Learn Hardcore Czech: Moje rodina teď nemá peníze na drahý byt ve městě. - My family doesn’t have money now for an expensive apartment in the city.

Moje rodina nemá… = literally “My family (she) doesn’t have…”
Using nemají would treat rodina as grammatically plural, which is wrong in standard Czech.

This is different from English, where people often say “My family don’t have money…” and treat family like a group. Czech follows grammatical number, not logical number, so you must use nemá.

Why is it moje rodina and not má rodina for “my family”?

Both moje rodina and má rodina are grammatically correct; the difference is style and emphasis:

moje rodina – the “full” form, completely neutral and very common in everyday spoken and written Czech.
má rodina – a shorter, more “literary” or slightly more formal style; also used when you want to stress the possessive (a bit like “my family” vs just “my family”).

In this sentence, moje rodina is the most natural everyday choice, which is why you see it here.

Can I move teď somewhere else, like Moje rodina nemá teď peníze…? Does the position change the meaning?

Yes, you can move teď; Czech word order is quite flexible. All of these are possible:

Moje rodina teď nemá peníze na drahý byt ve městě.
Teď moje rodina nemá peníze na drahý byt ve městě.
Moje rodina nemá teď peníze na drahý byt ve městě.

The basic meaning “right now my family doesn’t have money for…” stays the same. The difference is rhythm and slight emphasis:

Teď moje rodina… – emphasizes the time “Now, my family doesn’t have money…”
Moje rodina teď nemá… – neutral, very natural.
Moje rodina nemá teď peníze… – puts a bit more stress on the lack of money at this moment.

For learners, Moje rodina teď nemá… is a safe, natural word order.

Why is it nemá peníze and not nemá žádné peníze?

Both are correct, but they differ in how strong the negation is:

nemá peníze na drahý byt
= “doesn’t have (enough) money for an expensive flat”
→ implies insufficient money for this specific purpose.
nemá žádné peníze na drahý byt
= “doesn’t have any money for an expensive flat at all”
→ much stronger: zero money for that purpose.

In Czech, you can use žádný with a negative verb (double negation is normal), but you don’t have to. Leaving out žádné makes the sentence a bit softer and more general.

Why is peníze plural? What is its gender and case here?

Peníze (“money”) in Czech is a plural-only noun (pluralia tantum). There is no normal singular form meaning “a sum of money” like in English.

dictionary form: peníze (plural, “money”)
gender: masculine inanimate (but only in plural)
In the sentence, peníze is:
- accusative plural (object of the verb nemá)
- form: peníze (nominative and accusative plural are identical)

So, nemá peníze = “(she) doesn’t have money / doesn’t have funds”.

Why is the preposition na used in na drahý byt? Could I use another preposition?

Here na + accusative expresses the idea “for (a purpose)”:

mít peníze na něco = to have money for something

Examples:

Mám peníze na dovolenou. – I have money for a holiday.
Nemáme peníze na nové auto. – We don’t have money for a new car.

Other prepositions would change or break the meaning:

pro drahý byt – sounds wrong here; pro is more “for someone/somebody”.
k drahému bytu – “towards / to” (direction/relationship), not “for (purpose)”.
na drahý byt is the standard way to say “for an expensive flat” in the financial sense.

Why is it dra hý byt and not some other form of the adjective?

Drahý is an adjective meaning “expensive”. It has to agree with “byt” in:

gender: masculine
number: singular
case: accusative (because of na
- accusative)

Byt is masculine inanimate, and its nominative and accusative singular both look the same: byt. For a masculine inanimate noun in the accusative singular, the adjective takes the ending -ý:

drahý byt (masc. inanimate singular acc.)
Compare:
- drahá kniha (fem. sg.)
- drahé auto (neuter sg.)
- dražší byt – the comparative (“more expensive flat”)

So na drahý byt is the correctly agreed form.

What is the difference between v and ve, and why is it ve městě here?

The basic preposition is v = “in”. The form ve is used for euphony (to make pronunciation easier and smoother).

Ve is typically used:

before words starting with v- (e.g. ve Vídni – in Vienna)
before some consonant clusters that would be awkward after v

Here, ve městě sounds smoother than v městě, which is hard to pronounce. Native speakers almost always say and write:

ve městě – “in the city / in town”

So the rule of thumb: use ve instead of v when v + next word is hard to say.

Why is městě in that form? What case is it, and why?

Město = “city / town” (neuter noun). After v / ve with the meaning “in”, Czech normally uses the locative case.

nominative: město
locative singular: (v) městě

So:

ve městě = “in the city / in town”
(ve
- locative)

The preposition v/ve can take different cases depending on meaning, but for location inside something (“in X”), it takes locative. That’s why we have městě, not městu, město, etc.

Can I change the word order at the end, for example …na drahý byt ve městě nemá peníze?

Yes, Czech allows a lot of flexibility with word order, especially in spoken language. Some variants:

Moje rodina teď nemá peníze na drahý byt ve městě. – neutral.
Moje rodina teď nemá na drahý byt ve městě peníze. – puts a bit of emphasis on peníze.
Na drahý byt ve městě moje rodina teď nemá peníze. – strong focus on na drahý byt ve městě (that’s the important new info).

…na drahý byt ve městě nemá peníze is understandable and can be used for emphasis, but feels more like spoken, slightly “dramatic” word order.

For learners, the original order is the safest and most neutral.

Could I say Moje rodina teď nemá dost peněz na drahý byt ve městě? How does that change things?

Yes, that’s perfectly correct and very natural:

Moje rodina teď nemá dost peněz na drahý byt ve městě.

Difference in nuance:

nemá peníze na drahý byt
– “doesn’t have (the) money for an expensive flat” (not enough for this purpose; amount not specified)
nemá dost peněz na drahý byt
– “doesn’t have enough money for an expensive flat” (explicitly about insufficient amount)

So adding dost peněz (enough money) makes the lack of sufficient funds very clear.