using ve here would sound unnatural to most speakers.

How is the sentence pronounced?

A rough pronunciation guide:

v peněžence ≈ f PE-nye-zhent-se
chybí ≈ KHI-bee
- ch is like the sound in Scottish loch or German Bach
průkaz ≈ PROO-kas

A few useful details:

ě often makes the preceding consonant softer, so ně sounds a bit like nye
ž sounds like the s in measure
ů is a long oo
final z in průkaz is pronounced like s because of final devoicing

Also, Czech stress normally falls on the first syllable of the word group, so you would naturally stress:

peněžence
chybí
průkaz

Your questions are stored by us to improve Elon.io