Breakdown of Příští týden má moje sestra narozeniny a celá rodina se na to těší.
Questions & Answers about Příští týden má moje sestra narozeniny a celá rodina se na to těší.
Literally, má moje sestra narozeniny means “my sister has a birthday”.
Czech expresses birthdays with the verb mít (mám, máš, má… – to have), so:
- Mám narozeniny. = I have a birthday. → It’s my birthday.
- Moje sestra má narozeniny. = My sister has a birthday. → It’s my sister’s birthday.
English uses “It is X’s birthday.”; Czech uses “X has a birthday.” The meaning is the same; it’s just a different idiom in each language.
Narozeniny is grammatically plural only in Czech, even though it refers to one birthday. This is similar to English words like “scissors” or “trousers”, which look plural but often refer to a single object.
So:
- narozeniny – always plural (no singular form in normal use)
- Moje sestra má narozeniny. – My sister has a birthday / It’s my sister’s birthday.
Other Czech words that behave similarly:
- Vánoce – Christmas (always plural)
- prázdniny – school holidays (always plural)
You still translate narozeniny as singular “birthday” in English.
Czech often uses the present tense for planned or scheduled future events, especially with a time expression like příští týden (next week), zítra (tomorrow), večer (in the evening), etc.
So:
Příští týden má moje sestra narozeniny.
Literally: Next week my sister has her birthday.
Meaning: My sister will have her birthday next week / It’s my sister’s birthday next week.…a celá rodina se na to těší.
Literally: …and the whole family is looking forward to it.
Meaning: …and the whole family is looking forward to it (now, about the future event).
You can use a future form:
- Příští týden bude mít moje sestra narozeniny.
…but the simple present with a time adverbial is very natural and common in Czech.
Yes, you can change the word order. Czech word order is flexible and often changes emphasis rather than basic meaning.
Possible variants:
Příští týden má moje sestra narozeniny.
– Neutral: introducing when first. Slight emphasis on next week.Moje sestra má příští týden narozeniny.
– Slightly more focus on my sister, then specifying when.Moje sestra má narozeniny příští týden.
– Focus on having a birthday, with when added at the end as extra info.
All are correct. The differences are subtle and mostly about what the speaker presents as known background vs. new information, not about grammar correctness.
Both moje sestra and má sestra are grammatically correct and mean “my sister”.
- moje – the full form, very common in everyday speech
- má – a short form, more typical in written style, more formal, or sometimes poetic
In spoken Czech, you will most often hear:
- Moje sestra má narozeniny.
In written or more formal/poetic style, you might see:
- Má sestra má narozeniny.
So in your sentence, moje sestra is the most natural choice for neutral, everyday Czech.
Příští týden is in the accusative case:
- příští – accusative singular masculine (same form as nominative here)
- týden – accusative singular masculine inanimate (same form as nominative)
Czech often uses the bare accusative of time to say “when” something happens:
- příští týden – next week
- příští měsíc – next month
- každý den – every day
- minulý rok – last year
You can also say:
- V příštím týdnu má moje sestra narozeniny.
but that sounds more formal or bureaucratic. The simple příští týden without a preposition is the most natural in everyday language.
The phrase těšit se na + accusative means “to look forward to something.”
Breakdown:
- těšit se – a reflexive verb meaning “to look forward (to something)”
- na – preposition used here with accusative case
- to – pronoun “it” (accusative form of to)
So:
- těšit se na něco – to look forward to something
- se na to těší – (they) are looking forward to it
Example:
- Celá rodina se na to těší.
– The whole family is looking forward to it.
Without se, těšit means something else:
- To mě těší. – That pleases me / I’m glad to hear that.
So:
- těšit = to please
- těšit se (na) = to look forward (to)
Both are possible, but they have slightly different focuses.
- na ně – literally “for them,” strictly referring back to narozeniny (grammatically plural)
- na to – “for it / for that (thing),” referring more generally to the whole event/situation (the birthday as an occasion)
In everyday speech, na to is very common because speakers usually mean the whole event, not just the word narozeniny grammatically.
So:
- Celá rodina se na to těší.
– Very natural: The whole family is looking forward to it (the birthday celebration).
If you said:
- Celá rodina se na ně těší.
it would still be understandable and grammatically okay, but na to sounds more idiomatic and neutral here.
Because rodina (family) is a feminine noun in Czech.
Adjectives must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun they describe. So:
- rodina – feminine singular
- celý – masculine form → wrong here
- celá – feminine singular nominative → correct
Examples:
- celá rodina – the whole family
- celý dům – the whole house (masculine)
- celé město – the whole town (neuter)
Approximate pronunciation with rough English hints:
Příští – [ˈpr̝iːʃciː]
- ř is a special Czech sound: a rolled r plus ž (zh in measure) together.
- You can think of it as a quickly trilled r with a buzzing quality.
týden – [ˈtiːdɛn]
- long ý as in a lengthened ee.
má – [maː] – maa (long a)
moje – [ˈmojɛ] – MO-ye
sestra – [ˈsɛstra]
narozeniny – [ˈnarozɛɲɪnɪ]
- ň = soft ny as in canyon.
celá – [ˈtsɛlaː]
- c = ts (like in cats).
rodina – [ˈrodɪna]
se – [sɛ]
na – [na]
to – [to]
těší – [ˈcɛʃiː]
- tě- is softened → sounds like če- (che in check).
- So it’s close to CHESH-ee with a long í at the end.
Very rough English-style rendering:
“PRZHEE-shtee TEE-den maa MO-ye SES-tra NA-ro-ze-ni-ni a TSE-laa RO-di-na se na to CHESH-ee.”
(With the note that ř in příští doesn’t exist in English and needs practice on its own.)