Learn Hardcore Czech: Učitel, který učí dějepis, nám vyprávěl příběh o malíři. - The teacher who teaches history told us a story about a painter.

So we get: Učitel, který učí dějepis, nám vyprávěl příběh o malíři.
The first comma marks the start of the subordinate clause, the second comma marks its end. Unlike in English, these commas are required by grammar, not used just for “extra/non‑essential” information.

Why do we use který and not kdo for who here?

Czech normally uses který as a relative pronoun when it refers back to a specific noun (the antecedent), such as učitel.

Učitel, který učí dějepis… = The teacher who teaches history…

Kdo is used:

as a question word: Kdo učí dějepis? – Who teaches history?
or as a “fused” relative when there is no noun before it:
Kdo učí dějepis, má hodně práce. – Whoever teaches history has a lot of work.

But if you already have a noun like učitel, the normal relative pronoun is který, not kdo.

What case is který in here, and why is it in that form?

Here který is nominative masculine singular:

It refers to učitel (teacher), which is masculine singular.
Inside the clause který učí dějepis, který is the subject of učí (who teaches), and subjects are in the nominative.

So we must use který, not kterého / kterému / kterým etc.

Very roughly for singular forms:

Masc. nominative: který
Feminine nominative: která
Neuter nominative: které

What does nám mean exactly, and why is it in the dative case?

Nám means “to us / for us”. It is the dative plural of the pronoun my (we).

The verb vyprávět (to tell/narrate) typically takes:

někomu (dative) – to someone
něco (accusative) – something

So the pattern is:

vyprávěl nám příběh = he told us a story
- nám – to us (dative)
- příběh – a story (accusative)

Mini-paradigm for my (we):

Nominative: my – we
Accusative/Genitive: nás – us
Dative: nám – to us
Locative: nás
Instrumental: námi – with us

Why is nám placed before vyprávěl? Could we also say …vyprávěl nám příběh…?

Short unstressed pronouns like mi, ti, nám, vám, ho, ji are clitics in Czech. They normally appear in “second position” in the clause, after the first stressed part.

Here the first big unit is Učitel, který učí dějepis, so the next slot is taken by the clitic nám:

Učitel, který učí dějepis, nám vyprávěl příběh o malíři.

You can also say:

Učitel, který učí dějepis, vyprávěl nám příběh o malíři.

This is still grammatical; it just sounds a bit less neutral. With an explicit subject at the beginning, Czech strongly prefers subject + clitic + verb: Učitel … nám vyprávěl…

How is the past tense form vyprávěl built, and what does it tell us?

The infinitive is vyprávět (to tell / to narrate). Past tense is formed by:

taking the stem: vyprávě‑
adding ‑l for masculine singular: vyprávěl

It indicates:

past time
masculine singular subject (here: učitel, or implied on = he)
imperfective aspect (it describes the action of telling, not just the completed result).

Other forms:

ona / ta učitelka vyprávěla
oni (masc. animate) vyprávěli
ony (fem.) vyprávěly

Could we say Učitel dějepisu nám vyprávěl… instead? Would that mean the same?

Yes. Učitel dějepisu (literally “teacher of history”) is another natural way to say history teacher.

Učitel dějepisu nám vyprávěl příběh o malíři.
≈ Učitel, který učí dějepis, nám vyprávěl příběh o malíři.

The meaning is almost the same.

Subtle nuance:

učitel dějepisu – his role/title; history teacher by profession.
učitel, který učí dějepis – a teacher who (in this context) happens to teach history; a bit more descriptive and less like an official label.

What is the difference between dějepis and historie?

Both can translate as history, but they are used differently:

dějepis – the school subject “History”
- učí dějepis – he teaches history (in school)
historie – history as a field or the course of events; also sometimes “story”
- dějiny Evropy / evropská historie – the history of Europe
- To je dlouhá historie. – That’s a long story/history.

In this sentence, který učí dějepis clearly means he is a school history teacher.

What case is příběh in, and why?

Příběh is in the accusative singular.

It is the direct object of vyprávěl:

He told *what? → *příběh – a story.

For masculine inanimate nouns like příběh, nominative and accusative singular look the same (both příběh), so you recognize the case from the function in the sentence, not from a change in ending.

Why is it o malíři and not o malíř or o malíře?

The preposition o meaning “about” (in the sense of topic) requires the locative case.

The noun malíř (painter) declines roughly:

Nominative: malíř – the painter (subject)
Accusative: malíře – I see the painter
Locative: (o) malíři – about the painter

So o malíři = about a painter.
o malíře would be accusative, which doesn’t fit this meaning of o.

There is no word for a before malíři. How do we know it means “about a painter” and not “about the painter”?

Czech has no articles (no a / an / the). Definiteness is expressed by context, word order, or determiners like ten (that / the).

o malíři – usually “about a painter”, introducing someone not yet specified.
o tom malíři – “about that (particular) painter” → more clearly definite.
o slavném malíři – “about a famous painter” (indefinite but described).

Here, with no prior mention and no determiner, o malíři is naturally understood as “about a painter”.

How do you pronounce the tricky sounds in this sentence?

Key points:

č in učitel – like ch in chocolate.
ř in příběh, malíři – a special Czech sound: a rolled/ trilled r combined with a zh sound. There is no exact English equivalent; it’s one of the hardest Czech sounds.
ě in dějepis, příběh – softens the preceding consonant:
- dě ≈ soft ďe (like dje)
- bě ≈ bje
Long vowels: á, í in nám, učí, příběh, malíři are held longer than short vowels. Czech stress is always on the first syllable of each word: U‑čitel, který, učí, dějepis, nám, vy‑prá‑věl, pří‑běh, o, ma‑lí‑ři.

Why is vyprávěl used here instead of řekl or pověděl?

The verbs have slightly different typical uses:

vyprávět – to tell/narrate a story, usually something longer or more structured.
- vyprávět příběh / pohádku – to tell a story / fairy tale.
říct / říkat – to say, to tell (a statement, information).
- řekl nám pravdu – he told us the truth.
povědět – similar to říct, a bit more stylistic/colloquial.

Because the object is příběh (a story), vyprávěl příběh is the most natural choice: he (narrated) told us a story.

Does učí mean “teaches” or “is teaching”? Why isn’t it in the past tense too?

Czech present tense učí can cover both:

he teaches (habitual, his job)
he is teaching (right now), depending on context.

In učitel, který učí dějepis, it describes his general role: he is a teacher who (as a rule) teaches history. That’s why it’s in the present tense, even though the main verb vyprávěl is in the past:

The teacher, who teaches history, told us a story…

If you said který učil dějepis, it would suggest he used to teach history (in the past), which would slightly change the meaning.