Learn Hardcore Czech: V létě je naše město plné turistů. - In summer our city is full of tourists.

The preposition v (in) often takes the locative when talking about time periods:
- v létě – in (the) summer
- v zimě – in (the) winter
- v roce 2024 – in 2024

You cannot say v léto; léto must change to its locative form létě after v when it expresses time like this.

Why is there no word for “the” in naše město (“our town/the town”)?

Czech has no articles (no a/an or the).

naše město can mean:
- our town
- our city
- sometimes contextually the town we live in

Definiteness is understood from context, not from a separate word like the. So English our town is full of tourists in the summer is simply V létě je naše město plné turistů.

Why is it naše město and not náš město?

The possessive pronoun must agree with the gender, number and case of the noun.

město is neuter, singular, nominative.
The neuter singular nominative form of náš (our) is naše.

So:

náš dům – our house (dům = masculine)
naše město – our town (město = neuter)
naše vesnice – our village (vesnice = feminine)

Using náš město would be grammatically wrong, because náš is the masculine form.

What is the subject of the sentence? Is je like “there is/are”?

The subject is naše město (our town).

je is the 3rd person singular of být (to be) = is.
The sentence literally is:
- V létě – in (the) summer
- je – is
- naše město – our town
- plné turistů – full of tourists

So the basic structure is: [Our town] is [full of tourists].

Czech often doesn’t need a dummy subject like “there”. You would not say anything like “There is our town…” here.

Why is it město and not městě, like ve městě (“in the town”)?

Here, město is the subject, so it is in the nominative case.

město – nominative (subject)
(ve) městě – locative (usually after v/ve, meaning “in the town”)

Compare:

V létě je naše město plné turistů.
– In summer, our town is full of tourists. (town = subject, nominative)
V létě je ve městě hodně turistů.
– In summer, there are many tourists in the town. (town = location, locative)

So the case changes depending on the role in the sentence.

What form is plné? Why not plný?

Plné is the neuter singular nominative form of the adjective plný (full).

Adjectives agree with the noun they describe:

město – neuter, singular, nominative
therefore the adjective must also be neuter singular nominative: plné

Other examples:

plný pokoj – a full room (masc. sg. nom.)
plná ulice – a full street (fem. sg. nom.)
plné město – a full town (neut. sg. nom.)

So naše město je plné is “our town is full,” with both naše and plné matching město in gender/number/case.

What case is turistů, and why is it used here?

Turistů is genitive plural of turista (tourist).

The adjective plný (full) typically takes the genitive to express “full of something”:

plný vody – full of water
plná lidí – full of people
plné turistů – full of tourists

So plný + GENITIVE is the normal pattern. That’s why we say plné turistů, not for example plné turisté or plné turisti.

Could I say plné turisty instead of plné turistů?

No, not with plný.

turisty is accusative plural (among other forms).
But plný requires the genitive to express “full of X”.

So:

✅ plné turistů – correct (genitive plural)
❌ plné turisty – incorrect with plné

You could see turisty in another construction, for example:

Vidím turisty. – I see tourists. (direct object, accusative)

Can I change the word order, e.g. Naše město je v létě plné turistů? Does the meaning change?

Yes, that word order is correct too.

Possible orders include:

V létě je naše město plné turistů.
Naše město je v létě plné turistů.
Naše město je plné turistů v létě. (less usual; slight emphasis on in summer)

Czech word order is more flexible than English. All these basically mean the same, but the focus or what feels like the “starting point” of the sentence can change:

Starting with V létě… puts emphasis on the time: In summer, our town is full of tourists.
Starting with Naše město… emphasises the town itself: Our town is full of tourists in summer.

How would the sentence change if I wanted to say “In our town, summer is full of tourists”?

You would have to change which noun is the subject:

Original: V létě je naše město plné turistů.
– Subject: naše město (our town)

For “In our town, summer is full of tourists”:

V našem městě je léto plné turistů.

Breakdown:

V našem městě – in our town (locative)
je léto – summer is (subject = léto)
plné turistů – full of tourists

Notice the change from naše město (nominative) to v našem městě (locative).

Is V létě more like “in summer” or “in the summer”? Does Czech care about the difference?

Czech does not distinguish between “in summer” and “in the summer” the way English sometimes does. V létě can translate as either, depending on context:

V létě je naše město plné turistů.
– In summer, our town is full of tourists.
– In the summer, our town is full of tourists.

Both are valid translations. Czech doesn’t have articles, so this nuance isn’t encoded in the form of létě.

How do you pronounce město and turistů? Any tricky sounds?

Yes, there are a couple of points:

město:
- mě is pronounced roughly like mye (like “my-eh” blended).
- The whole word sounds like MYE-sto (with a short e, not “mee-eh”).
- Stress is on the first syllable: MĚ-sto.
turistů:
- u is like oo in “food”.
- ů (with the ring) is also like a long oo, but spelled differently; it’s always long.
- So turistů sounds like too-ris-too, with both u and ů long-ish, and stress on the first syllable: TU-ri-stů.

Remember: in Czech, stress is almost always on the first syllable of the word.

Are there other common ways to say something similar, like “During summer our town is full of tourists”?

Yes, there are a few natural variants:

Během léta je naše město plné turistů.
– During summer, our town is full of tourists.
V létě je v našem městě spousta turistů.
– In summer, there are lots of tourists in our town.
V létě je naše město plné návštěvníků.
– In summer, our town is full of visitors.

The original V létě je naše město plné turistů. is very natural and idiomatic; the others are just stylistic alternatives.