Learn Hardcore Czech: Moje maminka chce být doma hlavně s rodinou. - My mom wants to be at home mainly with the family.

Both mean my (female) … and agree with the feminine noun maminka in the nominative case.
In normal spoken Czech, you’ll hear moje maminka more often.

What is the difference between maminka, máma, and matka?

All three mean mother, but with different levels of formality and emotional tone:

maminka – very affectionate/diminutive: mommy, mum, mummy. Common when talking lovingly about your mother.
máma – neutral informal: mum / mom. Very common in speech.
matka – formal or cold: mother in official language, documents, or when you want emotional distance.

In this sentence, maminka suggests a warm, affectionate way of talking about one’s mother.

Why is it chce být for “wants to be”? Why not something like chce je?

In Czech, the verb chtít (to want) is followed by an infinitive, just like want to in English.

chce být = she wants to be
- chce – 3rd person singular of chtít (he/she/it wants)
- být – infinitive of to be

You cannot use je (is) here, because je is a finite form of the verb to be, not an infinitive.
So:

✅ Moje maminka chce být doma… = My mom wants to be at home…
❌ Moje maminka chce je doma… – ungrammatical

What exactly does doma mean? How is it different from domů or v domě?

These are easy to mix up:

doma – at home (location)
- být doma = to be at home
domů – (to) home (direction)
- jít domů = to go home
v domě – in the house / in a building (literally in the house)
- not necessarily your home; just inside some house or building

So chce být doma is the natural way to say she wants to be at home.

What does hlavně mean, and where can it go in the sentence?

hlavně means mainly, chiefly, above all.

In Moje maminka chce být doma hlavně s rodinou, it means:

My mom wants to be at home, mainly with (the) family.

Common positions:

Moje maminka chce být doma hlavně s rodinou.
Moje maminka chce být hlavně doma s rodinou.

Both are natural.
Putting hlavně near the part it emphasizes (here: s rodinou) is typical. Other positions are possible but can sound less neutral or change the focus.

Why is it s rodinou and not s rodina? What case is rodinou?

The preposition s (with) in this sense always takes the instrumental case.

Nominative (dictionary form): rodina – family
Instrumental singular (feminine): rodinou – with (a/the) family

So the pattern is:

s + instrumental → s rodinou, s kamarádem, s učitelkou, etc.

The -ou ending here is a typical instrumental singular ending for feminine nouns like rodina.

Why s rodinou and not se rodinou?

Czech has two spoken forms of s (with): s and se.

s is the basic form.
se is used mainly:
- before words starting with s or z (to avoid tongue‑twisters):
  - se synem, se Zdeňkem
- before some pronouns (e.g. se mnou, se sebou)

Since rodinou begins with r, we use s:

✅ s rodinou
❌ se rodinou (sounds wrong to native speakers)

In English we say “with the family”. Where is the article the in Czech?

Czech has no articles (a, an, the). The noun form alone carries the basic meaning:

rodinou can mean with a family or with the family, depending on context.

In this sentence, because we are talking about my mom, it is naturally understood as with (her/our) family → like English the family.

Should it be s mojí rodinou to mean “with my family”, or is s rodinou enough?

Both are possible; the choice depends on what you want to emphasize.

s rodinou – usually understood as with (her/our) family from context. This is perfectly normal and natural here.
s mojí rodinou – with my family; adds explicit emphasis that it is my family (not someone else’s), or contrasts with someone else’s family.

In a sentence about moje maminka, native speakers will normally just say s rodinou unless there is some contrast or potential ambiguity.

Could you leave out moje and just say Maminka chce být doma hlavně s rodinou?

Yes. Both are correct:

Moje maminka chce být doma hlavně s rodinou. – explicitly my mom
Maminka chce být doma hlavně s rodinou. – in most personal/family contexts this is automatically understood as my mom.

Czech often drops possessives where English keeps my, especially with close family members and body parts, when the owner is obvious from context.