# Teta Vaněková / Vaněk



## Kirja

Witch one is correct?


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## bibax

The surname is Vaněk, genitive Vaňka, vocative Vaňku!, etc.

Teta (aunt) is Vaňková. (vocative: teto Vaňková!)


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## Kirja

So is the feminine form of Vaněk always Vaňková?


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## bibax

Yes, in the nominative and vocative singular.

Other cases are different.


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## Enquiring Mind

Just to put some flesh on the bones of bibax's reply, Czech is an inflected language, Kirja. _Teta_ (aunt) is a noun. Nouns decline, in other words, they must take one of seven case forms or endings according to the grammatical function they fulfil in the sentence. _Vaňková_, a female surname, also declines, but like an adjective. It, too, must take one of seven corresponding case forms or endings agreeing with the noun it modifies.  

Nominative case (subject of the verb) - teta Vaňková 
Teta Vaňková mi poslala dopis. Aunt Vaňková has sent me a letter.           

Genitive - tety Vaňkové 
Dostal jsem dopis od tety Vaňkové. I've received a letter from Aunt Vaňková ("od" takes the genitive case)

Dative - tetě Vaňkové
Píšu tetě Vaňkové. I'm writing to Aunt Vaňková. (As in English, you write "to" someone - dative)  

Accusative (object of the verb) - tetu Vaňkovou 
Viděl jsem tetu Vaňkovou. I saw Aunt Vaňková.

*Vocative* (addressing someone) teto Vaňková!
Tet*o* Vaňkov*á*, jsi to ty? Is that you, Aunt Vaňková?

*Locative* (or *Prepositional*) - (o) tetě Vaňkové
Mluvíme o tet*ě* Vaňkov*é*. We're talking about Aunt Vaňková ("o" takes the prepositional/locative [in this sense])

Instrumental - tetou Vaňkovou
Jeli jsme s tetou Vaňkovou. We went with Aunt Vaňková ("s" takes the instrumental [in this sense])


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## Tinu

May I just add that the diminutive ending -ek is a very common ending of Czech surnames (Vaněk, Čapek, Sládek, Morávek, Sedláček and many, many others). As Enquiring Mind in his typically meticuluous and flawless fashion pointed out, when inflecting these surnames, the "e" sound is ommitted, which also applies for deriving female forms of the surname (Vaňková, Čapková, Sládková etc).


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## ilocas2

Kirja said:


> Witch one is correct?



Both, nowadays many women keep the basic (= masculine) form of the surname.

Emma Smetana
Michaela Bakala
Jitka Boho
Petra Svoboda
https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jitka_Boho


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## hypoch

Well, I would say the correct version is the one which the particular aunt in question has in her ID. Generally, there are cases where women have kept the "basic" name but these are still a pretty rare occurrence (I personally don't know anyone), mainly if the husband has a foreign name. So in 99% cases the form would be Vaňková (and it is a rather common Czech surname, BTW). And one last thing to point out: note that in "Vaněk" the little hook is put over E, not N.


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## ilocas2

hypoch said:


> And one last thing to point out: note that in "Vaněk" the little hook is put over E, not N.



When I contributed in this thread there was Vanek and Vaneková in the title. According to the database of names and surnames there are people with surnames Vanek, Vaneková and Vanková in Czech Republic. There are no people with surnames Vaňek or Vaňeková.


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## Ben Jamin

Enquiring Mind said:


> Just to put some flesh on the bones of bibax's reply, Czech is an inflected language, Kirja. _Teta_ (aunt) is a noun. Nouns decline, in other words, they must take one of seven case forms or endings according to the grammatical function they fulfil in the sentence.


Taking into consideration that Kirja's mother tongue is Finnish with 14 (15) declension cases  it must be a well known stuff for him/her (hänelle). Grammatical gender, however, is not.


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