Právami

Právami is the instrumental plural form of the Czech noun právo, which means right(s) or law. In grammar, právami is used to mark the instrumental case and appears most often in formal, legal, or historical prose. The underlying noun právo has several related meanings, including a system of rules (law) and a person’s entitlement (a right); the plural форма práva denotes “the rights” or “the laws,” while the instrumental plural právami marks the means or manner of an action when the instrumental case is required.

In practice, právami is relatively rare in everyday speech and is primarily encountered in legal or scholarly contexts where the instrumental construction is required by the surrounding verbs or prepositions. It is distinguished from other forms such as práva (the rights, or laws in the nominative/accusative plural) and from instrumental singular forms like právem (by right, legally) or from phrases using alternative expressions to indicate legal authority or entitlement.

Etymologically, právo derives from the Proto-Slavic root related to law and rule, and the instrumental plural právami preserves the stem práv- with the standard instrumental ending -ami for neuter plural nouns. The form serves as a reminder of Czech noun declensions and their capacity to convey precise grammatical relations in more formal registers.

See also: právo, práva, právní, česká gramatika.