Večeře je skoro hotová.

Because it agrees with večeře, which is a feminine singular noun.

In Czech, adjectives often change their endings to match the noun’s gender, number, and sometimes case. Here:

• večeře = feminine singular
• hotová = feminine singular form of hotový (ready / finished)

Compare:

• Oběd je skoro hotový. = Lunch is almost ready.
  (oběd is masculine)
• Jídlo je skoro hotové. = The food is almost ready.
  (jídlo is neuter)

So hotová is used because večeře is feminine.

It is in the nominative case.

In this sentence, večeře is the subject of the sentence: the thing that is almost ready. Subjects are normally in the nominative in Czech.

So the structure is:

• Večeře = subject, nominative
• je = is
• skoro hotová = predicate phrase describing the subject

Je is the 3rd person singular form of být (to be), so it means is.

The sentence structure is basically:

• Večeře = dinner
• je = is
• skoro hotová = almost ready

So je links the subject (večeře) with the description (skoro hotová).

Unlike in some Slavic languages, in the present tense Czech normally does use the verb být in this kind of sentence.

Skoro means almost.

It usually goes before the word or phrase it modifies. Here it modifies hotová, so:

• skoro hotová = almost ready

That placement is very natural in Czech.

You can think of the sentence as:

• Večeře = dinner
• je = is
• skoro hotová = almost ready

Yes, Czech word order is more flexible than English, but some versions sound more natural than others depending on emphasis.

The neutral version is:

• Večeře je skoro hotová.

You might also hear:

• Skoro hotová je večeře.
• Večeře je hotová skoro. — grammatically possible, but less natural in normal speech

Changing the order usually changes the focus or emphasis, not the basic meaning.

For a learner, Večeře je skoro hotová. is the safest and most natural version to use.

It can mean either, depending on context and the speaker’s variety of English.

In Czech, večeře is the evening meal. In English, that may be translated as:

• dinner
• supper

Most learners are best off just remembering večeře as the evening meal.

It can mean either, depending on context.

With food, hotový / hotová / hotové often means:

• ready
• done
• finished

So Večeře je skoro hotová. could mean:

• Dinner is almost ready.
• Dinner is almost done.

In everyday use with cooking, ready is usually the most natural English choice.

That is also possible, but hotová is very common when talking about cooking or finishing something.

There is a slight difference in feel:

• hotová = finished, done, ready
• připravená = prepared, ready

With food on the stove or in the oven, Czech speakers very naturally say:

• Večeře je hotová. = Dinner is ready / done.

So hotová is exactly the kind of word you would expect here.

A rough pronunciation guide is:

• Večeře ≈ VEH-che-rzheh
• je ≈ yeh
• skoro ≈ SKO-ro
• hotová ≈ ho-to-VAA

A few tricky sounds:

• č sounds like ch in chair
• ř is a special Czech sound with no exact English equivalent; learners often approximate it at first
• j in Czech sounds like English y in yes
• á is a long vowel

You do not need a perfect ř right away to be understood.

Czech does not use articles like English a / an / the.

So večeře can mean:

• dinner
• the dinner
• sometimes even a dinner

The exact meaning depends on context.

That is why Večeře je skoro hotová. does not contain any word corresponding to the.

Normally, no. In this sentence, je should stay.

Czech sometimes omits parts of a sentence in very informal speech, but the standard complete sentence is:

• Večeře je skoro hotová.

If you remove je, the sentence sounds incomplete in normal Czech.

So for learners, it is best to keep it.

The dictionary form is hotový.

Czech dictionaries usually list adjectives in the masculine singular nominative form. So you would look up:

• hotový

From that, you get:

• hotový = masculine
• hotová = feminine
• hotové = neuter / plural in some forms

So even though the sentence uses hotová, the dictionary entry will normally be hotový.