"Jejich jména byla v desátém dopisu."

Translation: Their names were in the tenth letter.

[teabeadle]

I don't get why this is "byla" here. The noun is plural, so why not "byly"?

[DidLFC]

Because it is neuter.

Singular - jméno bylo (to jméno), plural - jména byla (ta jména). F.e. it is the same with the word auto (car) - auto bylo / auta byla.

[katrinkadee]

Is auta byla a formal form? Isn't auta bily also correct?

[VladaFu]

byly for neuter plural is used in Common Czech, but not is Standard Czech.

[katrinkadee]

Thank you.

[BoneheadBass]

Auta is neuter plural, so the correct verb phrase would be auta byla. See for example this link (click Conjugation if the table isn't visible): https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/b%C3%BDt

[True_eugene]

I don't know how or where else to report about such a problem, so I'll write it here. While studying this new topic, I had to complete the same tasks twice or even thrice. Was is established intentionally? After all annoying hurdles like "only continious here instead of present", "only our order of words is acceptable here" and etc. it doesn't add enthusiasm to continue learning the course, really.

[hella166755]

Tvar "V dopisu" je sice přípustný, ale mnohem častěji se používá vazba "V dopise". Ten první poněkud tahá za uši. Není to výtka, jen doplnění.