Breakdown of Příští měsíc chci mít méně práce a více času na rodinu.
Questions & Answers about Příští měsíc chci mít méně práce a více času na rodinu.
In Czech, the present tense is very often used to talk about the future when there is a clear time expression like příští měsíc, zítra, za rok, etc.
- Příští měsíc chci mít… = Next month I want to have…
- The “future” meaning comes from příští měsíc, not from the verb form.
You could also say:
- Příští měsíc budu chtít mít méně práce…
But that sounds more like “Next month I will (then) want to have less work…”, focusing on when the wanting appears, not just on your general plan or wish for the future.
The simple chci mít is the most natural here.
Yes, you can move příští měsíc:
- Příští měsíc chci mít méně práce a více času na rodinu.
- Chci mít příští měsíc méně práce a více času na rodinu.
Both are correct. The difference is mostly in emphasis and flow:
- Starting with Příští měsíc puts the time frame in focus: As for next month, I want…
- Starting with Chci mít puts your wish in focus: I want (and the time is next month)…
Czech word order is fairly flexible. Neutral, natural options are usually:
- Příští měsíc chci mít…
- Chci mít příští měsíc…
Putting příští měsíc somewhere in the middle or end is fine as long as the sentence still flows naturally.
Příští is an adjective meaning next / following, and it belongs to the group of adjectives that have the same -í ending in many forms.
For singular:
- masculine inanimate: příští měsíc (month)
- masculine animate: příští kolega (colleague)
- feminine: příští sobota (Saturday)
- neuter: příští léto (summer)
They all use příští in the nominative singular.
The form will change in other cases (e.g. o příštím měsíci, k příští sobotě), but in Příští měsíc chci…, příští is in the basic, nominative form and looks the same as in many other common phrases.
The words méně (less) and více (more) require the genitive case after them.
- méně práce = less (of) work → práce is genitive singular
- více času = more (of) time → času is genitive singular
In Czech, quantities like více, méně, hodně, málo are normally followed by the genitive:
- více vody – more (of) water
- méně cukru – less (of) sugar
- hodně peněz – a lot of money
- málo času – little time
Both práce and čas are in the genitive singular, but:
- práce (feminine) has the same form for nominative and genitive singular.
- čas (masculine) changes from čas (nominative) to času (genitive).
So it’s not two different cases here—both are genitive because of méně / více. The difference is just how each noun forms its genitive.
Yes, you could say:
- Příští měsíc chci mít míň práce a víc času na rodinu.
The differences:
- méně / více – more formal, neutral, standard.
- míň / víc – more colloquial, informal, very common in everyday speech.
Meaning is the same:
- méně práce ≈ míň práce – less work
- více času ≈ víc času – more time
In writing for learners or in formal texts, you’ll often see méně / více. In spoken Czech, you’ll hear míň / víc all the time.
Prepositions in Czech are tricky because they don’t match English one-to-one.
In více času na rodinu, na has the sense of “for (the purpose of)” / “dedicated to”:
- více času na rodinu = more time for (spending with) the family
- literally: more time for the family as an activity/target
Alternatives:
- více času pro rodinu – also possible, but na rodinu is more idiomatic in the sense of time allocated to them.
- více času s rodinou – means more time *with the family, focusing on being in their company, not so much on allocating time *for them.
So:
- na rodinu – time you can devote to your family.
- s rodinou – time you physically spend with your family.
- pro rodinu – often means for the benefit of the family (e.g. buying something for them, working for them).
In this sentence, na rodinu is the standard idiomatic choice.
Both are possible, but they’re not quite the same:
- Chci mít méně práce. – I want to have less work. (full form)
- Chci méně práce. – literally I want less work.
In chci méně práce, the verb mít (to have) is understood and often omitted in speech. It sounds a bit shorter, a bit more direct.
General points:
- The pattern chci + mít + [noun] is very common and safe for learners.
- In casual conversation, Czechs sometimes skip mít when the meaning is obvious:
- Chci kávu. (I want coffee / I’d like a coffee.)
- Chci víc peněz. (I want more money.)
- Chci méně práce.
In your sentence, chci mít méně práce a více času na rodinu sounds very natural and complete, especially in writing or careful speech.
Yes, they are both in the genitive singular because of méně and více.
The difference is in how each noun declines:
práce (work) is a feminine noun with:
- nominative singular: práce
- genitive singular: práce (same form)
čas (time) is a masculine inanimate noun with:
- nominative singular: čas
- genitive singular: času
So:
- méně práce – genitive singular, but it looks the same as the nominative.
- více času – genitive singular with visible -u ending.
It’s a typical pattern you just get used to: many feminine nouns ending in -e/-ě/-a often have identical nominative and genitive forms, while masculine nouns usually change more visibly.
Yes, you can say:
- Příští měsíc budu mít méně práce a více času na rodinu.
= Next month I will have less work and more time for my family.
This version:
- states a prediction or plan about your situation.
- doesn’t express a wish; it just says what will happen (or what you think will happen).
The original:
- Příští měsíc chci mít méně práce…
= Next month I want to have less work…
This version focuses on your desire / intention, not on the objective future situation. So:
- chci mít – I want to have…
- budu mít – I will have… (expected state in the future)
Both are correct; they just express different shades of meaning.
Czech has no articles like English a / an / the. The language simply doesn’t use them.
So:
méně práce can mean:
- less work
- less of the work
- less of that work
více času can mean:
- more time
- more of the time
- more of that time
The context and word order usually tell you whether the meaning is more general or more specific. Here, the natural English translation uses no article:
- méně práce a více času → less work and more time (for my family).
If you need to be very specific (this work, that time, etc.), Czech tends to use demonstratives like ten, ta, to (that, this), but in this sentence they’re not necessary.