Editing Czech language (section)

===Sentence and clause structure===
{{see also|Czech word order}}
[[File:Studeněves, tabule dětského hřiště.JPG|thumb|A Czech-language sign at the entrance to a children's playground]]
{|class="wikitable floatright"
|+Czech pronouns, [[nominative case]]
|-
!Person
!Singular
!Plural
|-
!1.
| ''já''
| ''my''
|-
!2.
| ''ty''<br/>''vy'' (formal)
| ''vy'' 
|-
!3.
| ''on'' (masculine)<br/>''ona'' (feminine)<br/>''ono'' (neuter)
| ''oni'' (masculine animate)<br/>''ony'' (masculine inanimate, feminine)<br/>''ona'' (neuter)
|}

Because Czech uses [[grammatical case]] to convey word function in a sentence (instead of relying on [[word order]], as English does), its word order is flexible. As a [[pro-drop language]], in Czech an [[Transitivity (grammar)|intransitive]] sentence can consist of only a verb; information about its subject is encoded in the verb.<ref>{{Harvnb|Naughton|2005|p=74}}</ref> Enclitics (primarily [[auxiliary verb]]s and pronouns) appear in the second syntactic slot of a sentence, after the first stressed unit. The first slot can contain a subject or object, a main form of a verb, an adverb, or a conjunction (except for the light conjunctions ''a'', "and", ''i'', "and even" or ''ale'', "but").{{sfn|Short|2009|p=324}}

Czech syntax has a [[subject–verb–object]] sentence structure. In practice, however, word order is flexible and used to distinguish [[topic and comment|topic and focus]], with the topic or theme (known referents) preceding the focus or rheme (new information) in a sentence; Czech has therefore been described as a [[topic-prominent language]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Anderman |first1=Gunilla M. |last2=Rogers |first2=Margaret |title=Incorporating Corpora: The Linguist and the Translator |date=2008 |publisher=Multilingual Matters |pages=135–136}}</ref> Although Czech has a [[Periphrasis|periphrastic]] [[Passive voice|passive]] construction (like English), in colloquial style, word-order changes frequently replace the passive voice. For example, to change "Peter killed Paul" to "Paul was killed by Peter" the order of subject and object is inverted: ''Petr zabil Pavla'' ("Peter killed Paul") becomes "Paul, Peter killed" (''Pavla zabil Petr''). ''Pavla'' is in the [[accusative case]], the grammatical object of the verb.{{sfn|Short|2009|p=325}}
 
A word at the end of a clause is typically emphasized, unless an upward [[intonation (linguistics)|intonation]] indicates that the sentence is a question:<ref>{{Harvnb|Naughton|2005|pp=10–11}}</ref>
*''Pes jí bagetu.'' – The dog eats the baguette (rather than eating something else).
*''Bagetu jí pes.'' – The dog eats the baguette (rather than someone else doing so).
*''Pes bagetu jí.'' – The dog eats the baguette (rather than doing something else to it).
*''Jí pes bagetu?'' – Does the dog eat the baguette? (emphasis ambiguous)

In parts of [[Bohemia]] (including [[Prague]]), questions such as ''Jí pes bagetu?'' without an interrogative word (such as ''co'', "what" or ''kdo'', "who") are [[Intonation (linguistics)|intoned]] in a slow rise from low to high, quickly dropping to low on the last word or phrase.<ref>{{Harvnb|Naughton|2005|p=10}}</ref>

In modern Czech syntax, adjectives precede nouns,<ref>{{Harvnb|Naughton|2005|p=48}}</ref> with few exceptions.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Uhlířová |first1=Ludmila |title=SLOVOSLED NOMINÁLNÍ SKUPINY |url=https://www.czechency.org/slovnik/SLOVOSLED%20NOMINÁLNÍ%20SKUPINY |website=Nový encyklopedický slovník češtiny |access-date=2017-10-18}}</ref> [[Relative clause]]s are introduced by [[relativizer]]s such as the adjective ''který'', analogous to the English [[relative pronoun]]s "which", "that" and "who"/"whom". As with other adjectives, it [[Agreement (linguistics)|agrees]] with its associated noun in gender, number and case. Relative clauses follow the noun they modify. The following is a [[Interlinear gloss|glossed]] example:<ref>{{Harvnb|Harkins|1952|p=271}}</ref>

{{interlinear|indent=3
|Chc-i navštív-it universit-u, na kter-ou chod-í Jan.
|want-1SG visit-INF university-SG.ACC, on which-SG.F.ACC attend-3SG John.SG.NOM
|I want to visit the university that John attends.}}