Learn Hardcore Czech: Moje babička je dnes nemocná a musí jít do nemocnice. - My grandmother is ill today and has to go to the hospital.

můj – my (masculine, singular)
- můj bratr – my brother
moje – my (feminine OR neuter, singular; also all genders in plural in colloquial speech)
- moje babička – my grandmother
- moje auto – my car

You might also see short forms:

má babička – also means my grandmother, a bit more formal / stylistic
mé auto – my car (formal/literary)

So moje babička is the normal, neutral way to say my grandmother in everyday speech.

What is the nuance of babička? Is it exactly the same as grandmother?

Babička is the standard word for grandmother, but it’s also a diminutive form (from bába). It usually sounds:

affectionate,
neutral in most contexts,
not childish.

You can also hear:

babka – more colloquial, sometimes a bit rough or joking, can sound disrespectful if used about a stranger.
babi – very informal, like gran or granny.

So Moje babička is close to My grandma / my granny, but still perfectly appropriate and neutral.

Why is je used? What exactly does je mean?

Je is the 3rd person singular form of the verb být (to be).

on / ona / ono je – he / she / it is

So Moje babička je dnes nemocná literally means:

My grandmother is today sick.

There is no separate word like English is; je is exactly that.

Can I change the word order je dnes nemocná to dnes je nemocná? Does it change the meaning?

Both are correct:

Moje babička je dnes nemocná.
Moje babička dnes je nemocná. (less usual)
Dnes je moje babička nemocná.

Differences:

Neutral, very natural:
- Moje babička je dnes nemocná.
- Dnes je moje babička nemocná.
Word order in Czech mainly changes emphasis, not basic meaning.
- Starting with Dnes emphasizes today.
- Keeping je dnes nemocná keeps a neutral, typical order.

Moje babička je nemocná dnes is technically possible but sounds a bit marked; it emphasizes today at the end.

Why is it nemocná and not nemocný?

Nemocný / nemocná / nemocné = ill, sick (adjective).

Adjectives must agree with the gender and number of the noun:

nemocný – masculine
nemocná – feminine
nemocné – neuter or plural (in some patterns)

Since babička is feminine, you must say:

Moje babička je nemocná. – My grandmother is sick.

If it were your grandfather (dědeček, masculine), you’d say:

Můj dědeček je nemocný. – My grandfather is sick.

What is the difference between nemocná and nemocnice? They look similar.

They are related but different:

nemocná – feminine adjective sick / ill (agreeing with babička)
nemocnice – hospital (noun, feminine)

So:

Moje babička je dnes nemocná. – My grandmother is sick today.
…a musí jít do nemocnice. – …and she has to go to the hospital.

They share the root nemoc (illness), but one is an adjective, the other a place.

What does musí mean, and why is jít after it?

Musí comes from muset = must / have to.

In Czech, modal verbs (like muset, moci, chtít) are followed by an infinitive:

musí jít – must go
musí pracovat – must work
musí odpočívat – must rest

So:

musí jít do nemocnice = (she) has to go to the hospital.

English needs must or has to, Czech just uses musí + infinitive.

Why is it jít and not jet? Don’t you usually go to hospital by car?

Czech distinguishes mainly:

jít – to go on foot
jet – to go by vehicle (car, bus, train, etc.)

In this sentence, musí jít do nemocnice is:

grammar-wise: perfectly correct,
meaning-wise: often used even if she goes by car, because the focus is simply she has to go (there), not on the means of transport.

If you want to be more precise about going by vehicle, you can say:

Moje babička je dnes nemocná a musí jet do nemocnice. – She has to go (by transport) to the hospital.

Both jít and jet are acceptable; jít is very common in general speech for just “go”.

What case is nemocnice in here, and why?

In do nemocnice, the noun nemocnice is in the genitive singular.

Preposition do (to, into) always takes the genitive case when it means motion into / to a place.

Example patterns:

do školy – to school
do práce – to work
do lesa – to the forest
do nemocnice – to the hospital

The nominative form is also nemocnice (same spelling), but its function in the sentence (after do) tells you it’s genitive.

Could you say Moje babička je dnes nemocná a musí do nemocnice without jít? Is that correct?

Yes, that is also correct:

Moje babička je dnes nemocná a musí do nemocnice.

In spoken Czech, it’s common to drop the infinitive (jít, jet) when the meaning “go” is obvious after a modal verb:

Musím do práce. – I have to (go) to work.
Musíš k doktorovi. – You have to (go) to the doctor.

So both are fine:

musí jít do nemocnice – fully explicit
musí do nemocnice – shorter, very natural in speech

Why does musí jít look like present tense if it’s about the future (she has to go)?

Czech often uses the present tense to talk about a planned or near future when the future meaning is clear from context:

Zítra jedu do Prahy. – I’m going to Prague tomorrow.
Večer se učím. – I’m studying in the evening.

Similarly, musí jít do nemocnice can mean:

She has to go right now / today / soon (future implied).

So grammatically it is present tense, but context gives it a future meaning, just like English “She must go to the hospital (today).”

Why are there no articles like a or the in Moje babička je dnes nemocná a musí jít do nemocnice?

Czech has no articles (a, an, the) at all.

Moje babička can mean my grandmother, my grandma, etc. No the or a needed.
do nemocnice can mean to a hospital or to the hospital, depending on context.

If you really need to stress a specific hospital, you can add a demonstrative:

do té nemocnice – to that (particular) hospital

But normally, context replaces articles, and you just say:

do nemocnice – to hospital / to the hospital.

Can I say dneska instead of dnes?

Yes:

dnes – today (neutral, slightly more formal)
dneska – today (very common in everyday speech, a bit more informal)

Both are correct, so you can say:

Moje babička je dnes nemocná…
Moje babička je dneska nemocná…

They mean the same thing.