Learn Hardcore Czech: Moje kamarádka včera zapomněla deštník na parkovišti před školou. - Yesterday my female friend forgot her umbrella in the parking lot in front of the school.

kamarádka = friend (female) → feminine singular, nominative
The possessive for “my” in the feminine singular nominative is moje (or short form má, see below).

So:

Moje kamarádka = my (female) friend ✅
Můj is masculine (for words like můj kamarád) ❌
Moji is typically plural for people (moji kamarádi) or masculine animate accusative, so it doesn’t fit kamarádka ❌

You could also say:

Má kamarádka včera zapomněla…

Má is a shorter, slightly more formal or bookish variant of moje for feminine singular nominative. Both moje kamarádka and má kamarádka are correct.

Why does the verb say zapomněla with -la at the end? Why not zapomněl?

In Czech, past tense forms agree with the gender and number of the subject.

Subject: Moje kamarádka → feminine singular
Past tense of zapomenout (to forget) for a feminine singular subject is zapomněla.

Compare:

On zapomněl deštník. – He forgot the umbrella. (masculine singular)
Ona zapomněla deštník. – She forgot the umbrella. (feminine singular)

So because kamarádka is female, the verb takes the -la ending: zapomněla.

Why is there no extra verb like je or byla for the past? Why just zapomněla?

Czech forms the past tense with a past participle (like zapomněl / zapomněla) and sometimes an auxiliary být (to be).

In the 3rd person singular and plural, the auxiliary is usually dropped in normal speech and writing:

1st person:
- Já jsem zapomněla deštník. – I (female) forgot the umbrella.
2nd person:
- Ty jsi zapomněl deštník. – You (male) forgot the umbrella.
3rd person:
- Ona zapomněla deštník. – She forgot the umbrella. (no je)

So Moje kamarádka včera zapomněla… is the normal 3rd person past form.
Forms like ona je zapomněla or ona byla zapomněla are incorrect or would sound very archaic/odd.

Why is it just zapomněla deštník and not something like zapomněla na deštník (“forgot on the umbrella”) or forgot her umbrella with “her”?

Verb + object (no preposition)
The verb zapomenout usually takes a direct object in the accusative without a preposition:
- zapomenout něco – to forget something
  - zapomněla deštník – she forgot (the) umbrella
Using zapomenout na něco exists but often means to fail to remember / to neglect, and is more like “forget about something”:
- Zapomněla na úkol. – She forgot (about) the homework.
No “her” before umbrella
Czech often doesn’t mark possession with a pronoun when it’s clear from context, especially with body parts and personal items:
- Zapomněla deštník. – literally “She forgot umbrella.” → naturally understood as her umbrella.

You could say zapomněla svůj deštník, but that usually sounds unnecessary here unless you want to contrast it (e.g. she forgot her own umbrella, not someone else’s).

What case is deštník in, and how do we know?

deštník (umbrella) is in the accusative singular.

Why?

It’s the direct object of the verb zapomněla (she forgot what? → umbrella).
For masculine inanimate nouns like deštník, the accusative singular has the same form as the nominative singular:
- Nominative sg: deštník (the umbrella – subject)
- Accusative sg: deštník (the umbrella – object)

So:

Deštník spadl. – The umbrella fell. (nominative)
Zapomněla deštník. – She forgot the umbrella. (accusative)

Same spelling, different function. Context (subject vs object) tells you the case.

Why is it na parkovišti and not na parkoviště? What’s the difference?

Both na parkovišti and na parkoviště are possible, but they express different things:

na parkovišti – location (where something is) → locative case
- Zapomněla deštník na parkovišti. – She forgot the umbrella in/at the parking lot.
na parkoviště – direction / movement (where something is going to) → accusative case
- Jeli jsme na parkoviště. – We drove to the parking lot.

In your sentence, the umbrella was already there, so we talk about its location:

na parkovišti = “at the parking lot” (locative)

What case is před školou, and how is it different from před školu?

před školou uses the instrumental case and means location:

před školou – in front of the school (where ?) → instrumental

With před:

před + instrumental → location / static position
před + accusative → movement / direction (towards a position)

Compare:

Čekám před školou. – I’m waiting in front of the school. (instrumental, location)
Jdu před školu. – I’m going to the area in front of the school. (accusative, direction)

In your sentence:

na parkovišti před školou = “in the parking lot in front of the school”
– both na parkovišti (locative) and před školou (instrumental) describe a fixed location.

How does na parkovišti před školou hang together? Is the parking lot in front of the school, or was the umbrella in front of the school?

The usual reading is:

(zapomněla deštník) na parkovišti [před školou]
→ She forgot the umbrella in the parking lot which is in front of the school.

So před školou specifies where the parking lot is.

You could make it even clearer (though longer) by saying:

na parkovišti, které je před školou – in the parking lot that is in front of the school.

But in everyday speech na parkovišti před školou very naturally means “in the parking lot in front of the school.”

Can the word včera (yesterday) move to other positions?

Yes. Czech word order is flexible, especially for adverbs like včera. All of these are grammatically fine:

Moje kamarádka včera zapomněla deštník… (neutral)
Včera moje kamarádka zapomněla deštník… (mild emphasis on “yesterday”)
Moje kamarádka zapomněla včera deštník… (emphasis can fall on what she forgot vs when)

In everyday neutral speech, adverbs of time like včera often appear:

near the beginning: Včera moje kamarádka…
or right after the subject: Moje kamarádka včera…

Your original position (Moje kamarádka včera zapomněla…) is very typical and natural.

Could I say Moje přítelkyně instead of Moje kamarádka? Does it still mean “my friend”?

Not usually. The nuance is different:

kamarádka – female friend (platonic; can be close or casual)
přítelkyně – girlfriend or very close partner; in modern Czech it almost always implies a romantic relationship.

So:

Moje kamarádka včera zapomněla… – my (female) friend forgot…
Moje přítelkyně včera zapomněla… – my girlfriend forgot…

If you only mean a friend, use kamarádka.

What’s the difference between deštník and paraple? Are they both “umbrella”?

Both can mean umbrella, but usage is different:

deštník – the normal, standard word for umbrella (for rain).
paraple – also “umbrella”, but:
- sounds a bit old-fashioned, colloquial, or playful,
- often used in jokes, songs, or stylized speech.

In a normal sentence like yours, you’d almost always use deštník:

Zapomněla deštník na parkovišti před školou. ✅
You could say paraple, but it changes the tone slightly and can sound more humorous or quaint.

What’s the difference between zapomněla and a form like zapomínala?

This is about aspect in Czech verbs:

zapomenout → perfective (completed action)
- zapomněla – she forgot (once; completed event)
zapomínat → imperfective (ongoing / repeated action)
- zapomínala – she used to forget / she was forgetting (repeated or in progress)

In your sentence, you are describing one specific event yesterday, so the perfective zapomněla is correct:

Moje kamarádka včera zapomněla deštník… – One completed act of forgetting yesterday.

If you said:

Moje kamarádka často zapomínala deštník. – My friend often used to forget her umbrella.

that would describe a habit, not one single event.