Czech word order is relatively free. However, the Czech language belongs to the SVO type. Czech word order is said to be free. The individual parts of a sentence need not necessarily be placed in a firmly given sequence. Word order is very flexible and allows many variants of messages. It is enabled by the fact that syntactic relations are indicated by inflection forms (declension and conjugation) in Czech. Word order is not arbitrary at all. It must respect logical relations between words and some other principles. Constructions which enable two or more interpretations should be avoided. Speakers choose the word order according to the communication aim and the emotional state. That principle is called functional sentence perspective. Basic word order is SVO (subject – verb – object) in Czech sentences. It is used in neutral messages: Petr má nový byt. – Peter has (got) a new flat. (Peter (S) has (V) new flat (O).) Definite and indefinite articles are not used in Czech. Objective word order A sentence usually begins with facts, already known from a preceding sentence or context (theme). New and important facts (rheme) are usually placed in the final position: Včera zemřel známý herec. – A famous actor died yesterday. (An announcement of a death of a person – who died?) (Yesterday died (V) famous actor (S).) (Ten) známý herec zemřel včera. – The famous actor died yesterday. (When did he die?) ((The) famous actor (S) died (V) yesterday.) Byl jednou jeden král a ten král měl tři dcery. – Once upon a time there lived a king and the king had three daughters. (Was (V) once one king (S) and the king (S) had (V) three daughters (O).) Subjective word order The new facts can be emphasized by their initial place in emotive messages: Tisíc korun jsem utratil za takovou hloupost! – I spent one thousand crowns on such a stupid thing! (Thousand crowns (O) (null-S) am (aux. verb) spent (V) on such stupid thing!) Null-subject sentences The subject may be omitted in a Czech sentence if it is obvious by context. The grammatical person and the grammatical number are expressed by the verb conjugation forms: Mám byt. = Já mám byt. – I have (got) a flat. ((null-S) Have (V) flat (O). = I (S) have (V) flat (O).) Máš byt. = Ty máš byt. – You have (got) a flat. ((null-S) Have (V)