Ministr odpověděl hned.

Yes. Ministr means minister in the political/government sense, such as a cabinet minister.

It is a masculine noun. In this sentence, ministr is the subject, so it is in the nominative singular.

A few forms:

• ministr = nominative singular
• ministra = genitive singular / accusative singular
• ministrovi / ministru = dative singular

So here, Ministr odpověděl hned. means The minister answered immediately.

Because the verb is odpovědět = to answer, and its past tense is formed from the past stem odpověděl- for the masculine singular form.

So:

• on odpověděl = he answered
• ona odpověděla = she answered
• ono odpovědělo = it answered
• oni odpověděli = they answered (masculine animate)
• ony odpověděly = they answered (non-masculine animate)

The form odpověděl is the normal masculine singular past tense form.

Czech often leaves out subject pronouns when they are not necessary. The verb form already gives useful information, and the noun ministr is explicitly stated, so there is no need to add on.

Compare:

• Ministr odpověděl hned. = The minister answered immediately.
• On odpověděl hned. = He answered immediately.

In Czech, repeating the pronoun is often unnecessary unless you want emphasis or contrast.

Hned usually means:

• immediately
• right away
• at once

So Ministr odpověděl hned. means the minister answered without delay.

Depending on context, hned can also have related meanings like soon after or straight away, but immediately/right away is the basic meaning here.

Yes, Czech word order is more flexible than English word order.

This sentence is a neutral, natural order:

• Ministr = subject
• odpověděl = verb
• hned = adverb

But other orders are possible, with slightly different emphasis:

• Hned ministr odpověděl. = emphasizes immediately
• Ministr hned odpověděl. = also very natural, with hned closer to the verb
• Odpověděl hned ministr. = possible, but marked; it could emphasize the minister as the person who answered

So the given sentence is straightforward and natural, but not the only possible order.

Odpovědět is perfective.

That means it refers to a completed action: to give an answer, to answer as a finished event.

Its imperfective partner is usually odpovídat:

• odpovědět = to answer once / to give an answer
• odpovídat = to be answering / to answer habitually / to answer repeatedly

Examples:

• Ministr odpověděl hned. = The minister answered immediately.
  Completed event.
• Ministr odpovídal na otázky. = The minister was answering questions.
  Ongoing or repeated action.

Czech, like English, can leave the object unstated if it is clear from context or not important.

So Ministr odpověděl hned. simply means:

• The minister answered immediately.

If you want to say what he answered, Czech often uses:

• odpovědět na otázku = to answer a question
• odpovědět někomu = to answer someone

Examples:

• Ministr odpověděl na otázku hned. = The minister answered the question immediately.
• Ministr novinářům odpověděl hned. = The minister answered the journalists immediately.

So the short sentence is perfectly normal.

It can work in a couple of common patterns:

• odpovědět komu
  • dative
    = to answer someone
• odpovědět na co
  • accusative
    = to answer something, especially a question

Examples:

• Odpověděl mi. = He answered me.
• Odpověděl novináři. = He answered the journalist.
• Odpověděl na otázku. = He answered the question.

So learners often need to remember:

• person answered = usually dative
• question/topic answered = often na + accusative

In the Czech past tense, the ending shows gender and number.

Here:

• odpověděl = masculine singular
• odpověděla = feminine singular
• odpovědělo = neuter singular

Because the subject is ministr, which is a masculine noun for a male person, the verb appears in the masculine singular past form.

So:

• Ministr odpověděl. = The minister answered.
• Ministryně odpověděla. = The female minister answered.

Yes. Ministryně means female minister or woman minister.

Compare:

• ministr = minister, male
• ministryně = minister, female

Then the verb changes accordingly:

• Ministr odpověděl hned.
• Ministryně odpověděla hned.

This is a good example of how Czech agrees in gender in the past tense.

A few things may be useful:

• Ministr is pronounced roughly MIN-istr, with the stress on the first syllable.
• odpověděl also has first-syllable stress: OD-po-vě-děl
• hned begins with h, which is clearly pronounced in Czech.

Important general rule:

• Czech stress is almost always on the first syllable of the word.

Also, ě in odpověděl affects the pronunciation of the preceding consonant, and learners often need time to get used to combinations like vě and děl.

Normally, no. The Czech past tense here is most naturally translated as the simple past:

• Ministr odpověděl hned. = The minister answered immediately.

English chooses between answered and has answered based on context, but Czech does not have a separate present perfect form like English does.

So although context can sometimes make English translation flexible, this sentence is usually best understood as a simple completed past action.

It is neutral standard Czech.

Nothing in it is especially informal or slangy:

• ministr is standard vocabulary
• odpověděl is a normal standard past tense form
• hned is a very common adverb

So this is the kind of sentence you could easily see in news reporting, formal writing, or ordinary speech.