Who all belongs to the masculine animate gender

The masculine animate gender is an area of Czech grammar that confounds not only native speakers of languages with no declension, but Slavs as well. This gender manifests itself both in nouns and other parts of speech. In class I devote good time to these manifestations, and here I would only like to summarise, what living (but not only living) beings fall under the grammatical category of masculine animate gender.

Since the most difficult aspect of the masculine animate gender is the form of nouns in the 1^st (nominative) case in the plural, I will be presenting all words in the singular and the plural.

 

First, the masculine animate gender logically includes words that denote men:

muž	man	muži		manžel	husband	manželé
chlap	chap	chlapi		týpek	dude	týpci

 

This gender also includes men as representatives of various professions and nationalities:

kuchař	cook	kuchaři		Čech	Czech	Češi
starosta	mayor	starostové		Němec	German	Němci

 

Masculine names of animals, both referring to males and serving as a generic name for both sexes, also belong to the masculine animate gender:

pes	dog	psi		vlk	wolf	vlci
lev	lion	lvi		šnek	snail	šneci

 

This group does not leave aside all kinds of insects (while the word hmyz – insects itself is a collective noun and has masculine inanimate gender):

brouk	bug	brouci		mravenec	ant	mravenci
motýl	butterfly	motýli		čmelák	bumblebee	čmeláci

 

The next group includes all sorts of supernatural and fairytale beings, yet again if they have a masculine gender:

anděl	angel	andělé		vodník	water goblin	vodníci
duch	spirit	duchové		drak	dragon	draci
jednorožec	unicorn	jednorožci		šmoula	Smurf	šmoulové

 

Not to be left unmentioned are beings that resemble humans by their behaviour or appearance:

sněhulák	snowman	sněhuláci		robot	robot	roboti
manekýn	mannequin	manekýni		maňásek	glove puppet	maňásci

 

 

In conclusion let me mention expressive use of the animate gender with inanimate objects, a sort of invigoration of inanimate things, which serves as particular means of expression in Czech. By declining an inanimate thing as if it were a living being we express our emotional connection (typically our love or annoyance) with it and… yep, we breathe life into it:

Běžný Amík si normálně dá na oběd dobrýho hamburgra.

An average Yankee easily eats a good hamburger for lunch.

Vytáhnul jsem mobila a vyfotil si to.

I pulled out my mobile and took a picture of it.

Dostal jsem chuť na pořádného melouna.

I’ve got a taste for a decent water melon.

It should be noted, however, that in this case livingness manifests itself only in the 4^th (accusative) case in the singular, and never in the 1^st (nominative) case in the plural. One never says hamburgeři, mobilové, melouni, etc.

 

Now let’s consolidate the newly acquired knowledge. Write 5 to 10 sentences with these words and send them to me to check:

 

Read on:

• Learn the words with a vowel change ů to o (and also í to ě)
• Words with irregular plural form
• Which verbs are used with each grammatical case
• Which prepositions are associated with each grammatical case
• Concurrence between the 2^nd case in the singular and the 1^st case in the plural