Když chci něco hledat na internetu, musím nejdřív zapnout počítač.

Když usually means when, and in many everyday sentences it can also feel like whenever.

In this sentence, Když chci něco hledat na internetu... means:

• When I want to search for something on the internet...
• or more naturally in English: Whenever I want to look something up on the internet...

It is not really a hypothetical if here. It describes a regular situation. If you wanted a clearer if, Czech often uses jestli or pokud.

Chci is the 1st person singular form of the verb chtít, which means to want.

So:

• chtít = to want
• chci = I want

A few useful forms:

• chci = I want
• chceš = you want
• chce = he/she/it wants
• chceme = we want
• chcete = you (plural/formal) want
• chtějí = they want

So Když chci... = When I want...

In Czech, subject pronouns are often omitted because the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

So:

• chci already means I want
• já chci also means I want, but já adds emphasis

In this sentence, já is unnecessary unless you want contrast, for example:

• Když já chci něco hledat na internetu, musím nejdřív zapnout počítač, ale ty ne. = When I want to search for something on the internet, I have to turn on the computer first, but you don’t.

Něco means something.

So:

• chci něco hledat = I want to search for something

It is the neuter indefinite pronoun used when the thing is unspecified.

Related words:

• něco = something
• nic = nothing
• někdo = someone
• nikdo = no one

In this sentence, the speaker does not say what exactly they want to search for, so něco is the natural choice.

Hledat basically means to look for or to search for.

In this sentence, it works well as:

• to search for something on the internet
• or in natural English, often to look something up online

Czech does not always match English word-for-word. Even if English might say look up, Czech can simply use hledat.

A related verb is vyhledat, which often means to search up / find by searching, especially in more formal or technical contexts.

So:

• hledat něco na internetu = to search for something on the internet
• vyhledat něco na internetu = to look something up / search for it more explicitly

Czech idiomatically says na internetu = on the internet.

This matches English quite closely:

• na internetu = on the internet
• na webu = on the web

The preposition na here requires the locative case, so:

• internet → internetu

You will often just have to learn some preposition combinations as fixed usage. Even if v might seem logical to an English speaker, Czech normally uses na internetu.

Because na here takes the locative case, and internet changes to internetu in the locative singular.

So:

• nominative: internet
• locative: na internetu

This is a common masculine inanimate noun pattern.

You do not need to translate the case directly into English; just learn that after na in the sense of location, Czech often uses the locative:

• na stole = on the table
• na internetu = on the internet

This is a very common Czech pattern with a modal verb plus an infinitive.

• musím = I must / I have to
• zapnout = to switch on / turn on

So:

• musím zapnout počítač = I have to turn on the computer

Just like in English:

• I want to search
• I have to turn on

Czech often uses:

• a conjugated verb first (musím)
• then the infinitive (zapnout)

Other examples:

• můžu jít = I can go
• chci spát = I want to sleep
• musím pracovat = I have to work

Yes, nejdřív means first, at first, or more precisely first of all / before that / beforehand depending on context.

In this sentence:

• musím nejdřív zapnout počítač = I first have to turn on the computer = more natural English: I have to turn on the computer first

It emphasizes that turning on the computer happens before the searching.

You may also see:

• napřed
• nejprve

These are close in meaning and often interchangeable in everyday speech.

This is about aspect, which is very important in Czech.

• zapnout = perfective = to switch on / turn on as a completed action
• zapínat = imperfective = to be switching on / to switch on repeatedly or in process

In this sentence, the speaker means one complete action that has to happen first:

• I have to turn on the computer first

So zapnout is the natural choice.

Compare:

• Musím zapnout počítač. = I need to turn on the computer.
• Zapínám počítač. = I am turning on the computer / I turn on the computer.

With modal verbs like musím, Czech often uses the perfective infinitive when talking about a single completed result.

Because počítač is a masculine inanimate noun, and for many masculine inanimate nouns, the accusative singular is the same as the nominative singular.

So:

• nominative: počítač
• accusative: počítač

In this sentence, počítač is the direct object of zapnout, so it is in the accusative.

Compare that with a masculine animate noun, where the accusative usually changes:

• nominative: student
• accusative: studenta

But with počítač, no visible change appears.

Because the sentence begins with a subordinate clause introduced by když.

Structure:

• Když chci něco hledat na internetu, = subordinate clause
• musím nejdřív zapnout počítač. = main clause

Czech uses a comma before or after subordinate clauses much more consistently than English. After an opening když clause, the comma is required.

So this is standard punctuation, not optional.

Yes, Czech word order is quite flexible, but different orders can sound more or less natural depending on emphasis.

The given sentence is very natural:

• Když chci něco hledat na internetu, musím nejdřív zapnout počítač.

You could also say:

• Musím nejdřív zapnout počítač, když chci něco hledat na internetu.

This is grammatically fine, but it puts the main clause first and may sound a little less neutral in some contexts.

You can also move adverbs for emphasis:

• Když chci něco hledat na internetu, musím zapnout počítač nejdřív.

But musím nejdřív zapnout počítač is usually the most natural order.

Yes, chci is a word many learners notice right away.

It is pronounced approximately like kh-tsee, with Czech ch as the sound in Scottish loch or German Bach, not English ch as in chair.

So:

• ch = a throaty sound /x/
• ci = roughly tsee

The cluster is compact, and in natural speech it may sound a bit softened or compressed, but learners should aim for something close to kh-tsee.

Sometimes, yes in meaning, but not literally.

• hledat něco na internetu = to search for something on the internet
• In many real situations, English speakers might say google something

But Czech sentence-by-sentence translation is broader here. Hledat na internetu does not specifically mean using Google. It just means searching online.

If you want to refer specifically to Google in casual speech, people may use expressions like:

• vygooglit
• googlit

But the original sentence is more neutral and general.

It most naturally expresses a general repeated situation or habit:

• Whenever I want to search for something on the internet, I have to turn on the computer first.

That sense comes mainly from když plus the present tense verbs:

• chci = I want
• musím = I have to

Czech present tense often works this way for regular or repeated situations, just like English can say:

• When I want to..., I have to...

So the sentence is not necessarily about one single occasion. It sounds like a general fact.