Learn Hardcore Czech: Já zřídka chodím večer do parku, protože chci být doma s rodinou. - I rarely go to the park in the evening because I want to be at home with my family.

chodit / chodím – repeated, habitual action (“I (usually) go, I tend to go”)
jít / jdu – one specific movement happening now or at a specific time (“I am going / I go (this time)”)

The sentence talks about how often you generally go to the park in the evenings, so it describes a habit:

Já zřídka chodím večer do parku…
= I rarely go (as a habit) to the park in the evening…

If you said:

Já zřídka jdu večer do parku…

it would sound like “I rarely go (this one time) in the evening…”, which is not how Czechs normally express a general frequency. For general frequency, we almost always use the frequentative verb (chodím, jezdím, etc.).

Is Já necessary? Could I just say Zřídka chodím večer do parku…?

You can absolutely omit Já here:

Zřídka chodím večer do parku, protože chci být doma s rodinou.

Czech is a “pro-drop” language: personal pronouns (já, ty, on…) are often omitted because the verb ending (-ím in chodím) already shows the person (1st person singular).

Using Já adds a bit of emphasis, like:

“I rarely go to the park in the evening (as opposed to someone else).”

So:

Without Já – neutral, most common.
With Já – slightly contrastive or emphatic, depending on context.

Where can I put zřídka in the sentence? Is Já zřídka chodím večer do parku the only correct word order?

Other positions are possible, and word order is quite flexible. All of these are grammatically OK:

Já zřídka chodím večer do parku.
Já chodím zřídka večer do parku.
Večer zřídka chodím do parku.
Zřídka večer chodím do parku.

What changes is the nuance and emphasis:

Putting zřídka right before chodím (zřídka chodím) is very natural and slightly stresses the frequency of the action.
Já chodím zřídka večer do parku can sound like you’re contrasting evening with some other time (e.g. “I rarely go in the evening (but often during the day)”).
Starting with Večer zřídka… emphasizes the time frame “in the evening” first.

Your version (Já zřídka chodím večer do parku) is very typical and clear.

What is the difference between zřídka and málokdy?

Both mean rarely / seldom and are interchangeable in many contexts:

Já zřídka chodím večer do parku.
Já málokdy chodím večer do parku.

Nuances:

málokdy is more colloquial and very common in everyday speech.
zřídka can sound a bit more formal or bookish, though it is still used in everyday language.

In practice, you can use either here without changing the meaning much.

What grammatical form is večer here? Is it an adverb or a noun?

Formally, večer is a noun meaning “evening,” but in this sentence it is used in the accusative of time, which often functions like an adverb:

chodím večer do parku = I go to the park in the evening.

Czech often uses a time noun in accusative to express “when?”:

včera večer – yesterday evening
každý den – every day
příští týden – next week

So here:

večer = “(in) the evening” (accusative of time, adverbial function).

You could also say:

chodím do parku večer – same meaning, just a different word order.

Why is it do parku and not na park? How do do and na differ?

Both do and na can mean “to”, but they have different typical uses.

do + GEN is usually “into, to the inside of” something:
- do parku – into the park
- do školy – to school
- do práce – to work
na + ACC is more like “onto / to (a surface or open area or event)”:
- na hřiště – to the (sports) field
- na koncert – to a concert
- na poštu – to the post office

For “park,” the natural combination is do parku, because you’re going into that area. Na park is not idiomatic in this meaning.

Why is it parku, not park? What case is that?

Parku is the genitive singular of park.

The preposition do always takes the genitive:

do parku – to the park
do domu – to the house
do města – to the city

Declension pattern (masculine inanimate like park):

Nominative (who/what?): park
Genitive (of / to): parku

So “do + genitive” gives do parku.

Why is it protože chci být doma and not protože chci jsem doma?

In Czech, after verbs like chtít (to want), you use an infinitive, not a finite verb:

chci být – I want to be
chci jít – I want to go
chci spát – I want to sleep

So:

protože chci být doma = because I want to be at home

chci jsem doma is incorrect, because it combines chci (I want) with another finite verb (jsem – I am). You must use the infinitive být after chci.

What is the difference between doma and v domě?

Both relate to “home,” but:

doma – “(at) home,” in a general, personal sense:
- chci být doma – I want to be at home.
v domě – “in the house/building,” a more literal, physical location:
- jsem v domě – I am in the house.

In this sentence you are talking about spending time at home with family, so doma is the natural, idiomatic choice.

Why is it s rodinou and not s rodina or s rodinu?

The preposition s (“with”) requires the instrumental case in standard Czech.

Rodina (family) – feminine singular:

Nominative: rodina
Instrumental: rodinou

So:

s rodinou – with (my/the) family

s rodina / s rodinu are wrong because they use nominative / accusative, not instrumental.

Could the sentence start with the reason, like Protože chci být doma s rodinou, zřídka chodím večer do parku? Is that correct?

Yes, that is perfectly correct and very natural:

Protože chci být doma s rodinou, zřídka chodím večer do parku.

Czech allows you to put the subordinate clause (protože…) before or after the main clause:

Já zřídka chodím večer do parku, protože chci být doma s rodinou.
Protože chci být doma s rodinou, zřídka chodím večer do parku.

The meaning stays the same; the first stresses the fact that you rarely go to the park, the second stresses the reason (you want to be at home).

Does protože change the word order like “because” in German, where the verb goes to the end?

No. In Czech, protože does not force the verb to the end of the clause. The clause after protože keeps the normal SVO-type word order:

protože chci být doma s rodinou
(subject chci, then verb, then complement)

You do not say something like protože doma s rodinou být chci in standard Czech; that would sound very unusual or poetic.

So:

Protože
- normal word order
No special “verb-at-the-end” rule like in German.

How does zřídka compare to stronger or weaker frequency words, like někdy or nikdy?

Some common frequency adverbs:

nikdy – never
zřídka / málokdy – rarely, seldom
občas – occasionally
někdy – sometimes
často – often
vždycky / vždy – always

Position is similar to zřídka:

Nikdy nechodím večer do parku. – I never go to the park in the evening.
Někdy chodím večer do parku. – I sometimes go to the park in the evening.
Často chodím večer do parku. – I often go to the park in the evening.

Note that with nikdy, you must also use the negative verb (nechodím), while with zřídka you use the positive verb (chodím).

Could I say Já večer zřídka chodím do parku? Is that okay?

Yes, this is also grammatically correct:

Já večer zřídka chodím do parku.

Word order nuance:

Já zřídka chodím večer do parku. – neutral; slightly highlights how often you go.
Já večer zřídka chodím do parku. – brings “in the evening” more to the front, as a frame: “In the evening, I rarely go to the park.”

Both sound natural; Czech allows this flexibility as long as the elements stay in a logical order and are not split in a confusing way.