Learn Hardcore Czech: Dnes večer chci pozvat rodinu na večeři. - This evening I want to invite my family for dinner.

Czech word order is flexible, and time expressions often go at the beginning of the sentence, because Czech tends to go from known/background information → new information.

However, you can move dnes večer:

Dnes večer chci pozvat rodinu na večeři.
– Neutral: “This evening I want to invite my family to dinner.”
Chci dnes večer pozvat rodinu na večeři.
– Still natural; a bit more focus on the wanting rather than on when.
Chci pozvat rodinu dnes večer na večeři.
– Also possible, but people usually don’t split the two time/meal expressions (dnes večer, na večeři) unless they want special emphasis.

All are grammatically correct; the original is the most neutral and typical.

Why is there no word for “the” in rodinu or večeři? How do you say the family or a family?

Czech has no articles (no “a/an” or “the”). Nouns like rodina (family) or večeře (dinner) stand alone, and context tells you whether English would use a or the:

pozvat rodinu na večeři
→ can mean invite my/the family to dinner, not invite a random family (context usually tells you it’s my family).

If you really need to specify:

svou rodinu – my (own) family
jednu rodinu – one family / a family (emphasising “one”)

Why is it rodinu and not rodina?

Rodina is a feminine noun:

Nominative (dictionary form): rodina – family
Accusative (direct object): rodinu

In this sentence, rodinu is the direct object of pozvat (to invite):

Koho chci pozvat? – Rodinu.
(Whom do I want to invite? – (My) family.)

So the ending -a → -u shows accusative feminine singular.

Why is it na večeři? What does the preposition na mean here?

The preposition na is very common and has several meanings. With večeře it usually means for / to in the sense of an event or meal:

pozvat někoho na večeři – to invite someone to / for dinner
jít na večeři – to go for dinner

Grammar details:

večeře is feminine.
In na večeři, večeři is in the accusative (same form as dative/locative here, but functionally accusative).
na + accusative often expresses destination or purpose:
- jít na koncert – to go to a concert
- pozvat na večeři – to invite (someone) for dinner

Why is it chci pozvat and not something like pozvu?

Chci pozvat literally means “I want to invite”:

chci – I want
pozvat – to invite (perfective infinitive)

If you said:

Dnes večer pozvu rodinu na večeři.

that would mean “This evening I will invite my family to dinner” (a simple future decision statement).

The difference:

chci pozvat – emphasizes your desire/intention (“I want to invite them”).
pozvu – emphasizes the future action (“I will invite them”).

Both are possible, but they don’t mean exactly the same.

What is the difference between pozvat and zvat / zvat někoho?

Czech verbs come in aspect pairs: imperfective (ongoing, repeated) and perfective (single, completed whole).

zvat – imperfective: to invite (in general, repeatedly)
- Často zvu kamarády na večeři. – I often invite friends to dinner.
pozvat – perfective: to invite (once, as a complete act)
- Dnes večer chci pozvat rodinu na večeři. – I want to invite my family to dinner this evening (one event).

In your sentence, you’re talking about one specific invitation, so pozvat (perfective) is the natural choice.

Is chci the present tense? Why is present tense used when we are talking about “this evening” (the future)?

Yes, chci is present tense of chtít (to want):

já chci – I want
ty chceš – you want
on/ona chce – he/she wants, etc.

Here you are stating what you want now: right now you want to invite your family this evening.

Czech often uses present tense + a time expression for near future plans:

Zítra jedu do Prahy. – Tomorrow I (am going / will go) to Prague.
Dnes večer chci pozvat rodinu na večeři. – This evening I want to invite my family to dinner.

The wanting is present; the inviting will happen in the future.

Why is there no word for “I” (já) before chci?

Czech usually omits subject pronouns (já, ty, on, etc.), because the verb ending already shows the person:

chci already means “I want”
chceš means “you (sing.) want”
chce means “he/she/it wants”

You only add já when you want to emphasise “I”:

Já chci pozvat rodinu na večeři.
→ I want to invite the family to dinner (as opposed to someone else).

In the neutral sentence, chci without já is standard and natural.

Could I say Chtěl bych pozvat rodinu na večeři instead of Chci pozvat…? What is the difference?

Yes, you can, and it changes the tone:

Chci pozvat rodinu na večeři.
– “I want to invite my family to dinner.”
Neutral, direct statement of your wish/intention.
Chtěl bych pozvat rodinu na večeři.
– Literally: “I would like to invite my family to dinner.”
More polite and softer, often used when you’re making a polite suggestion or request.

Grammar:

chtěl bych = conditional form (“I would like”)
chci = direct present (“I want”)

Both are correct; choice depends on how direct or polite you want to sound.

Is there any difference between dnes večer and dneska večer?

Both mean “this evening / tonight” and are very close in meaning.

dnes večer – a bit more neutral / standard, fine in spoken and written language.
dneska večer – slightly more colloquial, very common in everyday speech.

You can freely say:

Dneska večer chci pozvat rodinu na večeři.

Native speakers use both; dnes is just a bit more “textbooky”.

Is večeři singular or plural here? How would you say “dinners”?

Here, večeři is singular, accusative form of večeře (dinner):

Nominative sg: večeře – dinner
Accusative sg: večeři – (invite someone) to dinner

Plural:

Nominative pl: večeře – dinners
- Míváme společné večeře. – We have joint dinners.

In this sentence you mean one dinner event, so singular is used.

Could I say Dnes večer chci rodinu pozvat na večeři? Is that correct?

Yes, Dnes večer chci rodinu pozvat na večeři is grammatically correct.

Czech word order is relatively free; moving rodinu before pozvat may slightly change the focus:

Dnes večer chci pozvat rodinu na večeři.
– More neutral, verb pozvat comes straight after chci.
Dnes večer chci rodinu pozvat na večeři.
– A bit more focus on rodinu (the family) as the thing you want to invite.

In everyday speech, the original order (chci pozvat rodinu) is more common, but the variant is perfectly acceptable.