Learn Hardcore Czech: Moje dcera vždycky nosí sluchátka, protože někdo někde venku hraje hudbu. - My daughter always wears headphones because someone somewhere outside is playing music.

moje dcera – this is the most common, neutral spoken form of “my daughter”.
má dcera – a shorter, slightly more formal or literary variant. You’ll see it more often in writing, songs, poetry, or for emphasis, especially at the beginning of a sentence.

In everyday speech, moje dcera is what you’ll hear most of the time.

Why is it dcera and not dceru or dcery?

Dcera is in the nominative singular, because it is the subject of the sentence.

Moje dcera – My daughter (subject, nominative singular)
nosí sluchátka – wears headphones (predicate / verb + object)

Other forms you might see are:

dceru – accusative singular (direct object: Vidím dceru. – I see my daughter.)
dcery – genitive singular (bez dcery – without (my) daughter) or nominative plural (Moje dcery – my daughters), depending on context.

Here, because the daughter is the one doing the action, we need dcera.

Why is vždycky placed before nosí? Could I say Moje dcera nosí vždycky sluchátka instead?

Vždycky is an adverb meaning “always”, and Czech prefers to put these adverbs before the verb in neutral word order:

Neutral: Moje dcera vždycky nosí sluchátka.
Also possible (but slightly more emphatic / marked):
- Moje dcera nosí vždycky sluchátka.
- Moje dcera nosí sluchátka vždycky.

Differences are subtle:

vždycky nosí sluchátka – neutral: she always wears headphones.
nosí vždycky sluchátka – slight emphasis on vždycky (“she does always wear headphones”).
nosí sluchátka vždycky – emphasis at the end; can sound like you’re stressing the “always” part in contrast to some other time or habit.

All are acceptable; the original has the most neutral, natural flow.

Why is nosí used here and not má? What exactly does nosit mean?

Nosit has two main meanings in Czech:

To wear (regularly, as a habit) – for clothes, accessories, headphones, etc.
- nosit sluchátka – to wear headphones (as a habit)
- nosit brýle – to wear glasses
To carry (repeatedly / habitually) –
- Nosí těžké tašky. – He carries heavy bags (regularly).

In the sentence:

Moje dcera vždycky nosí sluchátka
= My daughter always wears headphones / always has headphones on.

If you used má:

Moje dcera vždycky má sluchátka.
– more like “always has headphones (with her)”, not necessarily on her ears, and it sounds a bit less natural here.

To clearly say “has them on (right now)”, you could also hear:

Má na sobě sluchátka. – She has headphones on. (state, not habit)

But with vždycky, the habitual nosí is exactly what you want.

What is going on with sluchátka? Why does it look plural, and what case is it?

Sluchátka is:

neuter plural (like headphones in English)
in the accusative plural here, because it’s the direct object of nosí.

Formally:

Dictionary form: sluchátko – a (single) earphone / headphone
Plural: sluchátka – headphones

Neuter nouns in Czech often have the same form for nominative and accusative plural, so:

Nominative plural: sluchátka – Sluchátka jsou drahá. – The headphones are expensive.
Accusative plural: sluchátka – Nosí sluchátka. – She wears headphones.

In this sentence, sluchátka is accusative plural, as the thing being worn.

Why is there a comma before protože?

In Czech, you must put a comma before most subordinating conjunctions, including protože (because), when they introduce a subordinate clause.

So:

Moje dcera vždycky nosí sluchátka, protože někdo někde venku hraje hudbu.
= Main clause + comma + subordinate clause.

This is different from English, where the comma before because is often omitted. In Czech, the comma is mandatory in this position.

Is the word order někdo někde venku fixed? Can I change it?

The words are:

někdo – someone
někde – somewhere
venku – outside

Někdo někde venku literally: “someone somewhere outside” – slightly vague and colloquial, which matches the meaning.

You can change the order, but the feel changes:

někdo někde venku hraje hudbu – neutral, natural.
někdo venku někde hraje hudbu – sounds a bit odd / clumsy.
venku někde někdo hraje hudbu – okay, with emphasis on outside somewhere.
někde venku někdo hraje hudbu – also okay, emphasizes some unknown place outside.

The original order is very natural because it goes from indefinite person (někdo) → indefinite place (někde) → general location (venku), gradually specifying the situation.

Why is it hraje hudbu? Could I just say hraje or use a different verb like pouští hudbu?

Hrát means to play, and hraje hudbu = “(someone) is playing music / plays music”.

hraje hudbu – someone is playing music (with an instrument, or as a general activity).
hraje alone is more ambiguous – he plays (a game? a sport? an instrument?). Context might make it clear, but hudbu removes ambiguity.

Other verbs:

pouštět hudbu – to put music on / to play tracks (from a phone, speakers, etc.).
- někdo venku pouští hudbu – someone outside is playing music (from speakers).
přehrávat hudbu – to play back music (more technical/formal).

In everyday speech, hraje hudbu and pouští hudbu are both common; hraje hudbu is slightly more neutral and can include live playing.

In English we distinguish “plays music” and “is playing music”. How does Czech show this difference with hraje?

Czech does not have a separate continuous form like English (is playing). The present tense form hraje can mean both:

He plays music (in general / habitually).
He is playing music (right now).

Context tells you which is meant.

In your sentence:

… protože někdo někde venku hraje hudbu.
→ Context (daughter always wearing headphones because of some ongoing outside music) suggests an action happening now or regularly, similar to English “because someone is playing music outside” or “because there’s always someone playing music outside.”

Czech uses aspect (different verb pairs) to distinguish types of actions, but here hrát (imperfective) in the present comfortably covers both “plays” and “is playing.” The same is true for nosí (wears / is wearing as a habit).

How do you pronounce tricky parts like dcera and vždycky?

Some hints:

dcera

Spelled: d + c + e + r + a
Pronunciation: the dc is like a quick [d] + [ts].
Approximate: “d-tsera”, but very fast, almost “tsera” with a soft d starting.

vždycky

Spelled: v + ž + d + y + c + k + y
There is no ř here; it’s ž
- d.
Phonetically, native speech often assimilates vž
- d to something like [vʒdɪtski].
Roughly: “vzh-dits-ki”, said smoothly together.

Stress in Czech is always on the first syllable:

MO‑je DCE‑ra VŽDY‑cky NO‑sí SLU‑chát‑ka…