Certain parts of grammar need to recognise nouns as living beings (animate) or non-living objects (inanimate). Differentiating between animate/inanimate nouns becomes extremely important at noun-related rules but also at the Past Tense as it is vastly Gender-Sensitive grammar.

In the Czech grammar, it is necessary to recognise only the masculine gender as animate or inanimate. There are no special rules attached to feminine and neutral nouns in this category.

Animate Nouns

Animate nouns are all human beings and also animals (! unlike English):

• ten muž, ten manžel, ten učitel
• Tomáš, Petr, Karel
• ten pes, ten lev, ten čáp

Several nouns (usually toys) take animate characteristics:

• ten medvídek, ten maňásek, ten sněhulák, ten panáček

There are also some illogical animate associations based on the historical evolution of the language.

• ten taxík, ten muffin, ten panák, ten gól, ten hřib, ten bacil…

Inanimate Nouns

Inanimate nouns include all physical objects, body parts, feelings, emotions and abstract, intangible nouns.

• ten dům, ten mobil
• ten nos, ten palec
• ten hlad, ten stres
• ten vítr, ten talent, ten nápad