Learn Hardcore Czech: V pondělí mám schůzku s učitelem. - On Monday I have a meeting with the teacher.

v most often means in, but with days and parts of the day it is used where English uses on or in.
So:
- v pondělí = on Monday
- v úterý = on Tuesday
- v létě = in summer

You cannot leave the preposition out: *Pondělí mám schůzku… is wrong. With days of the week, you normally need v (or ve before certain consonants: ve středu).

What case is pondělí in, and why does it look the same as the dictionary form?

After v in the time sense (v pondělí, v lednu, etc.), Czech uses the locative case.

Dictionary form: pondělí (nominative singular, neuter)
In v pondělí, it is locative singular.

For this type of neuter noun ending in ‑í, most singular forms look identical (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, locative are all pondělí; only instrumental is pondělím).

So grammatically it changes case, but the form doesn’t change, which is why you don’t see any new ending.

Why is it schůzku and not schůzka?

Because schůzka is the object of the verb mám (“I have”), and Czech marks direct objects with the accusative case.

Dictionary form (nominative): schůzka (a meeting)
Accusative singular (feminine ‑a → ‑u): schůzku

This is the same pattern as:

káva → Mám kávu. (I have coffee.)
otázka → Mám otázku. (I have a question.)

So Mám schůzku literally means “I have meeting/appointment”.

What exactly does schůzka mean? Is it a business meeting, a doctor’s appointment, or a romantic date?

Schůzka is a general “arranged meeting” between people. Its exact flavor depends on context:

business / formal:
- mám schůzku s klientem – I have a meeting with a client
doctor / hairdresser / official appointment:
- mám schůzku u doktora – I have an appointment at the doctor’s
romantic: it can mean a date, but rande is more clearly romantic

So in isolation, mám schůzku s učitelem just means you have a scheduled meeting/appointment with a teacher; whether it’s formal, informal, extra help, etc., depends on the situation.

Why is there no word for a/the before schůzku or učitelem?

Czech has no articles (no words like “a”, “an”, “the”).

schůzku can mean a meeting, the meeting, or my meeting depending on context.
s učitelem can be with a teacher or with the teacher or with my teacher.

If you want to be more specific, you add other words, not an article, for example:

mám tu schůzku – I have that meeting
mám schůzku se svým učitelem – I have a meeting with my teacher

But the basic sentence works without anything like “a” or “the”.

Why is the subject “I” ( já ) missing? How do we know it means “I have a meeting”?

In Czech, the verb ending usually shows who the subject is, so the subject pronoun is often dropped.

mám = I have (1st person singular)
máš = you have (singular informal)
má = he/she/it has

Because mám clearly marks the subject as “I”, you normally do not say já.

You can say Já mám schůzku s učitelem, but then já is stressed, like: “I have a meeting with the teacher (not someone else).”

Why is mám (present tense) used if the meeting is in the future?

Present tense in Czech can also express scheduled or arranged future events, very much like in English:

English: I have a meeting on Monday. (It’s in the future, but present tense.)
Czech: V pondělí mám schůzku s učitelem.

This is natural when:

the event is planned / fixed (timetable, appointment, ticket, calendar)

If you really want to stress the futurity, you can say:

V pondělí budu mít schůzku s učitelem. – I will have a meeting on Monday.

Both are correct; with appointments and timetables the present is more common.

Why is it s učitelem and not s učitel?

Because the preposition s (“with”) always requires the instrumental case.

Dictionary form (nominative): učitel (teacher)
Instrumental singular (with): učitelem

Examples:

s učitelem – with a/the teacher
s kamarádem – with a friend
s lékařem – with (the) doctor

So s učitel would be ungrammatical; the ending ‑em is required by s.

What case is učitelem, and when do we use the ‑em ending?

Učitelem is instrumental singular, used mainly to express:

with someone (s učitelem – with a teacher)
by / with a tool (psát perem – to write with a pen)
sometimes role/occupation (pracuje učitelem – he works as a teacher)

For most masculine animate nouns, instrumental singular ends in ‑em:

učitel → s učitelem – with a teacher
student → se studentem – with a student
kolega → s kolegou (this one uses ‑ou, a common alternative pattern)

In V pondělí mám schůzku s učitelem, s triggers this instrumental form.

Can I also say Mám schůzku s učitelem v pondělí? Does the word order change the meaning?

Yes, you can say:

V pondělí mám schůzku s učitelem.
Mám v pondělí schůzku s učitelem.
Mám schůzku s učitelem v pondělí.

All are grammatically correct and normally mean the same thing.

Nuance:

Czech often puts time expressions early in the sentence, so V pondělí mám… or Mám v pondělí… sounds very natural.
Moving v pondělí to the very end can slightly highlight the contrast of when, but context and intonation matter more than strict word order.

Compared to English, Czech word order is more flexible, because grammatical roles are shown by endings, not by position.

How would the sentence change if the teacher was female?

The word for a female teacher is učitelka. Its instrumental form is učitelkou.

So you would say:

V pondělí mám schůzku s učitelkou.
- I have a meeting with a (female) teacher on Monday.

Nothing else in the sentence changes; only učitelem becomes učitelkou.

How do you pronounce v pondělí and schůzku?

Approximate pronunciation:

v pondělí → roughly: [f PON-dye-lee]
- v before p is often pronounced like f
- stress on the first syllable: PON‑dě‑lí
- dě is a soft sound, like “dye” but shorter
- í is a long ee sound
schůzku → roughly: [SKHOOZ-koo]
- sch = s
  - a rough kh sound together
- ů is a long oo (like in English “food”)
- final u in ‑ku is a short oo

Czech always stresses the first syllable of a word: PON‑dě‑lí, SCHŮZ‑ku.

Why is pondělí written with a small p, not P?

In Czech, days of the week and months are not capitalized, unless they start a sentence or are part of a proper name.

So you write:

v pondělí, v úterý, ve středu
v lednu, v červnu

This is different from English, where Monday, Tuesday, January are capitalized.