Ta stará fotka je z minulého roku.

Ta is the feminine singular form of the demonstrative ten / ta / to.

In many contexts, it translates as that:

• ta fotka = that photo

But because Czech has no articles, ta can sometimes feel closer to English the when the speaker means a specific, identifiable thing.

So here, ta most naturally means that, but in practice it is also helping mark the photo as a specific one.

You could also omit it:

• Stará fotka je z minulého roku.

That is still grammatical, but it sounds less specifically like that old photo.

Because they must agree with fotka.

Czech adjectives and words like ten / ta / to agree with the noun in:

• gender
• number
• case

Here, fotka is:

• feminine
• singular
• nominative

So the matching forms are:

• ta = feminine singular nominative
• stará = feminine singular nominative

Compare:

• ten starý film = that old film
• ta stará fotka = that old photo
• to staré auto = that old car

A strong clue is the ending -a. Many Czech nouns ending in -a are feminine.

Also, the agreement in the sentence confirms it:

• ta is feminine
• stará is feminine

So even if you were unsure about the noun itself, the surrounding words tell you its gender.

That said, endings are only a clue, not a perfect rule. The safest method is still to learn nouns together with their gender.

Yes. Fotka is a very common everyday word for photo / picture.

A more formal or neutral word is:

• fotografie

So:

• fotka = common, informal/everyday
• fotografie = more formal or neutral

Both are very common, but fotka sounds natural in ordinary speech.

It is in the nominative case because it is the subject of the sentence.

The basic structure is:

• Ta stará fotka = the subject
• je = is
• z minulého roku = from last year / dating from last year

So the thing being talked about, fotka, stays in nominative.

This is a normal Czech way to say that something comes from a certain time period.

Literally:

• je z ... = is from ...

So:

• Ta stará fotka je z minulého roku. literally means:
• That old photo is from last year.

In natural English, that often means:

• it dates from last year
• it was taken last year
• it comes from last year

Czech often uses z this way with years, periods, places, and origins.

Both z and ze mean from / out of.

Ze is used mainly when it is easier to pronounce than z, especially before certain consonant combinations.

For example:

• ze školy = from school
• ze stolu = from the table

But before minulého, simple z is natural:

• z minulého roku

So there is no special meaning difference here; it is mainly about pronunciation and standard usage.

Because the preposition z requires the genitive case.

The base form is:

• minulý rok = last year

But after z, both the adjective and the noun must change to genitive:

• z minulého roku

So:

• minulý → minulého
• rok → roku

This is a very important Czech pattern:

• preposition + required case

Because rok is in the genitive singular here.

After z, you need genitive:

• z roku = from the year
• z minulého roku = from last year

So rok changes from its dictionary form to roku.

This is just part of the noun’s declension pattern, and it has to match the case required by z.

Minulého is the genitive singular masculine form of the adjective minulý.

It has to agree with roku, because roku is:

• singular
• masculine
• genitive

So:

• minulý rok = nominative
• z minulého roku = genitive after z

This is a good example of how Czech adjectives change form to match the noun.

Yes, absolutely.

A very natural alternative is:

• Ta stará fotka je z loňského roku.

Here:

• loňský = last year’s

This often sounds very natural in Czech when talking about something dating from last year.

So both work:

• z minulého roku
• z loňského roku

The second one is often especially idiomatic for from last year.

Because Czech does not have words equivalent to English a / an / the as a normal article system.

Instead, Czech expresses definiteness through:

• context
• word order
• demonstratives like ten / ta / to

So English needs something like:

• the old photo
• that old photo

Czech can simply say:

• stará fotka or more specifically:
• ta stará fotka

This is an important difference.

• Ta stará fotka je z minulého roku. = That old photo is from last year. Here, stará is part of the noun phrase ta stará fotka.

• Ta fotka je stará. = That photo is old. Here, stará is a predicate adjective after je.

So in the original sentence, stará describes fotka inside the phrase that old photo, not as the main statement of the sentence.

Yes. In Czech, accent marks usually show vowel length.

So:

• a and á are different in length
• e and é are different in length

In this sentence:

• stará has a long á
• minulého has a long é

These are normal parts of the word forms, not optional spelling marks. They should be learned and written correctly.