Learn Hardcore Czech: Pro mě je ovoce nejzdravější jídlo.

pro takes the accusative, so you need mě (or the more formal mne):
- pro mě, pro tebe, pro něj …
k / ke, kvůli, díky, naproti etc. take dative, so there you would see mně:
- k mně = to me
- kvůli mně = because of me

So pro mně is grammatically wrong; it must be pro mě (or pro mne).

Does pro mě mean literally “for me” or “in my opinion”?

It can mean both, depending on context.

Literal, physical meaning:
- Tohle je dárek pro mě.
  = This is a present for me.
Subjective / opinion meaning (like “for me / in my view”):
- Pro mě je ovoce nejzdravější jídlo.
  = For me, fruit is the healthiest food. (In my opinion)

In your sentence, it clearly expresses a personal opinion.

If you want to be even more explicit about opinion, you can also say:

Podle mě je ovoce nejzdravější jídlo.
(According to me / In my opinion, fruit is the healthiest food.)

Why does the sentence start with Pro mě? Could I say Ovoce je pro mě nejzdravější jídlo instead?

Word order in Czech is flexible, and speakers use it to highlight different parts of the sentence.

Pro mě je ovoce nejzdravější jídlo.
Puts extra emphasis on pro mě – “As for me personally, fruit is the healthiest food.”
Ovoce je pro mě nejzdravější jídlo.
Sounds a bit more neutral, like “Fruit is, for me, the healthiest food.”

Both are grammatically correct.
Putting pro mě at the beginning makes your personal perspective sound more prominent or contrastive (e.g. For me, fruit is the healthiest food, even if others disagree).

What gender and number is ovoce, and how does that affect the rest of the sentence?

Ovoce (fruit) in Czech is:

gender: neuter
number: grammatically singular (even though it refers to a mass or a collection)

This has consequences:

The verb is singular: ovoce je, not ✗ ovoce jsou
An adjective referring directly to ovoce would also be neuter singular:
- čerstvé ovoce (fresh fruit)

In your sentence, nejzdravější jídlo is not agreeing with ovoce as an adjective; it is a predicate noun (“fruit is the healthiest food”), so both ovoce and jídlo are in nominative singular, each with its own gender:

ovoce – neuter singular, nominative
jídlo – neuter singular, nominative
nejzdravější agrees with jídlo (also neuter singular nominative)

Why is it ovoce je and not ovoce jsou? In English, “fruit” can be treated as plural.

In Czech, ovoce is always treated as a singular noun grammatically:

Ovoce je drahé. – Fruit is expensive.
Mám rád ovoce. – I like fruit.

You never say ✗ ovoce jsou in standard Czech.

So the correct form in your sentence is ovoce je, because the verb must agree with the neuter singular subject ovoce.

How is nejzdravější formed, and is that always how you make the superlative?

Nejzdravější is the superlative of zdravý (healthy):

positive: zdravý = healthy
comparative: zdravější = healthier
superlative: nejzdravější = the healthiest

For most adjectives, the pattern is:

comparative: add -ejší / -ější (with some stem changes)
superlative: add nej- in front of the comparative

Examples:

levný → levnější → nejlevnější (cheap → cheaper → the cheapest)
rychlý → rychlejší → nejrychlejší (fast → faster → the fastest)

You can use nejvíc + adjective (e.g. nejvíc zdravý) in special stylistic cases, but for normal “the healthiest” you use nejzdravější, just like in your sentence.

Why is it nejzdravější jídlo in the nominative, not nejzdravějším jídlem in the instrumental?

Czech has two common ways to say “X is Y” when Y is a noun:

Nominative predicate (most common, neutral):
- Ovoce je nejzdravější jídlo.
  Fruit is the healthiest food.
Instrumental predicate (adds a nuance of role / status / becoming):
- Ovoce je nejzdravějším jídlem.
  Fruit is (as) the healthiest food / Fruit serves as the healthiest food.

In many contexts, both are possible, but:

Nominative sounds like a straightforward statement of identity or classification:
“Fruit = the healthiest food (in this category).”
Instrumental more strongly suggests a role, function, or characteristic, and can sound slightly more formal or stylized here.

Your original Pro mě je ovoce nejzdravější jídlo is perfectly natural and probably the most typical everyday choice.

Can I drop jídlo and just say Pro mě je ovoce nejzdravější?

You can say Pro mě je ovoce nejzdravější, and it will be understood, but:

By itself, nejzdravější (“the healthiest”) invites the question: the healthiest what?
In context where the category is obvious (talking about types of food), it can work:
- Z nápojů je pro mě voda nejzdravější. – Of drinks, water is the healthiest for me.
- Pro mě je ovoce nejzdravější. – (meaning: the healthiest option / food)

So grammatically it’s fine, but nejzdravější jídlo is more explicit and natural if you are stating a general opinion without context.

What is the difference between jídlo, potravina and strava?

All relate to “food”, but they’re used differently:

jídlo
- Most common, general word for food / a meal.
- Can mean:
  - “food” in general: Mám rád zdravé jídlo. – I like healthy food.
  - “a dish / meal”: Dnešní jídlo bylo výborné. – Today’s meal was great.
potravina (often plural potraviny)
- More technical / formal: “foodstuff(s)”, “food products”.
- Used in contexts like nutrition, packaging, shops:
  - zdravé potraviny – healthy food products
  - obchod s potravinami – grocery store.
strava
- “diet”, “nutrition”, “way of eating”:
  - zdravá strava – healthy diet / healthy eating
  - školní stravování – school catering / school meals.

In your sentence, jídlo is the natural choice because you’re talking about “fruit as the healthiest food (to eat)” in everyday language.

Is Ovoce je pro mě nejzdravější jídlo also correct, and how does it sound compared to the original?

Yes, it’s correct:

Ovoce je pro mě nejzdravější jídlo.

Differences in feel:

Pro mě je ovoce nejzdravější jídlo.
Fronted pro mě emphasizes your personal viewpoint more:
“For me personally, fruit is the healthiest food.”
Ovoce je pro mě nejzdravější jídlo.
Slightly more neutral, like a plain statement about fruit with a small remark “for me”.

Both are good; use the one that matches what you want to emphasize.

Can I omit je like in some Slavic languages (e.g. say Pro mě ovoce nejzdravější jídlo)?

In standard Czech, the verb být (to be) in the present tense is normally not omitted in ordinary sentences.

Correct: Pro mě je ovoce nejzdravější jídlo.
Very colloquial / telegraphic: Pro mě ovoce nejzdravější jídlo.

You might see it dropped in:

headlines: Ovoce nejzdravější jídlo pro děti
slogans
very informal speech, often with a different intonation

But for normal, correct sentences (especially in writing or for learners), always include je.

How do you pronounce mě, ovoce, nejzdravější, and jídlo?

Approximate pronunciations (IPA + English hints):

mě – /mɲɛ/
- Like m-nyeh with a soft ny (as in canyon).
ovoce – /ˈovot͡sɛ/
- o-vo-tse, stress on the first syllable: O-vo-tse.
nejzdravější – /ˈnejzdravjɛi̯ʃiː/
- NEJ-zdra-vyei-shii
- stress on nej-: NEJ-zdrav-ye-shee.
jídlo – /ˈjiːdlo/
- YEED-lo, with a long í (like “ee” in “seed”), stress on jí-.

Czech always stresses the first syllable of the word.