Předchozí majitel opravil motor.

The previous owner repaired the engine.

Breakdown of Předchozí majitel opravil motor.

• opravit: to repair
• motor: the car engine
• předchozí majitel: the previous owner

Questions & Answers about Předchozí majitel opravil motor.

Why is there no word for the in this sentence?

Czech normally does not use articles like the or a/an. So Předchozí majitel opravil motor can mean The previous owner repaired the engine or, depending on context, A previous owner repaired an engine. The exact definiteness usually comes from context.

How can I tell that majitel is the subject and motor is the object?

Because of case and verb agreement.

• majitel is in the nominative case, which is the usual case for the subject.
• motor is in the accusative case, which is the usual case for the direct object.

In this sentence, motor looks the same in nominative and accusative because it is a masculine inanimate noun. That is very common in Czech.

So the structure is:

• Předchozí majitel = the subject, the previous owner
• opravil = repaired/fixed
• motor = the object, the engine/motor

Why is the verb opravil and not opravoval?