Breakdown of Zprávy jsou někdy smutné, proto se na ně moje dcera nedívá.
Questions & Answers about Zprávy jsou někdy smutné, proto se na ně moje dcera nedívá.
Zprávy literally means “news”, but in everyday Czech it very often means the TV news program or news broadcast, not just “news” as an abstract concept.
So in this sentence, zprávy is best understood as “the (TV) news”, i.e. the program your daughter might watch in the evening.
In English, “news” is grammatically singular (“the news is sad”).
In Czech, zpráva = “a piece of news, report” (singular), and
zprávy = “news” (plural).
So grammatically:
- zprávy = plural noun
- therefore you must use jsou (3rd person plural of být “to be”)
Hence: Zprávy jsou někdy smutné = “The news is sometimes sad,” but word‑for‑word it’s “News (plural) are sometimes sad.”
Smutné is the adjective smutný (“sad”) in the nominative plural, agreeing with zprávy.
- zpráva – 1 sad report → smutná zpráva (feminine singular)
- zprávy – sad reports/news → smutné zprávy (feminine plural)
Rule: adjectives must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.
Here:
- zprávy = feminine plural, nominative
- so the adjective is smutné = feminine plural nominative form of smutný
Někdy means “sometimes”.
In this sentence, it’s placed just before the adjective:
- Zprávy jsou někdy smutné. – “The news is sometimes sad.”
You can move někdy a bit without changing the meaning much:
- Někdy jsou zprávy smutné. – Also correct; a bit more emphasis on “sometimes”.
- Zprávy někdy jsou smutné. – Grammatically possible but sounds marked/less natural.
Most neutral are:
- Zprávy jsou někdy smutné.
- Někdy jsou zprávy smutné.
In this sentence, proto means “therefore / for that reason”.
The structure is:
- Zprávy jsou někdy smutné, proto se na ně moje dcera nedívá.
= “The news is sometimes sad, therefore my daughter does not watch it.”
Compare:
- protože = “because” (introduces a subordinate clause)
- Moje dcera se na ně nedívá, protože jsou někdy smutné.
“My daughter doesn’t watch them because they are sometimes sad.”
- Moje dcera se na ně nedívá, protože jsou někdy smutné.
- tak / a tak = “so / and so” (more colloquial)
- Zprávy jsou někdy smutné, (a) tak se na ně moje dcera nedívá.
- takže = “so / therefore” as well, often more conversational
- Zprávy jsou někdy smutné, takže se na ně moje dcera nedívá.
Key point:
- proto works like an independent adverbial (“for that reason”) and is followed by a main clause in normal word order.
- protože is a subordinating conjunction meaning “because” and introduces a clause with a verb at the end position more freely.
The verb is dívat se (na něco/někoho) = “to watch / to look at something”.
It is reflexive, meaning the “se” is part of the verb itself, not a separate object.
- dívat se na televizi – to watch TV
- dívat se na zprávy – to watch the news
Without se, dívat is either not used in this meaning or sounds wrong:
- ✗ nedívá na ně – incorrect
- ✓ nedívá se na ně – correct: “doesn’t watch them”
So you must treat dívat se as a fixed verb pattern: always with se.
In Czech, verbal negation is usually formed by adding the prefix ne- directly to the verb.
- dívá se = “(she) watches / is watching”
- nedívá se = “(she) doesn’t watch / is not watching”
You do not put ne separately after the verb (no “dívá ne se” etc.). The ne- must attach to the verb:
- vidí → nevidí
- chce → nechce
- dívá se → nedívá se
The verb pattern is dívat se na + accusative:
- dívat se na co/koho – to look at / watch something/someone
When you replace a noun with a pronoun after a preposition, you must use the special “strong” form:
- without preposition (direct object):
- Vidím je. – “I see them.”
- with preposition:
- Dívám se na ně. – “I watch them.”
So here, na ně = “at them / at it (the news)”.
Ně is the form you use after na (and other prepositions).
Yes, several word orders are possible and grammatically correct. The given sentence:
- … proto se na ně moje dcera nedívá.
has a bit of emphasis on na ně (“it is them/my daughter doesn’t watch”).
More neutral and very common:
- … proto se moje dcera na ně nedívá.
- … proto moje dcera se na ně nedívá. (also possible, though less common than the previous one)
- As a standalone sentence: Moje dcera se na ně nedívá.
General idea:
- se is a clitic and likes to stand in second position in the clause, usually right after the first stressed element (proto se…, Moje dcera se…).
- Other elements (na ně, moje dcera) can move around mainly for emphasis and information flow, not because the grammar demands a single fixed order.
Yes, but the structure of the sentence changes slightly.
Your original has two main clauses linked by proto (“therefore”):
- Zprávy jsou někdy smutné, proto se na ně moje dcera nedívá.
= “The news is sometimes sad, therefore my daughter does not watch it.”
With protože (“because”), you make one clause subordinate to the other:
- Moje dcera se na ně nedívá, protože jsou někdy smutné.
= “My daughter doesn’t watch it because it is sometimes sad.”
Meaning-wise they express the same cause–effect relationship, but with:
- proto: cause → effect
- protože: effect → cause (in the surface order)
Both mean “to watch the news”, but they differ in style:
- dívat se na zprávy – neutral, standard
- koukat na zprávy – more colloquial, like “to watch / to stare at / to look at”
In this sentence, you could say:
- … proto se na ně moje dcera nedívá. (neutral)
- … proto na ně moje dcera nekouká. (more informal)
Both moje dcera and má dcera are grammatically correct:
- moje dcera – full form; most common in everyday speech
- má dcera – shorter form; a bit more formal / literary, or used when speaking with a slightly elevated tone
In this sentence, moje dcera is perfectly natural, and má dcera would also be correct, just with a slightly different stylistic feel.