Learn Hardcore Czech: Proč tvoje babička ještě není doma? - Why is your grandmother still not at home?

Putting proč later (e.g. Tvoje babička ještě není doma proč?) sounds very unnatural or wrong in standard Czech. So for “why”-questions, keep proč at the start.

What is the difference between tvoje and tvá? Could I say Proč tvá babička ještě není doma?

Both tvoje and tvá mean your (informal singular) and both are grammatically correct here.

tvoje babička – very common, neutral, everyday speech
tvá babička – a bit more formal, bookish, or stylistically elevated

So:

Proč tvoje babička ještě není doma? – perfectly natural, colloquial
Proč tvá babička ještě není doma? – correct, but sounds more formal / written

In normal conversation, tvoje is more typical.

What case is babička in, and why?

Babička is in the nominative singular case.

You use the nominative for the subject of a sentence – the person or thing doing or “being” something.

Tvoje babička – subject (who is not at home?)
ještě není doma – predicate (what about her? she is not home yet)

So the base dictionary form babička is used here, without any case ending change.

Why is it ještě není and not something like není ještě or není ještě doma? Where does ještě usually go?

All of these are possible:

Tvoje babička ještě není doma.
Tvoje babička není ještě doma.
(less common here) Tvoje babička není doma ještě.

Ještě (still / yet) is an adverb and usually stands close to the verb.
The most neutral, natural word order here is:

ještě není doma

Changing the position can add a small nuance of emphasis, but for everyday speech, ještě není is what you should prefer. In your example, Proč tvoje babička ještě není doma? is the most natural order.

Does ještě není mean “not yet” or “still not”? How should I think about ještě here?

In this context, ještě není can correspond to both English ideas:

not at home yet
still not at home

Literally, ještě means still / yet, and combined with the negative není it implies:

The expected state (being at home) has not happened up to now, but it is expected to happen.

So ještě není doma = she is not at home yet / still isn’t at home.

Why do we say není instead of something like ne je? How is negation of být formed?

Czech does not use a separate word ne in front of je.
Instead, the verb být (to be) has single-word negative forms:

jsem → nejsem (I am → I am not)
jsi → nejsi / nejsi (you are → you are not)
je → není (he/she/it is → is not)
jsme → nejsme (we are → we are not)
jste → nejste (you are → you are not)
jsou → nejsou (they are → they are not)

So you must say není, not ne je.

Proč tvoje babička ještě není doma? = Why is your grandmother not at home yet?

Why is it doma and not domě or domu? What’s the difference between doma, domů, and dům?

These three forms are easy to mix up:

doma – at home (location)
- Je doma. – She is at home.
- Není doma. – She is not at home.
domů – (to) home, direction towards home
- Jde domů. – She is going home.
dům – a house (the building itself, nominative singular)
- Tady je dům. – Here is a house.

In your sentence, we’re talking about being at a place, so we need doma:

není doma – she is not at home

Can I drop tvoje and just say Proč babička ještě není doma?

Yes, you can. Czech often omits possessives when the context is clear, especially with close family members.

Proč babička ještě není doma? – Why isn’t grandma home yet?

In a real conversation, people might already know whose grandmother you are talking about, so babička without tvoje is very natural.
However, tvoje babička makes it explicit that you mean your grandmother.

What is the difference between tvoje and vaše here?

Both mean your, but they differ in person and formality:

tvoje babička – your grandmother (informal singular you)
vaše babička – your grandmother
- formal singular you (speaking politely to one person)
- or plural you (speaking to several people)

Examples:

Talking to a friend:
- Proč tvoje babička ještě není doma?
Talking politely to a stranger / older person:
- Proč vaše babička ještě není doma?

Is tvoje babička the only correct word order, or can I say babička tvoje?

The normal, neutral order is:

tvoje babička

You can technically say babička tvoje, but that sounds marked and emphatic, often poetic, emotional, or archaic:

Babička tvoje ještě není doma? – sounds unusual in normal speech, like stressing your in a special way.

So for standard usage, always say tvoje babička.

How would I make this sentence more formal overall?

To make it more formal, you mainly change the possessive and possibly the word order:

Proč vaše babička ještě není doma? – polite “your”
You could also use tvá / vaše instead of tvoje for a slightly more formal tone, especially in writing:
- Proč tvá babička ještě není doma?
- Proč vaše babička ještě není doma?

The rest (proč, ještě není doma) is already neutral and fine in both informal and formal contexts.

Are there synonyms for ještě here, like pořád or stále? Do they change the meaning?

Yes, you can use:

pořád – still, all the time
stále – still, continually (a bit more formal/literary)

Examples:

Proč tvoje babička pořád není doma? – Why is your grandma still not at home?
Proč tvoje babička stále není doma? – Why is your grandma still not at home?

The basic meaning is similar: the expected situation has not changed.
Ještě focuses slightly more on “not yet (but expected)”,
while pořád / stále emphasize continuity (for a long time).