Learn Hardcore Czech: Když mě bolí hlava, zavřu oči a odpočívám v tichém pokoji. - When my head hurts, I close my eyes and rest in the quiet room.

Když mě bolí hlava literally means: “When my head hurts me.”
- hlava = head (subject, nominative)
- bolí = hurts (3rd person singular)
- mě = me (object, accusative)

So the head is the grammatical subject that hurts me. That’s why you see bolí in 3rd person, not bolím (“I hurt”).

You can say things like:

Mám bolest hlavy. – literally “I have a pain of the head.”
This is grammatically correct but sounds more formal/medical or bookish.

The most natural everyday way is:

Bolí mě hlava. / Mě bolí hlava. – “My head hurts / I have a headache.”

The sentence just puts this into a když (“when / whenever”) clause:
Když mě bolí hlava… – “When I have a headache / when my head hurts…”

In Když mě bolí hlava, which word is the subject, and which is the object?

hlava is the subject (nominative, 3rd person singular)
mě is the direct object (accusative, “me”)
bolí agrees with hlava, not with mě

So even though the English translation is “I have a headache,” the Czech structure is closer to “The head hurts me.” Grammatically:

Subject: hlava
Verb: bolí
Object: mě

Why is the word order Když mě bolí hlava and not Když hlava bolí mě or Když hlava mě bolí? Are the other orders possible?

Czech word order is relatively flexible, but two things matter here:

Clitics like mě (short unstressed pronouns) prefer to stand in “2nd position” in the clause.
- In Když mě bolí hlava, the first element is když, so mě tends to come next.
The neutral, most natural orders are:
- Když mě bolí hlava.
- Když bolí hlava mě. (less neutral, more contrastive emphasis on “me”)

Forms like Když hlava bolí mě or Když hlava mě bolí are not ungrammatical, but they sound marked or poetic; they put unusual emphasis or sound stylistically odd in everyday speech.

So: Když mě bolí hlava is the normal conversational word order, thanks to clitic placement and neutral rhythm.

What is the difference between mě, mne, and mi in this context? Could I say Když mi bolí hlava?

All three are forms of the 1st person singular pronoun já (I), but:

mě / mne = accusative or genitive (“me”)
mi / mně = dative (“to me / for me”)

In bolí mě hlava, mě is the direct object (accusative), so mě/mne is the correct case.

Když mě bolí hlava – standard, neutral
Když mne bolí hlava – more formal/literary, a bit old‑fashioned

Když mi bolí hlava is wrong here, because mi is dative. You need accusative after bolí in this construction, not dative.

What exactly does když mean here, and how is it different from kdy or až?

In this sentence, když means “when / whenever” in the sense of a repeated or general condition:

Když mě bolí hlava, zavřu oči…
= “When(ever) I have a headache, I close my eyes…”

Differences:

když
- Used for general, repeated, or conditional time: “whenever, when.”
- Works for past, present, and future.
kdy
- Question word: “when?”
- Kdy tě bolí hlava? – “When does your head hurt?”
až
- “When (in the future, once something happens)”
- Focuses on a single future moment/event:
  - Až mě bude bolet hlava, zavřu oči. – “When (once) I get a headache, I’ll close my eyes.”

Here it’s habitual, so když is the right choice.

Why is there a comma after hlava: Když mě bolí hlava, zavřu oči…? Would Czech ever omit it?

Yes, the comma is obligatory here.

Když mě bolí hlava is a dependent (subordinate) clause introduced by the conjunction když.
zavřu oči a odpočívám v tichém pokoji is the main clause.

In Czech, you normally put a comma between a subordinate clause and the main clause:

Když mě bolí hlava, zavřu oči…
Zavřu oči, když mě bolí hlava.

You don’t omit this comma in standard written Czech.

Why is it zavřu oči and not zavírám oči? Don’t both correspond to English “I close my eyes”?

The difference is aspect:

zavřu – perfective (from zavřít)
- one complete act: “I will close / I close (as a single complete action)”
zavírám – imperfective (from zavírat)
- ongoing process or repeated action in progress: “I am closing,” “I keep closing”

In Když mě bolí hlava, zavřu oči…, the idea is:

Every time I have a headache, I (then) close (them completely once) and rest.

Each instance of “headache → I close my eyes” is seen as a single, whole action, so the perfective zavřu is natural, even though it’s a habitual situation. Czech often uses perfective verbs for each single occurrence within a habitual pattern introduced by když.

Zavírám oči would emphasize the process (e.g. “I am in the process of closing them”), which doesn’t fit as well in this general rule description.

Could I say zavřu si oči instead of zavřu oči? What’s the difference?

Yes, you could say zavřu si oči, and it’s quite natural.

zavřu oči – “I close my eyes.”
zavřu si oči – literally “I close (for myself) my eyes.”

The si is a reflexive dative clitic and often appears with body parts to emphasize that you’re doing it to your own body, for your own benefit. In this sentence:

Když mě bolí hlava, zavřu (si) oči…
Both are correct; si adds a mild nuance of “for my own comfort,” but the meaning doesn’t change much. It’s a stylistic preference.

Why is it odpočívám and not a perfective form like odpočinu si?

Again, this is aspect:

odpočívám – imperfective (from odpočívat)
- emphasizes the ongoing activity or state: “I rest / I am resting.”
odpočinu si – perfective (from odpočinout si)
- one complete rest: “I will (have a) rest,” “I’ll rest (and be done).”

In:

Když mě bolí hlava, zavřu oči a odpočívám v tichém pokoji.

the speaker describes what they do / how they spend that time when they have a headache: they rest (for some time) in a quiet room. That’s naturally expressed by an imperfective verb.

If you say:

Když mě bolí hlava, zavřu oči a odpočinu si v tichém pokoji.

it’s also correct, but now the focus is on having a rest as a completed act (“I take a rest”). The original version paints more of a picture of the state or activity.

What case is used in v tichém pokoji, and why do tichém and pokoji look like that?

The phrase v tichém pokoji is in the locative case (6th case), used for location after v (“in”) when it means position (not movement).

pokoj (room, masculine inanimate noun)
- Nominative sg: pokoj
- Locative sg: (v) pokoji
tichý (quiet, masculine adjective)
- Nominative sg (masc inanimate): tichý pokoj
- Locative sg: (v) tichém pokoji

So:

Preposition: v
- locative
Adjective (masc sg locative): tichém
Noun (masc sg locative): pokoji

That’s why you see -ém on the adjective and -i on the noun.

Why is it tichém (with -ém) and not tichý or tichom or something similar?

Czech adjectives change endings according to case, gender, and number. For a masculine inanimate noun like pokoj in the locative singular, the adjective ending is -ém:

Nominative: tichý pokoj – “a quiet room”
Locative: v tichém pokoji – “in a quiet room”

The pattern:

masc. sg. nominative: -ý (tichý)
masc. sg. locative: -ém (tichém)

So tichém is exactly the form required by the combination masculine + locative after v.

Why is the noun form pokoji and not something like pokojě?

Pokoj belongs to a group of masculine nouns whose locative singular ends in -i.

Typical declension (masc. inanimate, soft pattern):

Nominative sg: pokoj
Genitive sg: pokoje
Dative sg: pokoji
Accusative sg: pokoj
Locative sg: (o) pokoji, (v) pokoji
Instrumental sg: pokojem

Both dative and locative are pokoji, and the preposition tells you the case:

k pokoji – dative (towards the room)
v pokoji – locative (in the room)

There is no pokojě form in standard Czech; pokoji is the correct standard locative.

Why doesn’t Czech use something like “the” here, as in “in the quiet room”? How do you know if v tichém pokoji is definite or indefinite?

Czech has no articles (no equivalent of “a/an/the”). Definiteness and indefiniteness are expressed in other ways:

by context (what is already known),
by word order or stress,
by additional words like ten, tento (“that, this”) if you want to be very explicit.

So v tichém pokoji can mean:

“in a quiet room”
or “in the quiet room”

depending on the context. If you specifically wanted “in that particular quiet room,” you could say:

v tom tichém pokoji – “in that quiet room.”

But in most cases, v tichém pokoji is enough, and listeners infer definiteness from the situation.

Could I say something like Když mám bolest hlavy, zavřu oči… instead of Když mě bolí hlava? Is it natural?

You can say:

Když mám bolest hlavy, zavřu oči… – “When I have a pain of the head…”

It is grammatically correct but sounds more formal or medical and is not the most natural everyday phrasing.

In everyday Czech, people overwhelmingly say:

Když mě bolí hlava… – “When I have a headache,”
or just in a standalone sentence:
Bolí mě hlava. – “I have a headache / My head hurts.”

Mám bolest hlavy might be used in a medical context, in writing, or if you want to sound precise or clinical, but it’s not the default casual expression.

Is it possible to use až instead of když here: Až mě bolí hlava, zavřu oči…?

No, that would be wrong in standard Czech.

Až is typically used for a single event in the future: “when, once (something happens).”
Když is used for whenever / when (in general), for repeated or habitual situations, and also for time reference in the past.

Your sentence describes what you usually do whenever you have a headache, so you must use když:

Když mě bolí hlava, zavřu oči a odpočívám v tichém pokoji.

If you wanted a single future event, you might say:

Až mě bude bolet hlava, zavřu oči a odpočinu si.
– “When I get a headache (once, in the future), I’ll close my eyes and have a rest.”