Breakdown of Zítra večer možná bude pršet znovu.
být
to be
zítra
tomorrow
pršet
to rain
večer
the evening
znovu
again
možná
maybe
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Questions & Answers about Zítra večer možná bude pršet znovu.
Why does Czech use bude pršet instead of just one future-tense verb like in English “will rain”?
Czech verbs come in two aspects: imperfective and perfective. Imperfective verbs (like pršet) don’t have their own synthetic future forms. To talk about the future with an imperfective verb, Czech uses the auxiliary bude (the future of být “to be”) plus the infinitive. Perfective verbs (e.g. zapršet “to rain once”) form the future with their present tense: zaprší.
Could I drop bude and say Zítra večer možná prší znovu to mean “maybe it’s raining again tomorrow evening”?
In Czech, the present tense prší normally refers to now or a scheduled event (like a timetable). To express a genuine prediction about the future, you need bude pršet. Otherwise your listener might think you’re talking about a regular schedule (“it rains again tomorrow evening every week”).
Where does možná (“maybe”) go? Can I move it around in the sentence?
Možná is a sentence adverb expressing uncertainty. It’s most common before the verb cluster:
Zítra večer možná bude pršet znovu.
You could also say Možná zítra večer bude pršet znovu for slight emphasis, or Zítra večer bude pršet znovu, možná (tacked on the end). Czech word order is quite flexible, but placing možná near the verb is the default.
What’s the difference between znovu and opět for “again”? Can I swap them?
Both znovu and opět mean again. Znovu is more colloquial and neutral, while opět is a bit more formal or literary. In everyday speech you’ll hear znovu, but you can safely use opět in its place without changing the meaning:
Zítra večer možná bude pršet opět.
Why are there two words for time, zítra večer, instead of just “tomorrow evening” as a single phrase?
They’re two separate adverbs that combine into one expression. Zítra is “tomorrow,” večer is “evening.” Putting them together specifies the evening of tomorrow. You could also say zítra ráno (tomorrow morning) or dnes večer (this evening).
Can I move znovu to the front for emphasis, like Znovu zítra večer možná bude pršet?
Yes. Fronting znovu puts extra stress on the idea that it’s happening again. Czech allows quite free word order for adverbs to shift nuance. The most neutral word order, though, is to put znovu at the end.