Ten bůh je starý.

Ten is the masculine singular form of the demonstrative that.

So Ten bůh je starý most literally means That god is old.

In real Czech, ten can also sometimes feel a bit like the, depending on context, since Czech does not have articles like English does. So in some situations, a learner may see it translated more loosely as The god is old.

Because bůh is a masculine singular noun.

Czech demonstratives change according to gender:

• ten = masculine
• ta = feminine
• to = neuter

Since bůh is masculine, the correct form is ten bůh.

Bůh / bůh means god.

In your sentence it is written as bůh with a lowercase b, which normally means a god in a general sense.

If Czech is referring specifically to the monotheistic God, it is often written Bůh with a capital B.

So:

• bůh = a god
• Bůh = God

In your sentence, Ten is capitalized only because it is the first word of the sentence.

Je means is.

It is the 3rd person singular form of the verb být, which means to be.

So:

• jsem = I am
• jsi / jste = you are
• je = he / she / it is

In this sentence, je links the subject ten bůh with the adjective starý.

No, not in normal standard Czech.

In this sentence, je is necessary, just like is is necessary in English. So:

• Ten bůh je starý = correct
• Ten bůh starý = not standard as a normal sentence

Czech sometimes omits to be in very informal, poetic, or special styles, but learners should definitely keep je here.

Because the adjective has to agree with the noun it describes.

Bůh is:

• masculine
• singular
• nominative

So the adjective also appears in the matching form:

• starý = old, masculine singular nominative

This is a basic Czech agreement pattern. Adjectives change their endings depending on the noun.

For comparison:

• ten starý bůh = that old god
• ta stará žena = that old woman
• to staré město = that old town

It is in the nominative case.

That is because ten bůh is the subject of the sentence, the thing being talked about.

Also, with být plus an adjective, the adjective is normally nominative too:

• ten bůh = nominative
• starý = nominative masculine singular

So this is a very straightforward subject + verb + adjective sentence.

Yes. Bůh is a masculine animate noun.

In Czech, nouns referring to beings such as people, animals, and gods are generally treated as animate.

That matters more in some other cases than in the nominative. For example, masculine animate nouns often have different accusative forms from masculine inanimate nouns.

In this sentence, you do not really see the animate distinction strongly yet, but it is still part of how the noun behaves grammatically.

A simple learner-friendly pronunciation is:

ten बूkh yeh stah-ree
or more carefully: ten buukh ye starii

A few useful notes:

• e in ten is like the e in bed
• ů is a long oo sound
• j in Czech is like English y in yes
• ý is a long ee sound

One advanced point: the final h in bůh is often pronounced devoiced at the end of the word, so it may sound closer to ch than to a normal English h.

The order Ten bůh je starý is the most neutral and natural way to say it.

Czech word order is more flexible than English, because endings carry a lot of grammatical information. You can change the order for emphasis, contrast, or style.

For example:

• Ten bůh je starý = neutral
• Starý je ten bůh = emphasizes old
• Ten starý bůh = means that old god, not a full sentence

So yes, the order can change, but the version you have is the standard starting point.

It can sometimes feel like either one, depending on context.

Strictly speaking, ten is a demonstrative, so its core meaning is that. But because Czech has no articles, words like ten are sometimes used where English would simply use the.

So in context, ten bůh could be understood as:

• that god
• sometimes roughly the god

A beginner should first learn ten = that, and then later get used to the article-like uses.

Here starý means old in the sense of age.

So the sentence says that the god is not young.

Depending on context, starý can also mean things like:

• old in age
• old/long-standing
• ancient
• former, in some expressions

But in a simple sentence like this, the natural reading is just old.

No, not directly.

This sentence specifically says Ten bůh, so the subject is that god.

If you wanted He is old, you would say:

• On je starý

Czech often drops subject pronouns when the meaning is clear, but here the noun ten bůh is explicitly stated, so the sentence is definitely about that god.