volních

Volních is a grammatical form in the Czech language. It represents the genitive plural (and, in many contexts, the locative plural) of the short-form adjective volní, which is itself the short form of the long-form adjective volný, meaning free or voluntary. In Czech, some adjectives have short forms that decline differently from their long forms. The short form volní appears in the plural as volní in the nominative, and as volních in the genitive and locative cases.

Usage and context: The short-form inflection, including volní and volních, is relatively specialized and is most often found in older texts, formal or literary styles, or linguistic descriptions rather than in everyday spoken Czech. Volních occurs when a head noun is plural and the phrase requires the genitive or locative case, for example in constructions like o volních lidech or bez volních lidí. In contemporary standard prose, the more common inflection for the long-form volný (volných, volným, volném, etc.) is typically used unless the author intends a stylistic, archaic, or dialectal nuance.

Etymology and relation: Volní derives from the underlying adjective volný. The distinction between the short-form volní and the long-form volný reflects a traditional Czech pattern of short-form adjectives that maintain their own unique declension in certain numbers and cases. The ending volních marks the plural genitive or plural locative, contrasting with volní in the nominative plural.

See also: volný, volnost, Czech grammar short forms.