Podstatnou

Podstatnou is a form of the Czech adjective podstatný, meaning essential, substantial or main. It is used with feminine nouns in certain grammatical cases, most commonly the accusative singular and the instrumental singular. The corresponding nominative feminine form is podstatná, while other gender and case forms of podstatný appear in different contexts.

Grammatically, podstatnou functions as an agreement marker that shows gender, number and case in connection with the noun it modifies. Because Czech adjectives decline for gender, number and case, podstatnou appears whenever the feminine noun it describes is in the accusative singular or when used in the instrumental singular. The word’s stem is podstat-, derived from podstata, meaning essence or substance, which underpins its sense of importance or essential character.

In usage, podstatnou conveys that something is of particular importance or essential nature in a given context. It tends to appear in formal or written language, where precise characterization is important. For example, Podstatnou změnou se situace zlepšila (The situation improved due to a substantial change). Another example is Podstatnou částí dokumentu je kapitola o výsledcích (A substantial part of the document is the chapter on the results). These constructions illustrate how podstatnou interacts with feminine nouns to express central significance.

Podstatnou is thus a specific inflected form of podstatný, used to align with feminine nouns in particular cases. It is not a separate lexical item, but a grammatical variant integral to Czech adjective declension.