Learn Hardcore Czech: Můj syn rád spí doma. - My son likes to sleep at home.

rád literally means “gladly, with pleasure,” but in practice it functions like “to like to do something.”
It is followed by a normal conjugated verb, not an infinitive:
- rád spí (likes sleeping),
  not rád spát.
milovat (“to love”) is much stronger and sounds exaggerated or romantic if you say Můj syn miluje spát doma. You might use milovat for:
- Miluju svou ženu. – I love my wife.
- Miluju čokoládu. – I love chocolate.

So for habits and preferences, rád + (conjugated) verb is the default and most idiomatic.

Why is it rád and not ráda or rádo?

The form of rád agrees with the gender and number of the subject:

masculine singular: rád
feminine singular: ráda
neuter singular: rádo
plural (any group that includes at least one male person): rádi
plural (all-female or non-person neuter): rády

In Můj syn rád spí doma:

syn = son → masculine singular
therefore rád is used.

Compare:

Jsem rád. – I’m glad / I’m happy about it. (said by a man)
Jsem ráda. – (said by a woman)
Moje dcera ráda spí doma. – My daughter likes to sleep at home.
Moje děti rády spí doma. – My children like to sleep at home. (children as a group, grammatically treated as feminine plural here)

So rád works a bit like an adjective that must match the subject.

Why is it spí and not the infinitive spát? In English we say “to sleep.”

In Czech, after rád you use a finite (conjugated) verb, not the infinitive:

rád spím – I like sleeping / I like to sleep
rád spíš – you like to sleep (singular)
rád spí – he/she likes to sleep

So:

Můj syn rád spí doma. – My son likes to sleep at home.

Using the infinitive spát here (Můj syn rád spát doma) is ungrammatical.

What’s the difference between doma, domů, and v domě?

All three relate to “home/house,” but they’re not interchangeable:

doma = at home (location, static)
- Můj syn rád spí doma. – My son likes to sleep at home.
- Jsem doma. – I am at home.
domů = home (direction, movement towards home)
- Jdu domů. – I’m going home.
- Syn se vrací domů. – My son is coming home.
v domě = in the house (literally in a house, not necessarily “home”)
- Spí v domě. – He sleeps in the house (could be any house, or stressing the building rather than “home”).

In Můj syn rád spí doma, we talk about the place where he sleeps (static location), so doma is the correct choice.

Why isn’t there any article before syn? Why not something like “the my son” or “a son”?

Czech has no articles (no “a/an/the”). The meaning is conveyed by:

word endings (cases),
context,
sometimes possessive pronouns like můj (my), tvůj (your), etc.

So:

Můj syn simply covers “my son” in all the senses where English might say:
- my son, my boy, the son of mine, etc.

There is never a word equivalent to “the” or “a/an” in front of syn.

What case is syn in, and why?

Syn in Můj syn rád spí doma is in the nominative singular.

The nominative case is used for the subject of the sentence – the person or thing that performs the action.
The subject here is Můj syn (my son), the one who likes sleeping at home.

Basic pattern:

Kdo (who)? Co (what)? – nominative → usually the subject
Můj syn answers Kdo rád spí doma? – Who likes to sleep at home?

Can I change the word order? Are Můj syn rád spí doma and Můj syn spí rád doma both correct?

Yes, Czech word order is relatively flexible, and both are grammatically correct, but there’s a slight difference in emphasis:

Můj syn rád spí doma.
- Neutral; the whole phrase “likes to sleep at home” is presented as a simple fact.
Můj syn spí rád doma.
- Slightly emphasizes rád, as if contrasting with another place:
  “My son sleeps happily at home (as opposed to somewhere else).”

You can also say:

Doma můj syn rád spí. – At home, my son likes to sleep. (emphasis on the location)
Rád můj syn spí doma. – grammatically possible but sounds somewhat unusual/poetic; in everyday speech the subject usually comes before rád.

For learners, Můj syn rád spí doma is the safest, most neutral form.

How would this sentence change with different persons (I, you, she, we)?

You keep the structure [subject] + rád/ráda/rádi + spát (conjugated) and change rád according to gender/number:

Já rád spím doma. – I (male) like to sleep at home.
Já ráda spím doma. – I (female) like to sleep at home.
Ty rád spíš doma. – You (male, singular) like to sleep at home.
Ty ráda spíš doma. – You (female, singular) like to sleep at home.
On rád spí doma. – He likes to sleep at home.
Ona ráda spí doma. – She likes to sleep at home.
My rádi spíme doma. – We (mixed or all-male group) like to sleep at home.
My rády spíme doma. – We (all female) like to sleep at home.
Oni rádi spí doma. – They (mixed or all-male) like to sleep at home.
Ony rády spí doma. – They (all female) like to sleep at home.

Note how rád / ráda / rádi / rády changes, but spím / spíš / spí / spíme… is just the normal verb conjugation.

How do I say “My sons like to sleep at home”?

You need the plural of syn and the plural form of rád:

Mí synové rádi spí doma. – My sons like to sleep at home.

Changes:

Můj syn (my son) → Mí synové (my sons; nominative plural)
rád (masculine singular) → rádi (plural, with at least one male)

Can Můj syn rád spí doma also mean “My son is (right now) enjoying sleeping at home”? How does tense work here?

Czech present tense covers both:

Habitual actions (what someone usually does):
- Můj syn rád spí doma. – My son likes to sleep at home (in general).
Current ongoing actions (what is happening now):
- Můj syn spí doma. – My son is sleeping at home (right now).

However:

As soon as you add rád, it normally expresses a general preference, not a one-time current event.
So Můj syn rád spí doma will be understood as “He generally likes to sleep at home,” not “He is right now enjoying sleeping at home.”

For the immediate situation, you would say simply:

Můj syn spí doma. – My son is sleeping at home.

How should I pronounce the words in Můj syn rád spí doma?

Key pronunciation points:

Můj – [muuj]
- ů is a long u sound /uː/ (like “oo” in moon).
- Final j is like English y in yes.
syn – [sin]
- y here is pronounced like short i, close to English sit.
rád – [raːt]
- á is a long a as in “father,” just held longer.
- Final d is clearly pronounced; don’t devoice it to t at the end (Czech tends to devoice, but careful pronunciation keeps it audible).
spí – [spiː]
- í is long ee as in “see.”
doma – [dɔma] or [doma]
- Two short syllables: do-ma.

Stress in Czech is always on the first syllable:

Můj syn rád spí doma
Syn rád spí doma
Rád spí doma
Doma

So you say: Můj syn rád spí doma, with a slight emphasis on Můj.