Breakdown of Moje sestra by chtěla bydlet ve velkém městě, ne ve vesnici.
Questions & Answers about Moje sestra by chtěla bydlet ve velkém městě, ne ve vesnici.
Czech changes v to ve for easier pronunciation before certain consonant clusters, especially those starting with v, f, or sometimes m and z.
Saying v velkém would create a hard-to-pronounce sequence v v-. Adding -e breaks it up: ve velkém.
Other examples:
- ve vodě (not v vodě) – in the water
- ve Francii – in France
- ve škole – at school
The meaning is the same; ve is just a phonetic variant of v.
By chtěla is the conditional form of chtít (to want).
- chtěla = past tense form (3rd person singular, feminine)
- by = conditional particle
Together by chtěla = would like / would want.
So:
- Moje sestra chtěla bydlet… = My sister wanted to live… (simple past)
- Moje sestra by chtěla bydlet… = My sister would like to live… (hypothetical / polite wish)
In modern Czech, the natural order is:
- Moje sestra by chtěla bydlet…
Putting by after the verb (chtěla by) is also very common and completely correct:
- Moje sestra chtěla by bydlet…
So both:
- by chtěla
- chtěla by
are acceptable.
However, chtěla by sounds a bit more neutral and is used more often in speech. By chtěla can sound a bit bookish or emphatic, depending on context. In this specific sentence, Moje sestra by chtěla… is perfectly standard.
This is because of case.
The preposition v / ve meaning in normally takes the locative case.
- Nominative: to město (the city), velké město (big city)
- Locative: (o) městě, (ve) velkém městě
So:
- město → městě (locative singular, neuter)
- velké → velkém (locative singular, neuter, hard adjective pattern)
The adjective and noun must agree in:
- gender (neuter),
- number (singular),
- case (locative).
That’s why you get ve velkém městě, not v velké město.
Again, this is the locative case after v / ve.
- Nominative: ta vesnice – the village
- Locative: (ve) vesnici – in the village
So:
- vesnice → vesnici (feminine noun, locative singular)
You also need ve instead of v for smoother pronunciation before v at the start of vesnici, just like with ve velkém.
Hence: ve vesnici = in (the) village.
Both verbs exist, but they’re not identical:
- bydlet = to live somewhere in the sense of reside, have one’s home
- žít = to live in the broader sense (be alive, live one’s life)
In the context of where someone wants to have their home, bydlet is more precise and natural:
- Chtěla bydlet ve velkém městě. – She would like to live (reside) in a big city.
You can say Chtěla žít ve velkém městě, and it is understandable and used, but it slightly shifts the nuance more toward “live her life in a big city” rather than strictly “have her address there”. In many everyday contexts, people do use žít this way, but bydlet is the textbook-accurate verb for residence.
Moje sestra is the subject of the sentence, so it has to be in the nominative case:
- Kdo? Co? (Who? What?) → Moje sestra
Moji sestru would be accusative (object), answering Koho? Co? (Whom? What?), which is wrong here because your sister is doing the wanting, she is not the object of some other action.
So:
- Moje sestra by chtěla… – correct (subject, nominative)
- Moji sestru by chtěla… – would mean something like “(Someone) would like my sister…”, which changes the meaning and is ungrammatical in this structure.
Both mean my sister and are correct.
- moje sestra – full form, very common in everyday speech
- má sestra – shorter, more stylistically marked; can sound a bit more formal, literary, or emphatic, depending on context
In this sentence you could say:
- Moje sestra by chtěla… – totally natural
- Má sestra by chtěla… – also correct; may sound a bit more “styled” or written.
For beginners, moje sestra is the safest default.
Czech past tense and conditional forms agree in gender with the subject.
- sestra is feminine → the verb must be feminine: chtěla
- If the subject were masculine animate (e.g. bratr – brother): Můj bratr by chtěl bydlet…
So:
- Moje sestra by chtěla… (feminine singular)
- Můj bratr by chtěl… (masculine singular)
English doesn’t mark gender on the verb, but Czech does in these forms.
Yes, you can. Both are grammatically fine:
- Moje sestra by chtěla… – explicitly “my sister”
- Sestra by chtěla… – “(My) sister would like…”, where “my” is understood from context
In conversation, if it’s clear whose sister you’re talking about, speakers sometimes drop moje. In isolation, Moje sestra… is clearer for learners.
The comma marks the separation of two contrasted parts of the sentence:
- Moje sestra by chtěla bydlet ve velkém městě, ne ve vesnici.
Here ne ve vesnici functions almost like a short clause (a ne ve vesnici) – and not in a village. The comma is standard and recommended.
You might hear it spoken without a clear pause, but in writing, the comma is normally used in this kind of contrast.
Yes:
- Moje sestra by chtěla bydlet ve velkém městě, ale ne ve vesnici.
This is also correct and makes the contrast slightly more explicit, similar to English “but not in a village”.
The version without ale is shorter and very common in speech. Both are fine stylistic options, not a grammatical difference.
For both phrases (ve velkém městě and ve vesnici), Czech uses ve instead of v for euphony (easier pronunciation):
- v
- word starting with v → usually ve: ve vesnici
- v
- velkém → ve velkém
So the pattern stays consistent:
- ve velkém městě, ne ve vesnici
Using v vesnici is technically possible in very careful or artificial speech, but in real language people say ve vesnici.