# šest studentů pracuje - plural with singular verb



## Odriski

I read a Czech Grammar book today, and I saw an explanation that third person plural subject can go with third person singular verb form, eg. Zde šest studentů pracuje. Is that correct?


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## Hrdlodus

Yes, correct.
Only right word order: "Zde pracuje šest studentů."
("Zde šest studentů pracuje." can be, but it means, that you say it to other person. That person know, who are that 6 students. And you say, that they *work* on this place. And still it sounds kind weird.)


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## Odriski

So is that an impersonal sentence?


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## Marty_89

No, I don't think it's an impersonal sentence.


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## Odriski

So it's really hard to understand why third person plural subject can go with third person singular verb form in Czech?


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## wtfpwnage

The subject is both "šest" and "studentů", not just studentů.

Zde pracujou studenti - correct
Zde pracuje šest studentů. - correct 

I can't tell you why is that but hope it helped


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## Odriski

OK, one more question: is "Zde pracujou šest studentů." also correct?


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## Marty_89

Odriski said:


> OK, one more question: is "Zde pracujou šest studentů." also correct?



No, that is not correct. The main part is "Šest pracuje." It doesn't matter who "pracuje".

Zde *pracuje* šest studentů.
Zde *pracuje* šest žen.
Zde *pracuje* šest dětí.


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## Odriski

Thanks, so I feel the weirdness of Czech language again.


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## bibax

In fact the subject of the given sentence is "šest", formally it is singular neuter. Thus:

šest studentů pracuje (not pracují)
šest studentů pracovalo (not pracovali)

BTW, English is weirder in this respect. Do you say "there *is* a lot of people" or "there *are* a lot of people"?

In Czech you can mostly rely on the formal agreement:

Je tam mnoho lidí. 
Never: Jsou tam mnoho lidí.  (as mnoho is neuter singular like pět, šest, ..., deset)


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## marsi.ku

I only would like to attach that the singular verb depends on the number - from two to fore you say the plural verb as you are used to, but from five you use the singular verb:
*Jsou *tam *dva*/*tři*/*čtyři *studenti
*Je* tam *pět*/*šest*/*sto padesát*/*mnoho*/*málo *studentů.

This is very useful.


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## Hrdlodus

marsi.ku said:


> I only would like to attach that the singular verb depends on the number - from two to fore you say the plural verb as you are used to, but from five you use the singular verb:
> *Jsou *tam *dva*/*tři*/*čtyři *studenti
> *Je* tam *pět*/*šest*/*sto padesát*/*mnoho*/*málo *studentů.
> 
> This is very useful.


And now... for something funny...

Je tam jeden student.
Není tam žádný student.
Je tam nula studentů.
Je/Jsou tam 2,2 studentů/a. -> Depends, how you say it: Je tam dva celých/celé dva studentů. Jsou tam dvě celé dvě desetiny studenta.
Je tam nějaký student?
Jsou tam nějací studenti?
Je tam pět studentů?
Jsou tam tři studenti?
Kolik tam je studentů?

And here I am not sure. Is correct: _Je tam dvacet čtyři studentů._ or _Jsou tam dvacet čtyři studenti._ ? I think, first sentence is correct.


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## bibax

*Je* (sing.) or *jsou* (plur.)? It depends on the formal subject of a sentence. In Czech we cannot say _"A bunch of bananas *ARE* ..."_. We always say _"A bunch of bananas *IS* ..."_. The subject of the sentence is A BUNCH and not the bananas. It is ONE bunch, thus the verb is in singular: one bunch (of many bananas) IS ....

If the subject is e.g. "šest studentů", assume that the English equivalent is "a set of six students" or better "(one) six-piece-set of students", thus "*šest* studentů *JE* ..."

Nota bene: the noun in the genitive case is seldom the subject of a sentence.

jeden student je (subject: *student* ... nom. sing.)
dva studenti jsou (subject: *studenti* ... nom. plur.)

šest studentů *je* (formal subject: *šest* ... nom. sing., _studentů_ is in genitive!!)
Kolik studentů *je* ve třídě? (formal subject: *kolik* ... nom. sing.)
_How many students *are* in the classroom?_

Another complication is the agreement in gender: šest, deset, kolik, mnoho, málo are neuter. Skupina, tlupa, ... are feminine. Hlouček, zástup, ... are masculine.

*kolik* studentů *je přítomno*? *šest* studentů *je přítomno* (neuter sing.)
*skupina* studentů *je přítomna* (a group of ... feminine sing.)
*hlouček* studentů *je přítomen* (a knot of ... masculine sing.)
*desítky* studentů *jsou přítomny* (tens of ... feminine plur., even if there are only men, the subject is desítky, desítka is feminine)

In English: ..... of students *are present. *But I am not sure: a group of students IS or ARE present? (English is less predictable than Czech in this respect.)


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## Odriski

marsi.ku said:


> I only would like to attach that the singular verb depends on the number - from two to fore you say the plural verb as you are used to, but from five you use the singular verb:
> *Jsou *tam *dva*/*tři*/*čtyři *studenti
> *Je* tam *pět*/*šest*/*sto padesát*/*mnoho*/*málo *studentů.
> 
> This is very useful.


Thanks, it's very useful


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## Odriski

Thanks, Bibax, very impressive


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## marsi.ku

> And here I am not sure. Is correct: _Je tam dvacet čtyři studentů. or Jsou tam dvacet čtyři studenti. ? I think, first sentence is correct._


Both are correct. 
The numbers in Czech are very, very complicated...


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## bibax

marsi.ku said:


> The numbers in Czech are very, very complicated...


It is an exaggeration. The numbers are complicated, maybe very complicated, but certainly not very very complicated. 

There is one more complication. You have already learned that there is a subject-predicate agreement in gender and number. It is very simple rule and you cannot make a mistake if you identify the subject correctly, chiefly its grammatical number and gender. But what if the subject is multiple? For such case we have some rules, sometimes there is more than one correct variant.

A typical example:

*Je *tam* dvacet *čtyři studentů*.
Jsou *tam dvacet* čtyři studenti.* 

Marsi.ku is right, both variants are correct.

In fact, the subject is multiple. I mean the subject as a grammar category, not the fact that a group of 24 students is a multiple object:

"*dvacet studentů* + *čtyři studenti*"

gives together

either *"dvacet čtyři studentů"* or *"dvacet čtyři studenti*"

the first expression is formally singular (DVACET), neuter gender
whereas
the second expression is formally plural (STUDENTI), masculine gender

*Dvacet* čtyři studentů *je přítomno*. (like dvacet studentů je přítomno)
Dvacet čtyři *studenti jsou přítomni*. (like čtyři studenti jsou přítomni)

N.B. the form "studentů" is in genitive plural, it cannot be a subject of the sentence.

In written texts I personally prefer the second variant.

Finally incorrect variants:

Dvacet čtyři studentů jsou přitomni. 
Dvacet čtyři studenti je přítomno.


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## marsi.ku

Very well explained, bibax . I think too, that the variant "dvacet čtyři studenti" is more formal and is used more for written texts.


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## Tchesko

marsi.ku said:


> Very well explained, bibax . I think too, that the variant "dvacet čtyři studenti" is more formal and is used more for written texts.


That's correct, see here.

An interesting feature is that in the past, only the nominative-case possibility used to be considered as correct, which could give rise to curious sentences such as:

_„Pochodem v chod!“ zavelel důstojník a sto jeden voják, rázně vykročiv, spustil dvojhlasně písničku tak veselou, že se děvčata za ním ohlížela a zamilovaně se dívala na jeho opálenou tvář tak dlouho, až jeho poslední čtyřstup zmizel za rohem ulice..._
_(in J. Chloupka: Pověry o češtině. Brno: Blok, 1968, s. 92; found on the internet)_


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