simple question...i think. when should i use the accusative case? in which sentences? after which verbs? plus why do you say věci when you say potřebuji dvě věci? i thought to make a feminine plural if it ends in a soft consonant you put ě like písně.
THE ACCUSATIVE The accusative is used to indicate a direct object in a sentence. It is the most frequently used case for an object. The accusative is preceded by a verb and either follows it directly or in combination with a preposition. Examples of a verb + accusative: Vidím řeku. - I see a river. Lenka čte knihu. - Lenka is reading a book. Karel koupil košili. - Karel bought a shirt. Jíme večeři. - We are eating dinner. Potkali jste Petra? - Did you meet/run into Peter? Pečou chleba. - They are baking bread. Ta firma staví domy. - That company builds houses. Pozveš přátele? - Will you invite friends? Some Czech prepositions must be followed by the accusative case. Others can be followed by more than one grammatical case (e.g. by the accusative or the locative) and the different cases express different meanings - usually a difference between direction (acc.) and location (loc. or instr.). E.g. Dej to na stůl (Put it on the table - accusative) x Je to na stole (It is on the table - locative). Examples of a verb + preposition + accusative (or another case): Posaď se na židli. (acc.) - Sit down on the chair. x Sedím na židli. (loc.) - I am sitting on a chair. Pověsím to na strom. (acc.) - I’ll hang it on the tree. x Visí to na stromě. (loc.) - It’s hanging on the tree. Hodil to pod stůl. (acc.) - He threw it under the table. x Schovává se pod stolem. (instr.) - He’s hiding under the table. Pověsme to nad vchod. (acc.) - Let’s hang it above the entrance. x Visí to nad vchodem. (instr.) - It’s hanging above the entrance. Postavila ho na zem. (acc.) - She put him on the floor. x Stojíš na zemi. (loc.) - You’re standing on the floor. Vynesli to před dům. (acc.) - They carried it in front of the house. x Čekají před domem. (instr.) - They’re waiting in front of the house. Umístila to mezi okna. (acc.) - She placed it between the windows. x Visí to mezi okny. (instr.) - It’s hanging between the windows. Koupím jídlo (acc.) za peníze. (acc.) - I’ll buy food for money. Vyměním peníze (acc.) za jídlo. (acc.) - I’ll exchange money for food. Věří ve vítězství. (acc.) - They believe in victory. PÍSEŇ x KOST The paradigm PÍSEŇ is used with feminine nouns that end with a consonant in the nominative and with -e/ě in the genitive (píseň - písně, třešeň - třešně…). The paradigm KOST is used with feminine nouns that end with a consonant in the nominative and with -i in the genitive (kost - kosti, radost - radosti…). The word VĚC ends with -i in the genitive, so it follows the paradigm KOST. The plural of KOST is (dvě) KOSTI, therefore (dvě) VĚCI. In addition, feminine nouns that end with -c in the nominative end with -i in the genitive (věc - věci, moc - moci, nemoc - nemoci, pomoc - pomoci, velmoc - velmoci…) and also with -i in the nominative and accusative plural (dvě věci, dvě nemoci, dvě velmoci…). Nom. sg.: věc Gen. sg.: věci Nom. pl.: (dvě) věci Acc. pl.: (potřebuji dvě) věci Let me know if anything's unclear.
