Числівники 0–20

Czech numbers will look half familiar if you have met any other Slavic language, and new otherwise. Learn them as words first; the patterns behind them help afterwards.

The teens: -náct, like "-teen"

11 to 19 add -náct (from "na deset", "on ten"), much as English adds "-teen". A few stems shift on the way, and these are the ones to watch: čtyři gives čtrnáct, pět gives patnáct, devět gives devatenáct. Stress the first syllable, as always: PAT-náct, DVA-cet. And where "thirteen" and "thirty" are easy to mishear, třináct (13) and třicet (30) start alike but end quite differently, so they are hard to confuse. In casual speech you will hear sedm and osm said as "sedum" and "osum"; write them without the u.

One and two have gender

English "one" and "two" never change. Czech one matches the noun: jeden rohlík (masculine), jedna káva (feminine), jedno pivo (neuter). Two has a masculine form and a form for everything else: dva rohlíky, but dvě kávy, dvě piva. When Czechs simply count, they say jedna, dva, tři.

The noun after a number changes too

English adds -s from two upwards. Czech has three steps, and you will hear them every time you pay in crowns:

So the bakery counter goes jeden koláč, dva koláče, pět koláčů. For now, learn the three money forms as set phrases; the genitive comes later.