A basket of gooseberries or raspberries?

Abstract

In order to express a definite as well as indefinite amount of fruits and vegetables (kilo angreštu, několik jablek, spousta zelí = „a kilo of gooseberry, some apples, lots of cabbage”), singular as well as plural are used in contemporary Czech. While with fruits, the plural is most often used in spoken communication (200 gramů malin a třešní = „200 grams of raspberries and cherries”), with vegetables, it is most often the singular (half a kilo of onion and garlic). Numerous exceptions exist, however. The size and countability of the fruits and vegetables as well as the form – e.g. the vocalic ending of the given word (hodně kiwi = „a lot of kiwi”) – all play a role in the choice of the grammatical number.