Learn Hardcore Czech: Moje babička je klidná, i když něco ztratí, nikdy není nervózní. - My grandmother is calm even when she loses something; she is never nervous.

babička is a feminine noun (it ends in -a and means grandmother), so any adjective describing it must be in feminine singular.
The basic nominative forms of the adjective klidný (calm) are:
- masculine singular: klidný
- feminine singular: klidná
- neuter singular: klidné

So:

Můj dědeček je klidný. – My grandfather is calm. (masc.)
Moje babička je klidná. – My grandmother is calm. (fem.)

klidný would be wrong here because it is the masculine form.

Why is it Moje babička and not Má babička? Are both correct?

Both moje babička and má babička are grammatically correct and mean my grandmother.

moje is the full form of the possessive pronoun.
má is a short (clitic-like) form often used in a bit more formal or literary style, or in specific word orders.

Nuances:

Moje babička je klidná. – Completely normal, neutral spoken Czech.
Má babička je klidná. – Feels a bit more formal, bookish, or stylistically elevated in modern usage.

In everyday speech, learners are safest using moje. The short forms (má, můj, mé) are good to recognize but not essential to produce at first.

What exactly does i když mean here? How is it different from když or přestože?

i když literally combines:

když – when / if
i – even

Together, i když usually means even though / although / even if, expressing contrast.

In this sentence:
…je klidná, i když něco ztratí… ≈ …she is calm, even when / even if she loses something…

Differences:

když alone is more neutral: when / if
- Je klidná, když něco ztratí. – She is calm when she loses something. (stating a regular reaction, little or no contrast)
i když and přestože both express contrast:
- Je klidná, i když něco ztratí.
- Je klidná, přestože něco ztratí.
  Both ≈ She is calm even though she loses something.

přestože can sound a bit more formal, while i když is very common in spoken Czech.

Why is ztratí used and not ztrácí? What’s the difference?

Both come from the verb ztratit / ztrácet (to lose), but they differ in aspect:

ztratit – perfective (completed, one-time event) → present form ztratí = (future meaning) will lose / loses (as a single act)
ztrácet – imperfective (ongoing, repeated, process) → present form ztrácí = is losing / keeps losing / loses repeatedly

In the structure (i) když + present, Czech often uses the perfective to mean “if/when she happens to lose (something)” as a complete event:

i když něco ztratí – even if/when she loses something (on some occasion)

If you said:

i když něco ztrácí – this suggests she is in the process of losing something, or loses things repeatedly over some time. It can sound more like a continuous or habitual process, not just one event.

In many “reaction to a single event” sentences, the perfective ztratí fits more naturally.

Why is present tense used in i když něco ztratí if the English often says even if she loses / even when she loses?

English also uses the present tense here (loses), but the important point in Czech is:

In clauses with když / i když / jestli, a present tense verb often expresses:

a general rule (whenever she loses something), or
a potential event (if she loses something).

So:

i když něco ztratí can mean both:
- even when she loses something (in general, any time)
- even if she loses something (hypothetically)

Czech does not need a special conditional or future form here; the present tense after (i) když covers these meanings.

Why is it něco ztratí and not ztratí něco? Is the word order important?

Both word orders are possible:

i když něco ztratí
i když ztratí něco

The difference is subtle:

něco ztratí is very neutral and smooth; něco stands early as an unstressed, generic object.
ztratí něco might put a bit more weight on ztratí (the act of losing), but in such a short clause the difference is minimal.

In general Czech word order:

Unstressed, non-specific words like něco often appear early in the clause.
The chosen order i když něco ztratí is the most natural and common in everyday speech.

Why is there a comma before i když and another comma before nikdy? Would the commas be different in English?

The Czech sentence is:

Moje babička je klidná, i když něco ztratí, nikdy není nervózní.

Here:

je klidná – main clause
i když něco ztratí – subordinate clause (concessive: even though…)
nikdy není nervózní – continuation of the main idea

Czech comma rules:

A comma is placed before subordinate clauses introduced by conjunctions like když, protože, i když, etc.
→ comma before i když.
Additional segments in a sequence may be separated by commas if they are closely related but not joined by a simple a (and).
→ comma before nikdy není nervózní.

In English, many speakers would write:

My grandmother is calm; even when she loses something, she is never nervous.
or: My grandmother is calm. Even when she loses something, she is never nervous.

English is more likely to use a full stop or semicolon where Czech still accepts commas. Czech tends to allow longer sentences with more commas.

Why is nikdy placed before není? Could we say není nikdy nervózní?

Both are possible, but they sound a bit different:

nikdy není nervózní – the most neutral, standard word order:
- nikdy (never) is immediately in front of the verb it modifies (není – is not).
není nikdy nervózní – also correct, but slightly more emphatic, often used for contrast:
- She is *never nervous (as opposed to maybe being nervous sometimes…).*

General tendency in Czech:

Negative adverbs like nikdy, nic, nikdo usually come just before the verb:
- nikdy nechodí pozdě – he never comes late
- nikdo ho nezná – nobody knows him

So nikdy není nervózní is the default, especially in a neutral statement like this.

Is nikdy není nervózní an example of “double negation” in Czech? Should the verb be negative after nikdy?

Yes, this is exactly the usual Czech double negation pattern:

nikdy – never (a negative adverb)
není – is not (a negative verb form)

In Czech, negative words require a negated verb, unlike in English:

Czech: Nikdy není nervózní.
Literally: Never is-not nervous.
Meaning: She is never nervous.
If you tried to say Nikdy je nervózní, it would be wrong.

More examples:

Nikdo mě neviděl. – Nobody saw me. (Nobody me not-saw.)
Ničemu nerozumím. – I don’t understand anything. (To-nothing I-not-understand.)

For learners: whenever you use nikdy, nikdo, nic, nijak, nikde, etc., you almost always also negate the verb.

Could we say Moje babička je vždy klidná, i když něco ztratí? Would that change the meaning?

Yes, that’s a perfectly natural variant, and the meaning is almost the same but slightly more explicit:

Moje babička je klidná, i když něco ztratí, nikdy není nervózní.
– Emphasizes the contrast: even in a stressful situation (losing something), she stays calm and is never nervous.
Moje babička je vždy klidná, i když něco ztratí.
– vždy (always) directly states that her calmness is constant, and i když něco ztratí gives a strong example of that.

So vždy reinforces the idea of a general, always-true character trait. The original sentence already implies this with nikdy není nervózní, but vždy would make it even clearer.

Is the structure Moje babička je klidná … nikdy není nervózní typical in Czech for describing character traits?

Yes, this pattern is very typical when describing someone’s stable personality:

State a general trait with je + adjective:
- Moje babička je klidná. – My grandmother is calm.
Add a situation clause with (i) když / když / kdyžkoliv:
- i když něco ztratí – even when she loses something
Reinforce the trait with nikdy / skoro nikdy / jen zřídka + negated verb:
- nikdy není nervózní – she is never nervous

Similar examples:

Můj bratr je trpělivý, i když má hodně práce, nikdy nekřičí.
Moje máma je veselá, i když prší, nikdy není smutná.

So this sentence is a very natural model for describing how someone usually behaves in different situations.