Capitalization and Punctuation Rules in Czech for English Speakers

Understanding Capitalization in Czech

Capitalization rules in Czech differ from English in several key ways. While English capitalizes most proper nouns and the first word of every sentence, Czech has more specific guidelines that learners should understand to write correctly.

Capitalizing the First Word of a Sentence

Just like in English, the first word of every sentence in Czech is capitalized. This is a universal rule and helps readers identify the beginning of new sentences.

Proper Nouns and Names

Proper nouns such as names of people, cities, countries, and organizations are capitalized in Czech, similar to English. For example, Praha (Prague) and Jan (John) are capitalized.

Days of the Week and Months

Unlike English, days of the week and months are not capitalized in Czech unless they start a sentence. For example, pondělí (Monday) and leden (January) are written in lowercase.

Languages and Nationalities

Names of languages and nationalities are also written in lowercase in Czech, unlike English. For example, čeština (Czech language) and český (Czech, adjective) are lowercase.

Punctuation Rules in Czech

Czech punctuation shares many similarities with English but also has some unique features. Understanding these will help English speakers avoid common mistakes.

Use of Commas

Commas are used in Czech to separate clauses, items in a list, and before conjunctions, much like in English. However, Czech often uses commas more frequently, especially before conjunctions like a (and) and ale (but).

Quotation Marks

Czech uses different quotation marks than English. The standard quotation marks are „double low-9 quotation marks" for opening and "double high-6 quotation marks" for closing. For example:
„Toto je citace." (This is a quote.)

Question and Exclamation Marks

Question marks (?) and exclamation marks (!) are used similarly to English, placed at the end of interrogative and exclamatory sentences respectively.

Colon and Semicolon Usage

Colons and semicolons are used in Czech to introduce lists, explanations, or separate related clauses, similar to English usage. However, the rules can be slightly more flexible depending on sentence structure.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

English speakers learning Czech often make mistakes by applying English capitalization and punctuation rules directly. Here are some tips to avoid these errors.

• Do not capitalize days of the week or months unless they start a sentence.
• Remember that languages and nationalities are lowercase in Czech.
• Use Czech-style quotation marks („ ") instead of English (" ").
• Be mindful of the more frequent use of commas in Czech sentences.

Useful Czech Phrases Illustrating Capitalization and Punctuation