Model Nouns

A model noun (vzor), or a paradigm, is a noun that is intended as an example for the declension of other nouns of the same type.

In the Czech language, there are these main model nouns:

Masculine:
Masculine nouns are further divided into animate (alive - people, animals) and inanimate (not alive - things) nouns.

animate: pán (gentleman), muž (man), předseda (chairman), soudce (judge)
inanimate: hrad (castle), stroj (machine)

Feminine:
žena (woman), růže (rose), píseň (song), kost (bone)

Neuter:
město (city, moře (sea), kuře (chicken), stavení (building)

The 2nd grammatical case of the noun (genitive) is used to determine the model noun.

• first determine the gender by pointing to the noun using "this" (TEN, TA, TO), or "these" (TI, TY, TA).
• then check the genitive = bez koho? bez čeho? (without whom? without what?)

ten čas (the time) - bez času (without a castle) like hrad bez hradu = the model noun is "hrad"
ten syn (son) - bez syna (without a son) like pán bez pána = the model noun is "pán"

These model nouns are only a basic guide. Some of them have sub-patterns, some words are inflected irregularly or are not inflected. Some nouns are easy to determine, some must be memorized.