Breakdown of V neděli chci pozvat naše sousedy na kávu a do kina.
Questions & Answers about V neděli chci pozvat naše sousedy na kávu a do kina.
In Czech you normally need a preposition to talk about days of the week in the sense of “on Sunday”.
- V neděli literally means “in Sunday”, but it is the standard way to say “on Sunday”.
- The pattern is:
- v pondělí – on Monday
- v úterý – on Tuesday
- ve středu – on Wednesday
- ve čtvrtek – on Thursday
- v pátek – on Friday
- v sobotu – on Saturday
- v neděli – on Sunday
So V neděli chci… = On Sunday I want to…. Omitting v (Neděli chci…) is incorrect in standard Czech in this meaning.
Neděli is in the locative case here, because the preposition v (in) for time and place always governs the locative.
The noun neděle (Sunday) declines like this (singular):
- Nominative: neděle (subject – Sunday)
- Genitive: neděle
- Dative: neděli
- Accusative: neděli
- Locative: neděli
- Instrumental: nedělí
So for this type of feminine noun, dative, accusative, and locative singular all look the same: neděli.
In v neděli, the form is locative, even though it is identical in shape to the accusative. You can tell it’s locative because it follows v, which requires locative for time/place.
In Czech, subject pronouns (já, ty, on, ona…) are usually dropped when the verb form already makes the subject clear.
- chci can only mean “I want” (1st person singular of chtít – to want).
- So V neděli chci pozvat… is perfectly complete and natural.
You would normally use já only for emphasis or contrast, e.g.:
- Já chci pozvat naše sousedy, ne ty. – I want to invite our neighbours, not you.
In neutral sentences, Czech almost always leaves out the subject pronoun if it’s obvious from the verb.
Czech verbs come in aspects: imperfective (ongoing, repeated, process) vs. perfective (single, completed event).
- zvat / zvát – imperfective: to be inviting, to invite (as an ongoing / repeated action)
- Example: Často zvu sousedy na kávu. – I often invite the neighbours for coffee.
- pozvat – perfective: to invite (one complete act)
- Example: Zítra pozvu sousedy na kávu. – Tomorrow I’ll invite the neighbours (once).
In V neděli chci pozvat naše sousedy…, the speaker has one specific, planned invitation in mind (a single act), so the perfective pozvat is appropriate.
Two things are happening here:
Case:
- naše sousedy is in the accusative plural because the neighbours are the direct object of pozvat (whom do I want to invite?).
- soused (neighbour, masc. animate)
- Nominative plural: sousedi (subject: Naši sousedi bydlí vedle. – Our neighbours live next door.)
- Accusative plural: sousedy (object: Vidím sousedy. – I see the neighbours.)
Agreement of the possessive pronoun náš (our):
- Nominative plural masculine animate: naši
- Naši sousedi – our neighbours as subject
- Accusative plural masculine animate: naše
- Pozvat naše sousedy – to invite our neighbours (as object)
- Nominative plural masculine animate: naši
So:
- naši sousedi – our neighbours (as subject)
- naše sousedy – our neighbours (as direct object, accusative plural)
Because sousedi is nominative plural (subject), while sousedy is accusative plural (object).
- Nominative plural – subject:
- Naši sousedi jsou milí. – Our neighbours are nice.
- Accusative plural – direct object:
- Chci pozvat naše sousedy. – I want to invite our neighbours.
The verb pozvat answers the question Koho? (whom?), which takes the accusative case. Hence sousedy.
The usual pattern for pozvat is:
- pozvat někoho (ACC) – invite someone
- na něco (ACC) – to/for something (an event, activity, drink, meal, etc.)
- kam? (with a preposition) – to where
In this sentence:
- pozvat naše sousedy – invite our neighbours (koho? → accusative)
- na kávu – for coffee (na co? → accusative)
- a do kina – and to the cinema (kam? → preposition do
- genitive)
So the full structure is:
pozvat (koho?) naše sousedy (na co?) na kávu (kam?) do kina
Czech uses different prepositions depending on the type of destination or purpose.
na + accusative – for going to an event / activity, or for a meal/drink
- jít na koncert – to go to a concert
- jít na večeři – to go for dinner
- jít na pivo – to go for a beer
- pozvat někoho na kávu – invite someone for coffee
Here, kávu (accusative of káva) is treated as an activity/occasion: you invite them for coffee.
do + genitive – for going into an enclosed place / building / space
- jít do školy – to go to school
- jít do restaurace – to go to a restaurant
- jít do kina – to go to the cinema
kino (cinema) is a place; do kina (genitive of kino) expresses movement into that place.
So na kávu a do kina combines:
- purpose/activity: na kávu – for coffee
- destination/place: do kina – to the cinema
Kávu is accusative singular of káva (coffee).
The preposition na in the sense of “for (coffee/beer/dinner)” takes the accusative case:
- na kávu – for coffee
- na pivo – for a beer
- na oběd – for lunch
- na večeři – for dinner
So káva (nominative) changes to kávu (accusative) after na in this meaning.
Na káva would be grammatically wrong here.
No, not in standard Czech if you mean “for coffee and to the cinema”.
- kávu is an activity/occasion, so na kávu is correct.
- kino is a place you go into, so Czech strongly prefers do kina.
If you said na kávu a kino, it would sound incomplete or wrong to a native speaker – kino needs its own appropriate preposition:
- na kávu a do kina – for coffee and to the cinema (correct)
- na kávu a na film – for coffee and (to) a movie (here both are activities/events, so both can use na).
Yes, you can. Both are correct:
- V neděli chci pozvat naše sousedy na kávu a do kina.
- Chci v neděli pozvat naše sousedy na kávu a do kina.
The difference is nuance and emphasis:
- Starting with V neděli puts a bit more emphasis on when this will happen (On Sunday, I want to…).
- Starting with Chci sounds a bit more neutral or focused on the wanting itself (I want, on Sunday, to…).
Czech word order is fairly flexible, especially with adverbials like v neděli. As long as you keep the core grammar (cases, prepositions, verb forms) correct, variations like these are natural.