Learn Hardcore Czech: Novinář a novinářka píšou pro noviny, knihy nepíšou. - A male journalist and a female journalist write for newspapers; they don't write books.

In the sentence Novinář a novinářka píšou…, the subject is novinář a novinářka together, so we use the 3rd person plural form píšou, not singular píše.

I’ve seen píší as well. What is the difference between píší and píšou?

Píší and píšou are both 3rd person plural forms of psát (to write). They mean the same thing:

Oni píší.
Oni píšou.
= They write.

Difference:

píší – more formal / traditional written standard
píšou – very common in spoken Czech, and also acceptable in modern written Czech (especially in informal texts)

So Novinář a novinářka píšou… sounds natural and conversational. In a very formal text you might see píší.

Why is there no word for they? Who is the subject in knihy nepíšou?

The subject they is understood from the context and does not need to be repeated.

Full “complete” version would be:

Novinář a novinářka píšou pro noviny, (oni) knihy nepíšou.

In Czech, subject pronouns (like on, ona, oni) are usually dropped if the subject is clear from context and the verb ending. Píšou already tells you it’s they (3rd person plural).

You only say oni if you want to emphasize they (as opposed to someone else):

Oni knihy nepíšou, jen recenze. – They don’t write books, only reviews.

Why is it novinář a novinářka instead of some plural form like “journalists”?

Czech professions normally have a masculine and a feminine form:

novinář – male journalist
novinářka – female journalist

By saying novinář a novinářka, the sentence explicitly tells you one is a man and one is a woman.

If you want to talk about journalists in general (without specifying gender), you use the masculine plural:

Novináři píšou pro noviny. – Journalists write for newspapers. (men, or a mixed group)

So:

Novinář a novinářka píšou… – specifically “a male journalist and a female journalist”.
Novináři píšou… – “journalists” (could be all men, or men + women).

What case are noviny and knihy in, and why?

Both noviny and knihy are in the accusative plural:

píšou pro noviny – pro always takes the accusative.
- noviny is accusative plural (same form as nominative plural here).
knihy nepíšou – knihy is the direct object of nepíšou, so it’s also accusative plural.

Quick mini-declension for clarity (just nominative vs accusative):

kniha (book)
- nominative sg: kniha – kniha je na stole (the book is on the table)
- accusative sg: knihu – čtu knihu (I’m reading a book)
- nominative pl: knihy – knihy jsou nové (the books are new)
- accusative pl: knihy – čtu knihy (I read books)
noviny (newspaper(s), always plural)
- nominative pl: noviny – noviny leží na stole (the newspaper is on the table)
- accusative pl: noviny – čtu noviny (I read the newspaper / newspapers)

So the form noviny in pro noviny and knihy in knihy nepíšou are accusative plural.

Why does pro noviny mean “for a newspaper” (or “for newspapers”) when noviny looks plural?

Noviny is a so‑called pluralia tantum noun in Czech – it only exists in the plural form, even when it refers to one physical newspaper.

noviny = a newspaper / newspapers
(There is a singular novina, but it means “a piece of news” and is rare in everyday speech.)

So:

píšou pro noviny
can mean “they write for a newspaper” (some newspaper) or “they write for newspapers (in general)”.
Czech doesn’t have articles (a / the), so context decides whether you think of one particular newspaper or the type of media.

What exactly does pro mean here, and which case does it take?

Pro is a preposition meaning roughly for, on behalf of, or intended for. It always takes the accusative case.

Examples:

pracovat pro firmu – to work for a company
dárek pro maminku – a present for (my) mum
psát pro noviny – to write for a newspaper / for the press

That’s why we have pro noviny (accusative plural), not pro noviny in some other case.

Why is there a comma between noviny and knihy?

The sentence actually contains two clauses (two “mini-sentences”):

Novinář a novinářka píšou pro noviny
(Oni) knihy nepíšou

They share the same subject, so it’s omitted in the second clause. In Czech, two independent clauses like this are often separated by a comma.

You could also make the contrast more explicit with ale (but):

Novinář a novinářka píšou pro noviny, ale knihy nepíšou.

The original version without ale is still correct; the comma just marks the boundary between the two clauses.

Why is it knihy nepíšou and not nepíšou knihy? Does word order change the meaning?

Both orders are grammatically correct:

knihy nepíšou
nepíšou knihy

Basic meaning is the same: “they don’t write books.”

In Czech, word order is flexible and often used for emphasis or information structure:

Knihy nepíšou. – Emphasizes knihy (books). Roughly: As for books, they don’t write those.
Nepíšou knihy. – Slightly more neutral; focus is a bit more on the negation (they don’t write books).

The version with knihy at the beginning sounds like a contrast: they write for newspapers, but when it comes to books, those they don’t write.

Where is the word “not”? How does negation work in nepíšou?

Czech uses a prefix ne- attached to the verb to negate it:

píšou – they write
nepíšou – they do not write

There is no separate word like English not; the negation is built into the verb form.

Also, Czech uses what English learners experience as “double negation,” which is normal and required:

nic nepíšou – literally “they write nothing” = they don’t write anything
nikdy nepíšou knihy – they never write books

So nepíšou is simply píšou with the negative prefix ne-.

How do I know if the nouns are definite or indefinite? Is it “the journalist” or “a journalist”?

Czech does not have articles like a / an / the. The nouns novinář, novinářka, noviny, knihy are neutral with respect to definiteness.

The sentence can be translated depending on context as:

“A (male) journalist and a (female) journalist write for a newspaper; they don’t write books.”
“The journalist and the (female) journalist write for the newspaper; they don’t write books.”
“The two journalists write for newspapers; they don’t write books.”

Context (previous sentences, situation, shared knowledge) tells you whether the speaker is talking about specific people/newspapers or just in general.

If you really want to stress indefiniteness (some books, some newspapers) you can add nějaký / nějaké:

píšou pro nějaké noviny – they write for some newspaper(s).

But it’s optional and not needed in the original sentence.