Cohesion of the soils is one of the most important parameters which soil is evaluated in terms of its suitability for building foundations. Safety of construction is in fact dependent on the strength of soil, respectively shear strength. Fine-grained soil represents very specific group, in which is distinguished an effective and total cohesion of soils. The water in the soil thus drastically affects its cohesion contrary to gravel and sandy soils. The publication compares the tabular values of the effective and total cohesion and define the influence of water, grain size and consistency of her behaviour. © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. Peer-review under responsibility of organizing committee of the World Multidisciplinary Earth Sciences Symposium (WMESS2016)