Existential Constructions in Czech

In Brief

Czech normally expresses “there is” and “there are” with forms of být (“to be”): je for one thing and jsou for more than one. A location often comes first: Na stole je kniha (“There is a book on the table”). Czech has no separate dummy word equivalent to English existential “there”; tu and tady really mean “here,” while tam means “there.”

Overview

An existential construction is a sentence that introduces the presence or absence of a person or thing: “There is a café nearby,” “There are two keys here,” or “There is nobody at home.” In Czech, these meanings are built with the familiar verb být (“to be”), usually together with a place expression.

This is an A1 pattern because it lets you ask practical questions and describe your surroundings almost immediately: Je tu toaleta? (“Is there a toilet here?”), V hotelu není restaurace (“There is no restaurant in the hotel”), and Na náměstí jsou stánky (“There are stalls in the square”). The basic rule is short, but using it naturally also involves number agreement, Czech cases after prepositions, negation, and word order.

English learners need to separate two meanings of “there.” In “There is a problem,” English there merely helps introduce the problem. In “The problem is there,” it points to a place. Czech does not need the first kind at all. It uses tam only when “there” is a real location, and tu/tady only when “here” is meant.

How It Works

The four essential present-tense forms

The verb agrees with the person or thing whose existence is being stated. Agreement means that the verb form matches whether that person or thing is singular or plural.

Meaning	Affirmative	Negative	Basic pattern
there is	je	není	location + je/není + singular item
there are	jsou	nejsou	location + jsou/nejsou + plural items

• V kuchyni je lednice. — There is a refrigerator in the kitchen.
• V kuchyni jsou dvě židle. — There are two chairs in the kitchen.
• V kuchyni není myčka. — There is no dishwasher in the kitchen.
• V kuchyni nejsou okna. — There are no windows in the kitchen.

The negative is one word: není, not ne je, and nejsou, not ne jsou.

The usual sentence pattern

A very common neutral pattern is:

place + form of být + newly introduced person or thing

In Na stole je kniha, the table is the setting already under discussion, and kniha is the new information. This is why the Czech order often corresponds neatly to English “There is a book on the table,” even though the location appears first in Czech.

The person or thing being introduced is grammatically the subject (the person or thing that the verb describes). It is therefore usually in the nominative case, the basic subject form:

• kniha in Na stole je kniha
• muzea in V Praze jsou muzea
• studenti in Ve třídě jsou studenti

The location phrase may require a different case (a change in a noun's form that shows its job in the sentence). That case is controlled by the preposition, not by the existential construction itself.

Building location phrases

For a stationary location, the most frequent choices are v/ve (“in”), na (“on/at”), and expressions without a preposition such as tady (“here”) or venku (“outside”).

Location pattern	Meaning	Example phrase
v/ve + locative	in, inside	v Praze, ve škole, v pokoji
na + locative	on, at	na stole, na nádraží, na náměstí
u + genitive	by, near, at someone's place	u nádraží, u školy
před, za, pod, nad + instrumental	in front of, behind, under, above	před domem, pod stolem
adverb	here, there, outside, nearby	tu/tady, tam, venku, blízko

The terms locative, genitive, and instrumental name particular Czech case forms. At beginner level, learn each location as a useful phrase rather than trying to master every ending at once.

Singular and plural

Use je with one countable item or one singular noun:

• Na rohu je banka. — There is a bank on the corner.
• V bytě je balkon. — There is a balcony in the apartment.

Use jsou with an ordinary plural or with two, three, or four items:

• Na stole jsou klíče. — There are keys on the table.
• V parku jsou tři děti. — There are three children in the park.

Numbers from five upward and quantity words require a later rule: standard Czech normally uses singular je with phrases such as pět knih (“five books”) and hodně lidí (“many people”). This is explained under Beyond the Basics.

Questions

A yes/no question can keep the same words and use question intonation. It is especially common to put the verb first:

• Je tu lékárna? — Is there a pharmacy here?
• Jsou v hotelu ručníky? — Are there towels in the hotel?
• Není tu bankomat? — Isn't there an ATM here?

When asking whether an unspecified item exists, Czech often uses nějaký (“some/any”). Its ending agrees with the noun:

• Je tu nějaká restaurace? — Is there a restaurant here?
• Jsou tu nějaké restaurace? — Are there any restaurants here?
• Je tady nějaký problém? — Is there a problem here?

For people, někdo means “someone/anyone”: Je tam někdo? (“Is anyone there?”).

Negation and negative words

Czech commonly uses negative concord: more than one negative-looking word belongs together in a single negative meaning. This differs from formal standard English, where two negatives may cancel each other out.

• Tady nic není. — There is nothing here.
• Doma nikdo není. — Nobody is at home.
• V okolí nejsou žádné obchody. — There are no shops nearby.

Use žádný (“no/not any”) with a noun, changing its ending to match that noun: žádná kavárna, žádné muzeum, žádné obchody. Do not replace není/nejsou with an affirmative verb merely because the sentence already contains nic, nikdo, or žádný.

Word order changes the focus

Czech word order is flexible, but it is not random. Information already established tends to come earlier; important or newly introduced information often comes later.

• Na stole je kniha. — There is a book on the table. The book is new information.
• Kniha je na stole. — The book is on the table. A known book is being located.
• V Praze jsou muzea. — There are museums in Prague.
• Muzea jsou v Praze. — The museums are in Prague.

English articles make the contrast clearer with “a” versus “the.” Czech has no articles, so context and word order do more of that work. The two Czech orders can describe the same physical scene, but they answer different conversational questions.

Examples in Context

Czech	English	Note
Na stole je kniha.	There is a book on the table.	Singular je; the book is introduced as new information.
V Praze jsou muzea.	There are museums in Prague.	Plural jsou.
Tady nic není.	There is nothing here.	Negative concord with nic and není.
Je tu nějaká restaurace?	Is there a restaurant here?	Verb-first question; nějaká agrees with feminine restaurace.
Ve skříni jsou čisté ručníky.	There are clean towels in the cupboard.	A plural noun takes jsou.
Na nádraží není bankomat.	There is no ATM at the station.	Singular negative není.
V této ulici nejsou žádné hotely.	There are no hotels on this street.	žádné and nejsou work together.
Je někdo doma?	Is anyone at home?	někdo asks about an unspecified person.
Před domem je taxi.	There is a taxi in front of the house.	Před domem uses the instrumental after před.
Pod postelí jsou boty.	There are shoes under the bed.	Location first, plural item last.
V lednici je mléko.	There is milk in the refrigerator.	An uncountable singular noun takes je.
Na náměstí jsou tři stánky.	There are three stalls in the square.	Two to four normally take a plural verb.
V místnosti je pět lidí.	There are five people in the room.	Five and above normally trigger singular je.
Venku nikdo není.	There is nobody outside.	Natural negative concord with nikdo and není.
Tam je naše auto.	Our car is over there.	Here tam has a real spatial meaning.

Common Mistakes

Translating English “there” as tam

• Wrong: Tam je problém v systému. — when you only mean “There is a problem in the system”
• Right: V systému je problém.
• Why: Tam points to an actual place. English existential “there” does not. Use a real Czech location phrase, or no location when none is needed: Je problém (“There is a problem”).

Using je with an ordinary plural

• Wrong: V Praze je muzea.
• Right: V Praze jsou muzea.
• Why: Muzea is plural, so the present-tense verb is jsou. The special singular pattern with five or more items does not apply to a plain plural noun.

Separating the negative prefix

• Wrong: Tady ne je restaurace.
• Right: Tady není restaurace.
• Why: The negative forms of být are single words: není and nejsou.

Avoiding Czech negative concord

• Wrong: Tady nic je.
• Right: Tady nic není.
• Why: Unlike standard English “There is nothing here,” Czech marks the negative both in nic and in není.

Treating an introduced item as a direct object

• Wrong: Na stole je knihu.
• Right: Na stole je kniha.
• Why: The book is the grammatical subject, not a direct object (the thing directly affected by an action). It therefore uses the nominative form kniha, not the accusative form knihu.

Using existential order when locating a known item

• Less natural in a neutral context: Na stole je telefon. — if both speakers are already discussing a particular phone
• Better: Telefon je na stole.
• Why: Place-first order typically introduces what is present there. Put a known item first when answering “Where is it?” Stress and context can change the effect, so this is an information-structure preference rather than an absolute grammar rule.

Usage Notes

Tu and tady both mean “here.” In everyday Czech, both are common; tady is a little fuller and can feel more explicit, while tu is compact. Tam means “there.” Compare Je tu kavárna? (“Is there a café here?”) with Je tam kavárna? (“Is there a café there?”).

A place is not always stated. If the setting is obvious, Czech can simply say Je problém (“There is a problem”), Není čas (“There is no time”), or Nejsou peníze (“There is no money”). English speakers should not feel obliged to insert tu or tam just because English requires “there.”

Czech also uses alternatives when the meaning is more specific. Existuje means “exists” and is useful for abstract existence: Existuje jiné řešení? (“Does another solution exist?”). Nachází se means “is located” and is common in descriptions, signs, and formal information: Recepce se nachází v přízemí (“Reception is located on the ground floor”). For ordinary conversation about what is in a room or place, je/jsou is usually simpler and more natural.

Beyond the Basics

You do not need to master all of the following at A1, but these patterns explain forms you will soon encounter.

Quantities of five or more

With pět and higher numbers, and with quantities such as hodně (“a lot of/many”), málo (“few/little”), and několik (“several”), the following noun takes the genitive plural and the verb is normally singular neuter:

• Na stole je pět knih. — There are five books on the table.
• V sále je hodně lidí. — There are many people in the hall.
• V okolí je několik restaurací. — There are several restaurants nearby.

This differs from two, three, and four: Na stole jsou tři knihy (“There are three books on the table”). In careful standard Czech, do not choose the verb only by the real-world number; the grammatical shape of the quantity phrase matters.

Past and future existence

In the past tense, být also agrees in gender and number. Gender here means the grammatical class of the noun: masculine, feminine, or neuter.

• Včera tu byl koncert. — There was a concert here yesterday. (masculine singular)
• Včera tu byla výstava. — There was an exhibition here yesterday. (feminine singular)
• Včera tu bylo hodně lidí. — There were many people here yesterday. (singular neuter with a quantity)
• Byly tu dva problémy. — There were two problems. (plural)

For future existence, use bude in the singular and budou in the plural:

• Zítra tu bude schůzka. — There will be a meeting here tomorrow.
• Příští rok tu budou nové byty. — There will be new apartments here next year.

Existence versus location

The same forms of být can introduce something or locate something already known. The distinction comes mainly from context and word order, not from a separate verb:

• V centru je nové kino. — There is a new cinema in the center.
• Nové kino je v centru. — The new cinema is in the center.

This is part of Czech information structure—the way a sentence arranges familiar and new information. At first, a reliable habit is to put the location first when introducing what exists and the known item first when saying where it is.

Practice Tips

1. Scan one real place. Look around a room and make four pairs: Na stole je... / Na stole není... and V pokoji jsou... / V pokoji nejsou.... This practises both number and negation with vocabulary you can see.
2. Turn statements into questions. Change V hotelu je restaurace into Je v hotelu restaurace?, then answer Ano, je or Ne, není. Repeat with a plural noun and jsou/nejsou.
3. Contrast “what?” with “where?” Practise paired answers: Co je na stole? — Na stole je klíč. Then Kde je klíč? — Klíč je na stole. The contrast trains natural word order better than memorising a rigid formula.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Být (to be) — learn the core present, negative, past, and future forms of the verb used in existential sentences.