Learn Hardcore Czech: Raději chodí občas do malé kavárny a dává si tam kávu bez cukru. - She prefers to go sometimes to a small café and she has coffee without sugar there.

chodí and dává (si) are 3rd person singular present forms. That tells us the subject is on / ona / ono = he / she / it.
The sentence itself does not specify gender; both he and she are possible.
Context would usually make it clear in a real conversation or text.

So the “missing” he/she is simply understood from the verb ending: (On / Ona) raději chodí…

What exactly does raději mean, and how is it different from rád and radši?

rád = “gladly, with pleasure, like to”.
- Rád pije kávu. = “He likes to drink coffee.”
raději = comparative form of rád = “rather, prefer to”.
- Raději pije kávu. = “He prefers to drink coffee.”
radši = a more colloquial, shorter variant of raději.
- Radši pije kávu. (very common in speech)

In the sentence Raději chodí občas do malé kavárny…, raději means “(He/She) prefers to…”, usually in contrast to some other option mentioned earlier in context.

Why is it chodí and not something like jde? Both mean “go”, right?

Both are verbs of motion, but they’re used differently:

chodí is the 3rd person singular of chodit (imperfective, “to go (on foot) repeatedly / in general / habitually”).
- Raději chodí do malé kavárny. = “He/She prefers to (regularly) go to a small café.”
jde is the 3rd person singular of jít (imperfective, but used for one specific movement happening now or soon).
- Teď jde do kavárny. = “He/She is going to the café (now).”

Because the sentence describes a habit or preference, chodí is the natural choice. Jde would sound like one concrete trip, not a general habit.

What does občas mean exactly, and where can it go in the sentence?

občas means “occasionally, from time to time”.
In Raději chodí občas do malé kavárny, it modifies chodí (“He/She prefers to go sometimes to a small café.”).

Placement is fairly flexible:

Raději občas chodí do malé kavárny.
Občas raději chodí do malé kavárny.
Raději chodí do malé kavárny občas. (less usual but possible)

The basic meaning stays the same; moving občas can slightly shift what is emphasized, but all of these are understandable and correct.

Why is it do malé kavárny and not something like na malou kavárnu?

Czech uses different prepositions for different types of “to”:

do
- genitive = going into or inside a place:
  - do kavárny = “to (into) the café”
  - do školy = “to school”
na
- accusative = going onto a surface or to an event/institution:
  - na stůl = “onto the table”
  - na koncert = “to a concert”
  - na univerzitu = “to university”

A café is treated as an enclosed place you go into, so Czech uses do + genitive:

do malé kavárny = do
- genitive singular
  - malé (genitive singular feminine of malá)
  - kavárny (genitive singular of kavárna)

Why is it kavárny and not kavárna?

Because the preposition do always takes the genitive case.

Nominative (dictionary form): kavárna – “(a) café”
Genitive singular: kavárny

With the adjective:

Nominative: malá kavárna
Genitive: malé kavárny

So do malé kavárny is simply “to a small café” with both words correctly in the genitive after do.

Why do we say dává si and not just dá or something like pije for “has coffee”?

Czech has a very common expression dát si / dávat si for having (ordering/consuming) food and drinks:

dát si kávu = “to have a coffee (once)”
dávat si kávu = “to have coffee (regularly / habitually)”

In the sentence:

dává si tam kávu bez cukru.

dává si is present tense of dávat si (imperfective), so it matches the habitual idea from chodí:

“He/She (regularly) has coffee there without sugar.”

If you said pije kávu, that would mean “drinks coffee”, focusing more on the drinking action itself, not the act of “having/ordering” it in the café.

What does si add in dává si? Could we just say dává kávu?

si is a reflexive pronoun in the dative (“for himself/herself”). With dát / dávat, it often turns “give” into “have (for oneself)”:

dává kávu = “He/She gives (somebody) coffee.” (to someone else)
dává si kávu = “He/She has coffee (for himself/herself).”

For ordering or consuming food and drinks for yourself, you almost always use this reflexive form:

dám si kávu – “I’ll have a coffee.”
dává si polévku – “He/She has soup.”

So in this sentence si is necessary to get the meaning “has coffee” rather than “gives coffee (to someone else)”.

Why is it kávu and not káva?

kávu is the accusative singular of káva:

Nominative: káva – subject (“Káva je teplá.” = “The coffee is hot.”)
Accusative: kávu – direct object (“Dává si kávu.” = “He/She has coffee.”)

Here, coffee is the thing being “had”, so it is the direct object of dává si, and Czech marks that with the accusative kávu.

Why is it bez cukru and not bez cukr or bez cukrem?

The preposition bez (“without”) always takes the genitive case.

Nominative: cukr – “sugar”
Genitive singular: cukru

So:

bez cukru = “without sugar”

This pattern is regular:

bez mléka – “without milk”
bez masa – “without meat”
bez telefonu – “without a phone”

What is tam doing in the sentence? Can it be moved or left out?

tam means “there” and refers back to do malé kavárny — “in that café / there”.

dává si tam kávu bez cukru = “He/She has coffee there without sugar.”

You can:

omit it if the place is already clear:
- Raději chodí občas do malé kavárny a dává si kávu bez cukru.
  (Still understandable: obviously “there” = in that café.)
move it to change emphasis slightly:
- …a tam si dává kávu bez cukru. (more emphasis on “there”)
- …a dává si kávu bez cukru tam. (possible, but less neutral)

The given order a dává si tam kávu bez cukru is very natural: verb + clitic si + place tam + object kávu.