Learn Hardcore Czech: Dnes je slunečný den, proto nechci sedět dlouho v čekárně. - Today is a sunny day, so I do not want to sit in the waiting room for a long time.

Dnes je slunečný den is the most neutral, common word order. Time expressions (dnes, včera, zítra) often go at the beginning.
Je dnes slunečný den also works, but it can sound a bit more like a question in some contexts, or it slightly emphasizes dnes as “Is it today that the day is sunny?”

In normal statements, putting dnes at the beginning is the safest and most natural choice.

What is the difference between slunečný den and slunečno?

Both describe sunny weather, but grammatically they’re different:

slunečný den = sunny day
- slunečný is an adjective.
- den is a masculine noun (day).
- Literally: “Today is a sunny day.”
slunečno = sunny (impersonal weather expression)
- It functions like an adverb/adjectival form.
- Typical weather sentence: Je slunečno. = “It’s sunny.”

You can say:

Dnes je slunečný den.
Dnes je slunečno.

Both are correct; the second one (with slunečno) is a bit more typical in everyday speech when talking about weather in general.

Why is there a comma before proto in ..., proto nechci sedět dlouho v čekárně?

In Czech, proto here starts a new main clause meaning therefore / so / that’s why.

The sentence is made of two main clauses:

Dnes je slunečný den,
proto nechci sedět dlouho v čekárně.

Between two independent clauses joined by proto, Czech normally uses a comma. It’s similar to writing in English:
“Today is a sunny day, therefore I don’t want to sit in the waiting room for long.”

What exactly does proto mean, and how is it different from protože and takže?

proto = therefore / that’s why / for that reason
- Expresses a consequence.
- Example: Je slunečný den, proto nechci sedět v čekárně.
  “It’s a sunny day, therefore I don’t want to sit in the waiting room.”
protože = because
- Introduces a reason clause.
- Example: Nechci sedět v čekárně, protože je slunečný den.
  “I don’t want to sit in the waiting room because it’s a sunny day.”
takže = so / so that / and so (more colloquial and flexible)
- Often used like spoken “so” in English.
- Example: Je slunečný den, takže nechci sedět v čekárně.

Meaning-wise, you can often switch proto ↔ takže, but protože changes the structure because it introduces a subordinate clause (the “because”-part).

Why is it nechci sedět dlouho and not something like nechci se posadit?

Different verbs express different things:

sedět = to sit / to be sitting (state, ongoing position)
- nechci sedět dlouho = “I don’t want to be sitting for a long time.”
posadit se = to sit down (the action of moving into a sitting position, momentary)
- nechci se posadit ≈ “I don’t want to sit down (at all).”

In the original sentence, the speaker is unhappy about spending a long time in the waiting room, not about the act of sitting down itself. That’s why the continuous state verb sedět is used.

Can I say nechci dlouho sedět v čekárně instead of nechci sedět dlouho v čekárně? Is there any difference?

Yes, both are correct and natural:

nechci sedět dlouho v čekárně
nechci dlouho sedět v čekárně

The meaning is practically the same: “I don’t want to sit in the waiting room for long.”

Czech adverbs like dlouho are fairly flexible in position.

Putting dlouho right before sedět (dlouho sedět) is slightly more neutral.
sedět dlouho is also very common and does not sound wrong.

For everyday purposes, you can treat them as interchangeable.

Why is it v čekárně and not v čekárnu?

The preposition v (in) uses different cases depending on meaning:

location (where?) → locative case
- Sedím v čekárně. = “I am sitting in the waiting room.”
motion into (where to?) is usually expressed with do + genitive
- Jdu do čekárny. = “I am going to the waiting room.”

In nechci sedět dlouho v čekárně, we are talking about being somewhere (where do I sit?), not about movement, so čekárně must be in the locative case, not čekárnu (which is accusative).

What grammatical case is čekárně, and how is that form made?

čekárně is locative singular of čekárna (a feminine noun).

Typical forms of čekárna:

Nominative (who/what?): čekárna – “waiting room”
Genitive (of what?): čekárny
Dative (to/for what?): čekárně
Accusative (object): čekárnu
Locative (in/at/on what?): čekárně
Instrumental (with what?): čekárnou

For many feminine nouns ending in -a, the locative singular ends in -ě or -e:

škola → ve škole (in the school)
kavárna → v kavárně (in the café)
čekárna → v čekárně (in the waiting room)

Here, because of v (where?), čekárna must be changed to locative: čekárně.

Why does the adjective look like slunečný here? How does it agree with den?

In Czech, adjectives agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.

den is:
- masculine
- singular
- nominative (subject)

So the adjective slunečný must match that:

masculine singular nominative ending -ý → slunečný den

If the noun were different, the adjective would change:

slunečná obloha (feminine, sky)
slunečné počasí (neuter, weather).

In our sentence, Dnes je slunečný den, both slunečný and den are in nominative because they’re linked by je (X je Y).

Could I drop den and say Dnes je slunečno, proto nechci sedět dlouho v čekárně? Is that natural?

Yes, that’s completely natural and very common:

Dnes je slunečný den, proto…
Dnes je slunečno, proto…

Both are fine.
The version with slunečno feels a bit more like a standard weather report: “Today it’s sunny, so I don’t want to sit in the waiting room for long.”

Using slunečný den adds a tiny bit of “poetic” or descriptive flavor by explicitly mentioning den (“day”), but in everyday speech people often just say Je slunečno.

Does nechci always just mean “I don’t want to”? Can it sound rude in Czech?

nechci literally means “I don’t want (to)”:

nechci = ne (not) + chci (I want).

On its own, it is neutral, not automatically rude. Tone and context matter:

Nechci sedět dlouho v čekárně. – neutral statement.
Nechci! – if said alone, sharply, can sound rude or childish (“I don’t want to!”).

To soften it, Czechs often use an impersonal phrase:

Nechce se mi sedět dlouho v čekárně.
Literally: “It doesn’t want itself to me to sit long in the waiting room.”
Natural meaning: “I don’t feel like sitting in the waiting room for long.”

So nechci is fine and correct; just be aware of how directly it comes across in some contexts.

How would this sentence look in the past or future tense?

Past tense (yesterday, I didn’t want to sit there long):

Včera byl slunečný den, proto jsem nechtěl sedět dlouho v čekárně. (speaker male)
Včera byl slunečný den, proto jsem nechtěla sedět dlouho v čekárně. (speaker female)

Future tense (tomorrow, I don’t want to spend long there):

Often, you keep nechci in the present, because it expresses a present decision about the future:

Zítra má být slunečný den, proto nechci sedět dlouho v čekárně.
“Tomorrow is supposed to be a sunny day, so I don’t want to sit in the waiting room for long.”

If you want a clearly future verb for the sitting itself, you can say:

Zítra bude slunečný den, proto nechci dlouho sedět v čekárně.
Or: … proto nebudu dlouho sedět v čekárně. = “so I won’t sit in the waiting room for long.”

Is there any difference between dnes and dneska if I use them in this sentence?

You could also say:

Dneska je slunečný den, proto nechci sedět dlouho v čekárně.

Both dnes and dneska mean today.

dnes – a bit more neutral or formal; common in writing and speech.
dneska – more colloquial, very common in everyday spoken Czech.

The choice does not change the grammar or basic meaning of the sentence.