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Můj bratr a moje sestra mají stejný pokoj v našem domě.

Můj bratr a moje sestra mají stejný pokoj v našem domě.
My brother and my sister have the same room in our house.

Breakdown of Můj bratr a moje sestra mají stejný pokoj v našem domě.

můj
my
mít
to have
dům
the house
a
and
v
in
pokoj
the room
bratr
the brother
sestra
the sister
náš
our
stejný
same
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Questions & Answers about Můj bratr a moje sestra mají stejný pokoj v našem domě.

Why is it můj bratr but moje sestra? Aren’t both “my”?

Both mean “my”, but they agree with the gender of the noun:

  • můj bratr – bratr (brother) is masculine, so you use můj.
  • moje sestra – sestra (sister) is feminine, so you use moje.

The basic singular forms of “my” are:

  • můj – masculine (e.g. můj bratr, můj pokoj)
  • moje – feminine (e.g. moje sestra, moje kniha)
  • moje – also neuter plural (e.g. moje auta)

So the possessive pronoun changes its form to match the gender (and number, and case) of the noun it describes.

Could I say just “Můj bratr a sestra mají stejný pokoj” without the second moje?

Yes, that is possible and quite natural in many contexts:

  • Můj bratr a sestra mají stejný pokoj.

Listeners will usually understand that both the brother and the sister are “mine”, unless context suggests otherwise.

However:

  • Repeating moje (Můj bratr a moje sestra) can make it sound a bit more balanced and explicit (especially in written or careful speech).
  • If you wanted to stress that only one of them is “yours” and the other is someone else’s, you’d normally change the possessive, not just drop it, e.g.
    • Můj bratr a její sestra… – my brother and her sister.
Why is the verb mají and not má?

Because the subject is plural:

  • Subject: Můj bratr a moje sestra = two people → grammatically plural.
  • Verb: 3rd person plural of mít (to have) is mají.

Compare:

  • Můj bratr má stejný pokoj. – My brother has the same room. (singular subject → má)
  • Můj bratr a moje sestra mají stejný pokoj. – My brother and my sister have the same room. (plural subject → mají)

So the verb always agrees in number (singular/plural) with the subject.

Why is it stejný pokoj and not stejná or stejné?

The adjective stejný (same) has to agree with the noun pokoj in:

  • gender
  • number
  • case

Here:

  • pokoj (room) is masculine inanimate, singular, accusative.
  • The form of stejný that matches masculine singular (nom./acc.) is stejný.

Other forms for comparison:

  • stejná sestra – same sister (feminine singular)
  • stejné auto – same car (neuter singular)
  • stejní bratři – same brothers (masculine animate plural)
  • stejné pokoje – same rooms (masculine inanimate plural)

So stejný pokoj is the correct combination for “same room”.

Does “stejný pokoj” mean “the same room” or just “a similar room”?

In this context stejný pokoj means “the same room” – they both have one shared room, not two similar rooms.

Distinctions:

  • stejný pokoj – “the same room” (room A is exactly the same as room A)
  • podobný pokoj – “a similar room”
  • společný pokoj – “a shared/common room”

In everyday speech, stejný pokoj in a sentence like this is normally understood as sharing one room, exactly like the English “have the same room” (not two identical copies).

Why is pokoj not changed? Why isn’t it something like pokojem or pokoji?

Pokoj is the direct object of the verb mají (they have), so it is in the accusative case.

For the noun pokoj (masculine inanimate), the forms are:

  • Nominative singular: pokoj
  • Accusative singular: pokoj (same as nominative)

So even though the case changes, the form stays the same in this particular pattern. That’s why you still see pokoj, not pokojem or pokoji.

  • pokojem = instrumental (e.g. s pokojem – with the room)
  • pokoji = dative/locative (e.g. v pokoji – in the room)
What’s going on with v našem domě? Why našem and domě?

The preposition v (in) usually takes the locative case when it means location (“in” some place).

So:

  • Base form: náš dům – our house (nominative)

  • Locative (singular masculine inanimate):

    • našem – locative of náš
    • domě – locative of dům

Together: v našem domě → “in our house”.

Rough pattern:

  • náš (our, masc. nom.) → našem (our, masc. loc.)
  • dům (house, nom.) → domě (in the house, loc.)
Could I say “v našem domu” instead of “v našem domě”?

Yes, v našem domu is also grammatically correct. For dům in the locative, both forms exist:

  • v domě – common, very natural
  • v domu – also correct, may sound slightly more formal or archaic to some ears

So you can say:

  • Můj bratr a moje sestra mají stejný pokoj v našem domě.
  • Můj bratr a moje sestra mají stejný pokoj v našem domu.

Both are acceptable; v našem domě is more usual in modern spoken Czech.

Can I change the word order, for example “V našem domě mají můj bratr a moje sestra stejný pokoj”?

Yes. Czech word order is relatively flexible, because grammatical roles are shown by endings, not position.

Possible versions (all grammatical, different emphasis):

  • Můj bratr a moje sestra mají stejný pokoj v našem domě.
    – Neutral: who → what they have → where.

  • V našem domě mají můj bratr a moje sestra stejný pokoj.
    – Emphasizes where first.

  • Stejný pokoj mají v našem domě můj bratr a moje sestra.
    – Emphasizes “the same room”.

In Czech, word order is often used to highlight new or important information rather than to show grammar.

Why is it v našem domě and not something like do našeho domu?

These express different relations:

  • v našem domě – in our house (location, where something is)

    • v
      • locative → static location.

  • do našeho domu – into our house (movement into)

    • do
      • genitive → movement towards the inside.

In the sentence, the idea is simply that the room is located in the house, not that someone is moving into it. So v našem domě is the correct choice.

Do I have to use the possessives můj / moje / náš here? Could I say just “Bratr a sestra mají stejný pokoj doma”?

You don’t always have to use possessives in Czech; they are often omitted when it’s obvious whose thing it is.

So this is possible:

  • Bratr a sestra mají stejný pokoj doma.
    – Brother and sister share the same room at home. (Context tells whose family.)

However:

  • Adding můj / moje / náš makes it explicitly clear that you mean “my brother, my sister, our house”.
  • In a sentence isolated from context (like in a textbook), it’s normal to include the possessives to avoid ambiguity and to practise the forms.

So the original sentence is perfectly natural and slightly more precise.

How do you pronounce the difficult parts like můj, mají, našem domě?

Some pointers:

  • můj – roughly like “mooy” in English (one syllable):

    • m as in my
    • ů like a long oo (food)
    • j like y in yes → [mu:y]

  • mají – roughly “mah-yee”:

    • ma as in ma in mama
    • jí like long yee → [maji:]

  • našem – “nah-shem”:

    • stress always on the first syllable in Czech: NA-šem

  • domě – “do-mye”:

    • o as in not but shorter/cleaner
    • mě is pronounced like mňe (mn-ye), often heard as mye

Sentence rhythm: Můj BRATR a MO-je SES-tra MA-jí STEJ-ný PO-koj v NÁ-šem DO-mě.
Stress on the first syllable of each word.

Does pokoj only mean “room”? I’ve seen it used for “peace” as well.

Pokoj has two main meanings in Czech:

  1. room (in a house) – as in this sentence

    • Dětský pokoj – children’s room
    • hotelový pokoj – hotel room

  2. peace – more formal or religious, or in fixed expressions

    • Měj pokoj! – Leave me alone! / Give me peace!
    • Odpočívej v pokoji. – Rest in peace.

In “mají stejný pokoj v našem domě”, the context (having something in a house) clearly forces the “room” meaning.