Tah soupeře je dobrý.

A word-by-word breakdown:

• tah = move (for example in a game such as chess)
• soupeře = of the opponent / the opponent’s
• je = is
• dobrý = good

So the structure is basically:

• Tah soupeře = the opponent’s move
• je dobrý = is good

The subject of the sentence is tah soupeře.

Because Czech changes noun endings according to case.

The basic dictionary form is soupeř = opponent.
Here, it is not standing alone. It means of the opponent / the opponent’s, so Czech uses the genitive case:

• soupeř = opponent
• soupeře = of the opponent

So:

• tah soupeře = the opponent’s move

This is one of the most common uses of the genitive in Czech: showing possession or relationship.

It is genitive singular.

Why genitive? Because after one noun, Czech often uses the genitive to mean of X:

• tah soupeře = move of the opponent
• natural English: the opponent’s move

So if you see a pattern like noun + noun in genitive, it often works like English possession.

Because dobrý has to agree with the noun it describes, and the noun is tah.

• tah is masculine inanimate singular
• so the adjective must also be masculine inanimate singular
• therefore: dobrý

Compare:

• tah je dobrý = the move is good
• hra je dobrá = the game is good
• auto je dobré = the car is good

So the ending of the adjective changes depending on the gender and number of the noun.

Because Czech does not have articles like English a and the.

So Czech often says simply:

• tah soupeře je dobrý

and English translates it as:

• The opponent’s move is good
• or sometimes An opponent’s move is good, depending on context

Czech leaves that kind of definiteness to context instead of using a separate article.

Normally, no. In standard Czech, the present-tense form of to be is usually stated:

• je = is

So:

• Tah soupeře dobrý would sound incomplete or non-standard in ordinary Czech.
• Tah soupeře je dobrý is correct.

This is different from some other Slavic languages where the present-tense is may be omitted.

Not completely. Czech word order is more flexible than English because the endings show grammatical roles.

The neutral order here is:

• Tah soupeře je dobrý.

But other orders are possible for emphasis, for example:

• Dobrý je tah soupeře.
• Tah soupeře dobrý je. — possible, but marked/stylistic

Even though other orders are possible, Tah soupeře je dobrý is the most straightforward and natural way to say it.

Yes. That is also correct.

There are two common ways to express the opponent’s move:

• tah soupeře
• soupeřův tah

Both mean roughly the same thing.

A simple way to think about the difference:

• tah soupeře = the move of the opponent
• soupeřův tah = the opponent’s move

The second version uses a possessive adjective (soupeřův), while the original sentence uses a genitive noun (soupeře). Both are natural.

A rough English-friendly pronunciation is:

tah SOU-pe-rzhe yeh DO-bree

A few notes:

• tah: the h is pronounced
• ou in soupeře is like the ou in go
• ř is the famous Czech sound that English does not have; a rough approximation is something like rzh
• je sounds like yeh
• dobrý sounds roughly like DO-bree

The hardest part for most learners is ř in soupeře.

In this sentence, tah means move, especially in a game context such as chess or another turn-based game.

But tah can have other meanings in other contexts, such as:

• a pull
• a stroke
• a drag
• a draft/draught

So the exact meaning depends on context. In Tah soupeře je dobrý, the intended meaning is clearly move.

Because it is the predicate adjective after je:

• je dobrý = is good

This is a very common Czech pattern:

• X je dobrý = X is good
• film je zajímavý = the film is interesting
• nápad je špatný = the idea is bad

So dobrý comes after the verb because it is not directly inside the noun phrase; it is the part that says something about the subject.

Not exactly. It is related, but the structure is different.

• Tah soupeře je dobrý. = The opponent’s move is good.
• dobrý tah soupeře = a good opponent’s move / the opponent’s good move

In the first sentence, good is the main statement.
In the second, good is just part of the noun phrase.

So:

• Tah soupeře je dobrý. = full sentence
• dobrý tah soupeře = phrase, not a complete sentence by itself

It is singular here: of the opponent.

The basic singular noun is:

• soupeř = opponent

Here we have:

• soupeře = of the opponent (genitive singular)

This form can look tricky because some Czech endings overlap, so learners often need to rely on context. In this sentence, the meaning is singular: the opponent’s move.