Questions & Answers about Evropská služba je nová.
Why is Evropská capitalized? Is it a proper adjective?
Here it is capitalized simply because it is the first word of the sentence.
In the middle of a sentence, evropská is normally written with a lowercase e:
- Je to evropská služba.
Czech adjectives like evropský / evropská / evropské are usually not capitalized unless they are part of an official proper name.
Why do Evropská and nová both end in -á?
Because both words are agreeing with the noun služba, which is feminine singular.
- Evropská = European
- nová = new
- služba = service
In Czech, adjectives change their endings to match the noun in gender, number, and case. Since služba is feminine singular here, the adjectives take the feminine singular ending -á.
Compare:
- masculine: evropský, nový
- feminine: evropská, nová
- neuter: evropské, nové
How do I know that služba is feminine?
A very common clue is the ending -a. Many Czech nouns ending in -a are feminine, and služba is one of them.
You can also tell from agreement:
- Evropská is feminine
- nová is feminine
So the sentence itself confirms that služba is being treated as a feminine noun.
That said, endings are only a guideline, not a perfect rule. The safest way is still to learn the noun together with its gender.
What case is služba in, and why is nová also in that case?
Služba is in the nominative singular because it is the subject of the sentence.
The adjective Evropská also has to be nominative singular because it describes služba directly.
After the verb být (to be), the predicate adjective nová is also nominative in standard Czech:
- služba je nová
So all three words connected to the noun are in matching forms:
- Evropská — nominative feminine singular
- služba — nominative feminine singular
- nová — nominative feminine singular
What exactly is je?
Je is the 3rd person singular present tense form of být, which means to be.
So:
- já jsem = I am
- ty jsi = you are
- on/ona/ono je = he/she/it is
In this sentence, je means is.
Can je be omitted?
Normally, no. In standard Czech, the present-tense form of být is usually expressed, so je should stay in a sentence like this.
So:
- Evropská služba je nová. = normal, correct
Leaving out je would sound incomplete in ordinary standard Czech.
Why is there no word for a or the?
Because Czech does not have articles like English.
So Evropská služba je nová. can mean:
- A European service is new
- The European service is new
Which one is meant depends on the context.
This is very normal in Czech: speakers rely on context instead of articles.
What are the dictionary forms of these words?
The dictionary forms are:
This matters because Czech words change form a lot. In the sentence you see:
- evropský → Evropská
- nový → nová
- být → je
So if you want to look the words up, you usually need the base form, not the exact form from the sentence.
Can the word order change?
Yes. Czech word order is more flexible than English word order.
The neutral order here is:
- Evropská služba je nová.
But other orders are possible, depending on emphasis or what information is already known:
- Služba je nová.
- Nová je evropská služba.
- Je nová evropská služba. (this can sound more marked or context-dependent)
Even when the order changes, the endings help show what belongs together and what role each word plays.
Is Evropská služba a normal adjective + noun phrase?
How is this sentence pronounced?
A rough pronunciation is:
EH-vrop-skah SLOOZH-ba yeh NOH-vah
A few useful points:
- Czech stress is usually on the first syllable of each word.
- ž sounds like the s in measure.
- á is a long vowel, so it is held a bit longer than plain a.
- je sounds roughly like yeh.
So služba is approximately SLOOZH-ba, not like English service at all.
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