Zeleninou

Zeleninou is the instrumental singular form of the Czech noun zelenina, meaning vegetables. It is the instrumental case of a feminine noun and is used to express means or accompaniment in phrases and sentences.

Morphology and related forms: The base noun is zelenina. In the singular, the cases are Nominative zelenina, Genitive zeleniny, Dative zelenině, Accusative zeleninu, Instrumental zeleninou, and Locative zelenině. The plural form is zeleniny. The word is related to the adjective zelený (green) and is used for plant-based foods in everyday Czech.

Usage: Zeleninou primarily appears in constructions where vegetables serve as the instrument or means of an action, or where it denotes accompaniment with the preposition se (often written as se zeleninou in standard phrases). Common, everyday uses include expressions such as polévka se zeleninou (soup with vegetables) and kuřecí maso se zeleninou (chicken with vegetables). In these contexts, zeleninou marks the vegetables as the component involved in the dish or preparation.

Etymology and context: The word zelenina originates from a root related to vegetables and plants; zeleninou is the grammatical form used when speaking about vegetables in a means- or accompaniment-related sense. It contrasts with zeleninu, the accusative form used when vegetables are the direct object of a transitive verb, for example in a sentence like "koupil jsem zeleninu" (I bought vegetables).

See also: zelenina, zeleninový, Czech noun cases.