Questions & Answers about Pes má dlouhý ocas.
Why is there no word for a or the in Pes má dlouhý ocas?
Czech does not have articles like English a/an and the.
So pes can mean a dog or the dog, and ocas can mean a tail or the tail, depending on context.
That means Pes má dlouhý ocas could be understood as:
- The dog has a long tail
- A dog has a long tail
- sometimes even The dog has the long tail, if the context supports it
Czech usually leaves that distinction to context instead of using a separate word.
What exactly is má?
Má is the 3rd person singular present tense form of the verb mít, which means to have.
So:
- já mám = I have
- ty máš = you have
- on/ona/ono má = he/she/it has
In this sentence, pes is singular, so Czech uses má: Pes má... = The dog has...
Also, the á is long, so it is pronounced longer than a short a.
Why is dlouhý written with -ý?