Spolubydlící bude buď utírat stůl, nebo zametat kuchyni.

Spolubydlící means roommate / housemate / flatmate, depending on context.

It is a noun that can refer to either a man or a woman. The form spolubydlící stays the same for both genders in the singular:

• ten spolubydlící = a male roommate
• ta spolubydlící = a female roommate

In this sentence alone, you cannot tell whether the roommate is male or female. You only know it is one person, because the verb is singular: bude.

Bude is the 3rd person singular future form of být (to be):

• já budu
• ty budeš
• on/ona/ono bude

In Czech, many imperfective verbs form the future with být + infinitive. That is what happens here:

• bude utírat = will be wiping / will wipe
• bude zametat = will be sweeping / will sweep

So bude tells you the action is in the future, and it agrees with the singular subject spolubydlící.

This is because utírat and zametat are imperfective verbs.

In Czech:

• imperfective verbs often make the future with budu, budeš, bude... + infinitive
• perfective verbs usually express future with a simple present-looking form

So:

• bude utírat = future of imperfective utírat
• bude zametat = future of imperfective zametat

This gives the sense of an ongoing, repeated, or simply not yet completed action in the future.

If you used perfective partners instead, the form would look different, for example:

• utřít / setřít → future meaning built into the verb form
• zamést → future meaning built into the verb form

Buď ... nebo ... means either ... or ...

So:

• buď utírat stůl, nebo zametat kuchyni = either wipe the table, or sweep the kitchen

It introduces two alternatives. This is a very common Czech structure.

You can think of it as:

• buď X, nebo Y = either X, or Y

In this sentence, the two alternatives are the two activities:

1. utírat stůl
2. zametat kuchyni

Stůl is in the accusative singular, because it is the direct object of utírat.

The dictionary form is also stůl, and for this noun the accusative singular looks the same as the nominative singular because it is inanimate masculine:

• nominative: stůl
• accusative: stůl

So even though the form does not change, its role in the sentence does: it is the thing being wiped.

Because kuchyně / kuchyň is here in the accusative singular, as the direct object of zametat.

The base noun is commonly given as kuchyně or sometimes kuchyň in some references, but in standard usage you will often see forms like:

• nominative: kuchyně
• accusative: kuchyni

So in the sentence:

• zametat kuchyni = to sweep the kitchen

The ending changes because the noun is the object of the verb.

Utírat is imperfective, so it focuses on the action as a process, repeated activity, or general action.

• utírat stůl = to wipe the table / to be wiping the table

A perfective verb such as utřít or setřít focuses more on the action as completed:

• utřít stůl = to wipe the table clean / to finish wiping the table

In this sentence, the imperfective utírat fits naturally because the sentence is just describing what the roommate will be doing, not emphasizing completion.

This is another aspect pair:

• zametat = imperfective
• zamést = perfective

So:

• zametat kuchyni = to sweep the kitchen / to be sweeping the kitchen
• zamést kuchyni = to sweep the kitchen up, with completion implied

In a sentence like this, bude zametat sounds natural because it describes the future activity itself. If you used zamést, the focus would shift more toward the finished result.

Czech word order is fairly flexible, so yes, it can change. However, the given version is very natural:

• Spolubydlící bude buď utírat stůl, nebo zametat kuchyni.

This order clearly presents:

1. the subject
2. the future verb
3. the two alternatives

You may see other orders in real Czech, but they can shift the emphasis. For a learner, the given order is a good neutral model.

You know from the verb:

• bude = singular
• budou = plural

So:

• Spolubydlící bude... = The roommate will...
• Spolubydlící budou... = The roommates will...

The noun spolubydlící can have the same form in singular and plural, so the verb often tells you which one it is.

Yes, that is the usual meaning of buď ... nebo ...

It presents two alternatives:

• either wipe the table
• or sweep the kitchen

In normal interpretation, the roommate will do one or the other, not both. If you wanted to say the roommate will do both, Czech would use a different structure, such as a (and) instead of buď ... nebo ....

Buď is pronounced approximately like booch with a very soft final consonant, though there is no perfect English equivalent.

A few points:

• u is like oo in food
• ď is a soft d sound, pronounced with the tongue closer to the hard palate

For many learners, the most important thing is to notice that ď is soft, not a plain English d.

So try something like:

• buď ≈ boody said very briefly, with the final sound softened

It may take practice, but Czech listeners will usually understand you even if your ď is not perfect at first.