Czech
Indo-European family · Slavic branch · Eurasia
Czech is an SVO language, like 488 of the 1,376 languages WALS codes for basic word order.
On Polar Questions, WALS codes Czech as “Interrogative word order”, a value held by 13 of the 955 languages coded, English and Spanish among them.
Within the Slavic branch, all 7 other languages coded for Prefixing vs. Suffixing in Inflectional Morphology have the value “Predominantly suffixing”; Czech has “Moderate preference for suffixing”.
Contrast Czech with Russian or with any other language
Uncommon values
Values that fewer than one in ten of the coded languages share with Czech, rarest first.
- Order of Genitive and NounBoth orders occur with neither order dominant96 of 1,249
- Distributive NumeralsMarked by preceding word21 of 251
Inside the Indo-European family
Czech matches the most frequent Indo-European value on 31 of the 44 features where at least three other members of the family are coded (70%). Among the 39 Indo-European languages profiled here, that rate ranks 12th from the top.
Closest profiles
Languages that share the most coded values with Czech; the count is out of the features both languages are coded for.
Outside the Indo-European family, the best match is Tiwi (Tiwian), with 25 of 42 features alike.
The rest of the profile
WALS codes Czech for 44 of the 144 profile features used on this site. The remaining 39 are listed here, grouped by topic; within each group the value Czech shares with the fewest languages comes first.
Sounds 4
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed Stress Locations | Initial: stress is on the first syllable | 92 of 502 |
| Rhythm Types | Trochaic: left-hand syllable in the foot is strong | 153 of 323 |
| Weight Factors in Weight-Sensitive Stress Systems | No weight, or weight factor unknown | 261 of 500 |
| Weight-Sensitive Stress | Fixed stress (no weight-sensitivity) | 281 of 500 |
Nouns and pronouns 8
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Ordinal Numerals | First, second, three-th | 61 of 321 |
| Position of Pronominal Possessive Affixes | No possessive affixes | 260 of 902 |
| Definite Articles | Neither definite nor indefinite article | 198 of 620 |
| Indefinite Articles | Neither indefinite nor definite | 198 of 534 |
| Position of Case Affixes | Case suffixes | 452 of 1,031 |
| Coding of Nominal Plurality | Plural suffix | 513 of 1,066 |
| Distance Contrasts in Demonstratives | Two-way contrast | 126 of 234 |
| Pronominal and Adnominal Demonstratives | Same forms | 143 of 201 |
Verbs: tense, mood, evidence 7
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Suppletion According to Tense and Aspect | Suppletion in both tense and aspect | 24 of 193 |
| Position of Tense-Aspect Affixes | Combination of tense-aspect strategies with none primary | 146 of 1,131 |
| The Prohibitive | Normal imperative + normal negative | 113 of 496 |
| The Morphological Imperative | Second singular and second plural | 292 of 548 |
| Imperative-Hortative Systems | The language has neither a maximal nor a minimal system | 201 of 375 |
| Suppletion in Imperatives and Hortatives | None (= no suppletive imperatives reported in the reference material) | 153 of 193 |
| Verbal Number and Suppletion | No singular-(dual)-plural pairs/triples | 159 of 193 |
Word order 10
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Order of Adjective and Noun | Modifying adjective precedes noun (AdjN) | 373 of 1,367 |
| Position of Polar Question Particles | No question particle | 355 of 884 |
| Order of Numeral and Noun | Numeral precedes noun (NumN) | 479 of 1,154 |
| Order of Adposition and Noun Phrase | Prepositions | 511 of 1,184 |
| Order of Demonstrative and Noun | Demonstrative word precedes noun (DemN) | 542 of 1,225 |
| Order of Object and Verb | Object follows verb (VO) | 705 of 1,518 |
| Order of Adverbial Subordinator and Clause | Initial subordinator word | 398 of 659 |
| Position of Interrogative Phrases in Content Questions | Interrogative phrases not obligatorily initial | 615 of 902 |
| Order of Relative Clause and Noun | Relative clause follows noun (NRel) | 579 of 824 |
| Order of Subject and Verb | Subject precedes verb (SV) | 1,192 of 1,496 |
Simple clauses 6
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Predicative Possession | Have-Possessive | 63 of 240 |
| Nominal and Locational Predication | Identical | 117 of 386 |
| Negative Morphemes | Negative affix | 395 of 1,157 |
| Predicative Adjectives | Predicative adjectives have nonverbal encoding | 132 of 386 |
| Zero Copula for Predicate Nominals | Zero copula is possible | 175 of 386 |
| Expression of Pronominal Subjects | Pronominal subjects are expressed by affixes on verbs | 437 of 711 |
Vocabulary 3
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Hand and Arm | Identity: a single word denotes both 'hand' and 'arm' | 228 of 617 |
| Tea | Words derived from Sinitic cha | 110 of 230 |
| Finger and Hand | Different | 521 of 593 |
Other 1
| Feature | Value | Languages sharing it |
|---|---|---|
| Para-Linguistic Usages of Clicks | Clicks may express affective but not logical meanings | 71 of 143 |