Learn Hardcore Czech: V čekárně nemocnice sedí hodně lidí a všichni čekají potichu. - In the hospital waiting room many people are sitting and everyone is waiting quietly.

v – preposition “in”, which requires the locative case.
čekárně – locative singular of čekárna (waiting room).
- nominative: čekárna
- locative: v čekárně
nemocnice – genitive singular of nemocnice (hospital).
- nominative: nemocnice
- genitive: nemocnice (same form in this case)

So the structure is:

v + locative → v čekárně (in the waiting room)
čekárně + genitive noun → čekárně nemocnice (waiting room of the hospital)

Together: V čekárně nemocnice = In the hospital’s waiting room / In the waiting room of the hospital.

Why is it čekárně and not čekárna after v?

Because the preposition v (in) normally takes the locative case when it expresses location (where something is).

čekárna – nominative (dictionary form)
locative singular (feminine, hard declension) → čekárně

Other examples:

v restauraci (from restaurace – restaurant)
v kanceláři (from kancelář – office)
v šatně (from šatna – cloakroom / changing room)

So:

Kde jsou lidé? – V čekárně.
(Where are the people? – In the waiting room.)

Why is nemocnice after čekárně, and not before it, like v nemocniční čekárně?

Both are possible, but they are structured differently:

v čekárně nemocnice
- literally “in the waiting room of the hospital”
- čekárně = head noun (waiting room)
- nemocnice = another noun in genitive (of the hospital)
- pattern: [noun] + [genitive noun]
v nemocniční čekárně
- literally “in the hospital waiting room”
- nemocniční = adjective (hospital, relating to a hospital)
- čekárně = head noun (waiting room)
- pattern: [adjective] + [noun]

Meaning-wise they are almost the same here.

v čekárně nemocnice feels a bit more like the waiting room that belongs to the hospital.
v nemocniční čekárně feels more like a hospital-type waiting room (and is perhaps slightly more common in everyday speech).

Both are correct.

What case is nemocnice in here, and why does its form not change?

In V čekárně nemocnice, the word nemocnice is in the genitive singular.

Reasons:

čekárna nemocnice = the waiting room of the hospital
→ ownership / belonging is expressed with genitive.

The noun nemocnice declines, but nominative and genitive singular happen to be identical in form:

nom. sg.: ta nemocnice (the hospital)
gen. sg.: bez nemocnice (without the hospital)

So you only know it’s genitive from its function and position in the phrase, not from a visible ending change.

Why is it hodně lidí and not hodně lidé?

Because after hodně (a lot / many), Czech uses the genitive plural, not nominative.

lidé – nominative plural of člověk (people)
lidí – genitive plural

With quantity words like:

hodně (a lot of / many)
mnoho (many, formal)
málo (few / little)
spousta (a lot of, loads of – colloquial)

you normally use genitive:

hodně lidí – many people
hodně peněz – a lot of money
mnoho studentů – many students

So hodně lidí is the correct pattern: [quantity word] + [genitive plural].

Is hodně lidí singular or plural for the verb? Why do we have sedí and not something different?

Logically, hodně lidí refers to many people, so it is plural in meaning.

The verb sedět has:

3rd person singular: sedí
3rd person plural: sedí

They look the same in the present tense, so you can’t see the number from the form of sedí itself.

In the past tense, you’d see the agreement more clearly:

Hodně lidí sedělo v čekárně.
(A lot of people were sitting… – neuter singular form, very common with quantity expressions.)
You can also hear: Hodně lidí seděli… (masc. pl.), but sedělo is more standard with this construction.

So: hodně lidí is plural in meaning, but in present tense sedí looks the same for singular and plural.

What is the difference between hodně lidí and mnoho lidí?

Both mean “many people / a lot of people.”

hodně lidí
- very common in everyday spoken Czech
- neutral, used all the time
mnoho lidí
- a bit more formal, often in writing, news, or more careful speech
- still perfectly correct in spoken Czech

In this sentence, you could say either:

V čekárně nemocnice sedí hodně lidí…
V čekárně nemocnice sedí mnoho lidí…

The meaning is the same; the style changes slightly (colloquial vs more formal).

Why is it všichni čekají and not všichni čeká?

Because všichni is a plural pronoun (all, everyone referring to people), so the verb must be in 3rd person plural:

3rd sg.: čeká (he / she / it waits, is waiting)
3rd pl.: čekají (they wait, are waiting)

So:

On čeká. – He is waiting.
Oni čekají. – They are waiting.
Všichni čekají. – Everyone (all of them) is waiting.

Even though in English you can say “everyone is waiting” (singular verb), in Czech všichni always takes a plural verb: čekají.

What exactly does všichni mean, and why not ti všichni lidé?

všichni means “all (of them), everyone” when talking about people (masculine animate plural).

You could expand it:

všichni lidé – all (the) people
ti všichni lidé – all those people

But in context, všichni alone clearly refers to hodně lidí mentioned just before, so Czech naturally shortens it:

… sedí hodně lidí a všichni čekají potichu.
→ … many people are sitting and they are all waiting quietly.

Using ti všichni lidé would sound heavier and a bit redundant here.

Why is it všichni, not všechny?

Because všichni agrees in gender with the noun it refers to.

lidé (people) = masculine animate plural
the matching form of all is všichni

Forms:

všichni – masculine animate plural (all – about people, men and mixed groups)
všechny – feminine plural OR non‑animate plural (all – about things, or groups of feminine nouns)
všechna – neuter plural

Examples:

Všichni lidé čekají. – All the people are waiting.
Všechny ženy čekají. – All the women are waiting.
Všechna auta stojí. – All the cars are standing.

In our sentence, the implied noun is lidé, so we use všichni.

What does potichu mean exactly, and is there a difference between potichu and tiše?

Both potichu and tiše mean “quietly, in a quiet way.”

potichu
- very common in spoken Czech
- slightly more colloquial in feel
- often used with verbs like mluvit (speak), čekat (wait), sedět (sit)
- mluvit potichu – speak quietly
tiše
- a bit more neutral / literary, but also common
- mluvit tiše, čekat tiše

In this sentence, you could say:

… a všichni čekají potichu.
… a všichni čekají tiše.

Both are correct; potichu just sounds very natural and everyday.

Why is there no comma before a in …sedí hodně lidí a všichni čekají potichu?

In Czech, a comma is usually not written before a when it simply connects two main clauses that are closely related:

V čekárně nemocnice sedí hodně lidí a všichni čekají potichu.

We have two clauses:

V čekárně nemocnice sedí hodně lidí.
Všichni čekají potichu.

They are joined by a and form a smooth sequence, so it is natural to omit the comma.

You could write a comma for a slight pause or emphasis:

V čekárně nemocnice sedí hodně lidí, a všichni čekají potichu.

but in standard, neutral style the version without the comma is more common and recommended here.

What aspect is čekají (from čekat), and how would the perfective form change the meaning?

čekají is the imperfective present of čekat (to wait).

čekat (impf.) – describes an ongoing or repeated action:
- Všichni čekají potichu.
  → They are currently waiting quietly.

The usual perfective partner is počkat:

počkat (pf.) – to wait for a while / wait until something (completed act)

In the present tense, počkat is used only for future meaning:

Všichni počkají.
→ They will wait (for a while / until something).

So if you changed čekají to a form of počkat, you would change the meaning from ongoing waiting now to the completed act of waiting (usually in the future). In this sentence, čekají (imperfective) is the natural choice.

Why doesn’t the Czech sentence use any word for “the” or “a”, like “the hospital” or “a waiting room”?

Czech has no articles (no “a/an” or “the”). The definiteness or indefiniteness is understood from:

context
word order
additional words (like ten, ta, to = “that/the” when needed)

So:

V čekárně nemocnice… can mean:
- in a hospital waiting room
- in the hospital waiting room
English must choose a/the, but Czech doesn’t mark this grammatically.
If you really wanted to stress that specific hospital, you could add a demonstrative:
V té čekárně té nemocnice… – in that waiting room of that hospital

But in normal context, simple V čekárně nemocnice… is enough.