Prosím, dej ten talíř na stůl vedle mého hrnku.

Dej is the imperative (command form) of the verb dát, which means to give or, in many situations, to put/place.

So in this sentence, dej means something like put! or give/place!

A few useful forms:

• dát = infinitive
• dám = I will give / I give
• dej = give! / put! (to one person, informal)
• dejte = give! / put! (to several people, or to one person formally)

So Prosím, dej... is speaking to one person informally.

In Czech, the subject pronoun is often left out because the verb form already shows who is being addressed.

Here, dej already tells you the speaker is talking to:

• you singular
• informal

If you added ty, it would usually sound unnecessary unless you wanted special emphasis:

• Ty dej ten talíř... = You put the plate... (with emphasis, contrast, or impatience)

So omitting you is completely normal.

Prosím is a very common Czech word with several uses. In this sentence, it softens the command and works like:

• please

So:

• Prosím, dej ten talíř... = Please put the plate...

Depending on context, prosím can also mean:

• here you are
• yes?
• I beg your pardon?
• you’re welcome

But here it is simply the polite please.

Ten means the/that for a masculine noun. Czech often uses demonstratives like ten, ta, to in places where English just uses the.

So:

• ten talíř = the plate or that plate, depending on context

A learner often notices that Czech has no direct equivalent of the English article the, so words like ten are often used when the speaker wants to point out a specific object.

Also:

• talíř is a masculine inanimate noun

Yes, it is in the accusative here, because it is the direct object of dej.

However, for many masculine inanimate nouns, the nominative singular and accusative singular look the same.

So:

• nominative: ten talíř
• accusative: ten talíř

That is why you do not see a change on talíř itself.

You can still see the case pattern in the article-like word:

• masculine inanimate accusative singular often looks like nominative
• so ten talíř stays ten talíř

This is a very important Czech pattern.

With prepositions like na and v, Czech often distinguishes between:

• movement toward a place → accusative
• location in/on a place → locative

Here the sentence describes movement: someone is being told to put the plate onto the table. That is why Czech uses:

• na stůl = onto the table / to the table surface

Compare:

• Dej ten talíř na stůl. = Put the plate on the table.
• Ten talíř je na stole. = The plate is on the table.

So:

• na stůl = direction / placement
• na stole = location

In this sentence, stůl is in the accusative singular after na, because the phrase expresses movement onto the table.

For the noun stůl:

• nominative singular: stůl
• accusative singular: stůl
• locative singular: stole

So the accusative form happens to look the same as the nominative.

That is why:

• na stůl = onto the table but
• na stole = on the table

Because the preposition vedle requires the genitive case.

So after vedle (next to / beside), the noun phrase changes form:

• můj hrnek = my mug
• vedle mého hrnku = next to my mug

Both words change because the whole phrase is in the genitive:

• můj → mého
• hrnek → hrnku

This is one of the very common Czech preposition + case patterns that learners need to memorize.

Because můj hrnek is the basic dictionary-like form: nominative singular.

After vedle, Czech uses the genitive, so both the possessive word and the noun must change:

• nominative: můj hrnek = my mug
• genitive: mého hrnku = of my mug / next to my mug

This is normal case agreement:

• mého agrees with hrnku
• both are masculine singular genitive

You may also hear mýho hrnku in casual spoken Czech, but mého hrnku is the standard form.

Yes, hrnek is masculine inanimate.

A few clues:

• many Czech nouns ending in a consonant are masculine
• hrnek refers to an object, so it is inanimate, not animate

That matters because adjective and pronoun forms depend on gender:

• můj hrnek
• ten hrnek
• bez hrnku
• vedle hrnku

And it also affects case endings.

Not completely. Czech word order is more flexible than English, but the neutral order here is very natural:

• Prosím, dej ten talíř na stůl vedle mého hrnku.

This sounds like:

1. polite opener
2. command
3. object
4. destination
5. more precise location

You can change the order, but the emphasis changes. For example:

• Ten talíř dej na stůl vedle mého hrnku.
  This puts more focus on the plate.
• Dej ten talíř vedle mého hrnku na stůl.
  Grammatically possible, but it may sound less natural because vedle mého hrnku and na stůl can momentarily feel less neatly ordered.

So the original sentence is a very good standard version.

Dej is informal singular. You use it when speaking to:

• one friend
• a family member
• a child
• someone you address with ty

If you want to be formal or address more than one person, use dejte:

• Prosím, dejte ten talíř na stůl vedle mého hrnku.

So the sentence as written is friendly or familiar, not formal.

Yes, very often.

• dej ten talíř na stůl is very natural and common in everyday Czech
• polož ten talíř na stůl is also natural and may sound a bit more specifically like place/lay the plate down

So both work, but:

• dej is extremely common in speech for put
• polož is a bit more specifically about placing something down

A rough pronunciation guide:

• Prosím ≈ PRO-seem
• dej ≈ day
• ten ≈ ten
• talíř ≈ ta-LEERZH
  (the final ř is the famous Czech sound; learners often approximate it imperfectly at first)
• na ≈ nah
• stůl ≈ stool but with a shorter, tenser vowel quality than English
• vedle ≈ VED-leh
• mého ≈ MAY-ho
• hrnku ≈ HRN-koo

A natural stress pattern in Czech usually puts stress on the first syllable of each word:

• PROsím, DEJ ten TA líř na STŮL VEDle MÉg ho HRNku

The hardest parts for many English speakers are:

• ř in talíř
• the consonant cluster hrn- in hrnku

This one sentence shows several very useful Czech patterns:

1. Direct object after a verb → often accusative

   • dej ten talíř

2. Movement onto a surface with na → accusative

   • na stůl

3. Location/position relation with vedle → genitive

   • vedle mého hrnku

So this sentence is a great example of how Czech uses case to show relationships that English often shows mainly through word order and prepositions alone.