Learn Hardcore Czech: Nikdo nechce mít pořád špinavou kuchyni doma. - Nobody wants to have a dirty kitchen at home all the time.

In Czech, double negation is normal and required. When the subject is negative (nikdo – nobody), the verb must also be negated (nechce – does not want).

So:

Nikdo nechce… = Nobody wants…
Nikdo nic neřekl. = Nobody said anything. (literally: Nobody said nothing.)

If you said Nikdo chce, it would sound ungrammatical or extremely strange.
So:

Nikdo nechce mít pořád špinavou kuchyni doma. = Nobody wants to have a dirty kitchen at home all the time.

Why is the verb nechce singular if nikdo refers to many people?

Grammatically, nikdo is treated as 3rd person singular (like on/ona/ono – he/she/it), even though logically it refers to “no people”.

So:

Nikdo nechce. – Nobody wants. (3rd sg)
Nikdo nepřišel. – Nobody came.
Nikdo to neví. – Nobody knows that.

You never use plural agreement with nikdo. You do not say Nikdo nechtějí – that is incorrect.

Why do we need mít here? Could we just say Nikdo nechce pořád špinavou kuchyni doma?

You need mít because chtít (to want) in this sense normally takes another verb in the infinitive:

chtít něco dělat = to want to do something

Here, the action is to have a dirty kitchen, so we use mít:

Nikdo nechce mít pořád špinavou kuchyni doma.
Nobody wants to have a dirty kitchen at home all the time.

Without mít, Nikdo nechce pořád špinavou kuchyni doma is not grammatical. The verb chtít would be left without the infinitive it “expects”.

What exactly does pořád mean here? Is it like always, still, or constantly?

Pořád is a very common, colloquial word. Its meaning depends on context, but in this sentence it means:

all the time, constantly, continually

So:

Nikdo nechce mít pořád špinavou kuchyni doma.
≈ Nobody wants their kitchen at home to be dirty all the time.

Other similar words and nuances:

vždycky / vždy – always (more neutral/formal)
stále – still / continually (somewhat more formal or neutral)
furt – all the time / constantly (very colloquial, sometimes complaining tone)

You could also say:

Nikdo nechce mít stále špinavou kuchyni doma. (a bit more formal/neutral)
Nikdo nechce mít furt špinavou kuchyni doma. (very colloquial, can sound whiny/complaining)

Why is it špinavou kuchyni and not špinavá kuchyně?

Because špinavou kuchyni is in the accusative singular (feminine).

kuchyně (kitchen) is a feminine noun.
- Nominative sg: kuchyně (subject: Kuchyně je malá.)
- Accusative sg: kuchyni (object: Mám novou kuchyni.)
Adjectives must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.
For špinavý (dirty):

Nominative fem. sg.: špinavá kuchyně (as the subject)
Accusative fem. sg.: špinavou kuchyni (as the object)

In our sentence, kuchyni is the object of the verb mít:

mít špinavou kuchyni – to have a dirty kitchen
→ so we need accusative: špinavou kuchyni

How do I know that kuchyně is feminine and declines to kuchyni?

Partly it is vocabulary you have to learn, but there are patterns that help:

Many nouns ending in -e / -ě are feminine:
kuchyně, místnost, nemocnice, ulice etc.

Kuchyně (kitchen) follows a common feminine pattern:

Nominative sg: kuchyně
Genitive sg: kuchyně
Dative sg: kuchyni
Accusative sg: kuchyni
Locative sg: kuchyni
Instrumental sg: kuchyní

So in the role of a direct object you get kuchyni:

Vidím kuchyni. – I see the kitchen.
Mít špinavou kuchyni. – to have a dirty kitchen.

Why is it doma and not something like v domě or v domovu?

Doma is an adverb meaning at home. It’s the standard everyday way to say this location:

Jsem doma. – I’m at home.
Budu dnes večer doma. – I’ll be at home this evening.

V domě literally means in the house, and is more physical/neutral, not necessarily “at home” in the emotional sense. For example:

Jsem v domě naproti. – I’m in the house opposite.

In this sentence, we’re clearly talking about your home situation, so doma is the natural choice:

kuchyni doma = the kitchen at home

Could I change the word order, like Nikdo nechce mít doma pořád špinavou kuchyni? Is that still correct?

Yes, that word order is perfectly correct and quite natural:

Nikdo nechce mít doma pořád špinavou kuchyni.

Czech word order is flexible, and you can move adverbs like pořád and doma around to change focus or rhythm slightly. All of these are acceptable:

Nikdo nechce mít pořád špinavou kuchyni doma.
Nikdo nechce mít doma pořád špinavou kuchyni.
Nikdo nechce mít pořád doma špinavou kuchyni.

The differences are subtle. Often, placing doma earlier (mít doma pořád…) a bit more clearly anchors where first, then how/when (pořád) and then what (špinavou kuchyni). But in everyday speech, all of them sound fine.

What is the difference between nikdo and žádný? Could I use žádný here?

Nikdo = nobody / no one (a pronoun, referring to people).
Žádný = no / none / not any (an adjective, used before a noun).

You cannot replace nikdo with žádný here, because the structure is different:

Nikdo nechce mít pořád špinavou kuchyni doma.
Nobody wants to have a dirty kitchen at home all the time.

With žádný, you would usually negate the kitchen, not the person:

Nikdo nechce mít doma žádnou špinavou kuchyni.
Literally: Nobody wants to have any dirty kitchen at home.
(Logically similar meaning, but slightly different emphasis: “no dirty kitchen at all”.)

Typical uses:

Nikdo nepřišel. – Nobody came.
Žádný student nepřišel. – No student came. / None of the students came.

Is nechce mít present tense or does it also refer to the future?

Grammatically, nechce mít is present tense, but like in English, present tense in Czech can express a general truth or general preference, not just “right now”.

So:

Nikdo nechce mít pořád špinavou kuchyni doma.
≈ Nobody wants to have a dirty kitchen at home all the time.
This is a general statement about what people want (or don’t want).

If you wanted to clearly talk about the future, you could add some time expression:

Nikdo nechce mít v budoucnu doma pořád špinavou kuchyni.
Nobody wants to have a dirty kitchen at home in the future.

How do you pronounce kuchyni and pořád?

Approximate pronunciation:

kuchyni:
- ku – like koo in cool but shorter
- chy – Czech ch is a voiceless velar fricative (like the ch in Scottish loch or German Bach), y like short i in sit
- ni – like nyi, a bit like nyee
  → [koo-khyi-nyi]
pořád:
- po – like po in pot (but shorter, more like po in Poland)
- řá – ř is a special Czech sound, a kind of rolled r
  - zh together, á is long aa
- d – like English d
  → roughly [po-rzh-aad], but with the Czech ř sound.

Native English speakers usually find ch and ř the trickiest parts.

Could I say Nikdo nechce mít stále špinavou kuchyni doma or Nikdo nechce mít vždy špinavou kuchyni doma instead of pořád?

Yes, but they have slightly different feels:

stále – often “constantly, continually, still”
- Nikdo nechce mít stále špinavou kuchyni doma.
  Sounds a bit more neutral/formal than with pořád.
vždy or vždycky – literally always
- Nikdo nechce mít vždycky špinavou kuchyni doma.
  Emphasizes always, on every occasion; can sound a bit stronger or more absolute.

Pořád is very common in everyday speech and feels a bit more colloquial/natural in many contexts.

Why is the word order špinavou kuchyni (adjective before noun)? Can it be reversed?

The normal word order in Czech is:

adjective + noun: špinavou kuchyni, nový byt, dobré pivo

You can sometimes put the adjective after the noun, but it usually sounds stylistic, poetic, or emphatic, not neutral:

kuchyni špinavou – could be used for emphasis in some contexts, but in everyday speech here, špinavou kuchyni is the natural choice.

So in this sentence, you should keep špinavou kuchyni.

Is the sentence talking about “a kitchen at home” as opposed to “a kitchen somewhere else”?

Yes, doma specifically suggests your home (or someone’s home), not just any building.

špinavou kuchyni doma – the kitchen in your own home
špinavou kuchyni v práci – a dirty kitchen at work
špinavou kuchyni v restauraci – a dirty kitchen in a restaurant

So the nuance is: people don’t want the kitchen in their own home to be dirty all the time.