Chci nahlásit krádež.

Chci means I want.

It comes from the verb chtít = to want.

This is the 1st person singular present-tense form:

• (já) chci = I want
• (ty) chceš = you want
• (on/ona) chce = he/she wants

Czech often leaves out the subject pronoun, so Já chci nahlásit krádež and Chci nahlásit krádež both mean the same thing, but the version without já is more natural in most situations.

In Czech, after a verb like chci (I want), the next verb usually just appears in the infinitive.

So:

• chci nahlásit = I want to report

There is no separate word like English to here.

A very common Czech pattern is:

• chci jít = I want to go
• musím pracovat = I must work
• můžu přijít = I can come

So chci nahlásit krádež is a completely normal structure.

Nahlásit means to report, to notify, or to officially report something.

In this sentence, it fits a context like reporting a theft to the police or another authority.

It is the perfective form of the verb. That means it focuses on the action as a complete event: to report it / to make a report.

Its imperfective partner is usually nahlašovat:

• nahlásit = to report once, as a completed action
• nahlašovat = to be reporting, to report repeatedly, or to report in progress

In this sentence, nahlásit is the natural choice because you mean a single completed action: I want to report a theft.

Because krádež is the direct object of nahlásit, it is in the accusative case.

The useful thing here is that for this noun, the accusative singular looks the same as the nominative singular:

• nominative: krádež
• accusative: krádež

So even though the form does not change, its function in the sentence does.

Other cases do look different, for example:

• bez krádeže = without a theft / without theft
• o krádeži = about the theft

Krádež is a feminine noun meaning theft.

It is an abstract noun, not a person or physical object. In this sentence it refers to the event/crime itself.

Examples:

• To je krádež. = That is theft.
• Nahlásil krádež. = He reported a theft/the theft.
• Policie vyšetřuje krádež. = The police are investigating a theft/the theft.

Czech has no articles, so it does not use words like a, an, or the.

Because of that, krádež can mean:

• a theft
• the theft
• sometimes just theft, depending on context

The exact meaning comes from the situation, not from an article.

So Chci nahlásit krádež could be understood as:

• I want to report a theft
• I want to report the theft

In a real situation, the listener will know which one you mean.

This word order is the most neutral and natural one:

• Chci nahlásit krádež.

Czech word order is more flexible than English, because case endings help show what belongs where. But changing the order can change the emphasis.

For example:

• Chci nahlásit krádež. = neutral
• Krádež chci nahlásit. = It is the theft that I want to report
• Nahlásit krádež chci. = I do want to report the theft

So the original version is the best default sentence for a learner.

A rough pronunciation guide:

• Chci ≈ kh-tsee
• nahlásit ≈ NAH-hlaa-sit
• krádež ≈ KRAA-desh (with a soft zh/sh-like final sound, depending on how you approximate it)

A few important points:

• Czech stress is usually on the first syllable of each word.
• ch in Czech is not like English ch in chair. It is a guttural sound, like the ch in Scottish loch or German Bach.
• á is a long vowel, so krá- and -hlá- are pronounced longer.

A more technical approximation would be something like:

• Chci = /xtsi/
• nahlásit = /naˈɦlaːsɪt/ or with first-syllable stress in teaching pronunciation
• krádež = /kraːdɛʒ/

Because Czech usually does not need subject pronouns unless you want emphasis or contrast.

The form chci already tells you the subject is I.

So:

• Chci nahlásit krádež. = normal, natural
• Já chci nahlásit krádež. = emphasizes I want to report it

You might use já if you are contrasting yourself with someone else:

• On nechce nic řešit, ale já chci nahlásit krádež.
• He doesn’t want to deal with anything, but I want to report the theft.

It is understandable and correct, but in many real-life situations a more polite version would sound better, especially when speaking to the police or staff.

A very common polite version is:

• Chtěl bych nahlásit krádež. = I would like to report a theft.

If a woman is speaking, she would say:

• Chtěla bych nahlásit krádež.

So:

• Chci nahlásit krádež. = direct, simple, correct
• Chtěl/Chtěla bych nahlásit krádež. = more polite

Yes, ohlásit can also mean to report, and in some contexts it is possible.

However, nahlásit krádež is a very natural and common choice for officially reporting something like a theft.

So for a learner, nahlásit krádež is a very good phrase to remember.

A few very useful follow-ups are:

• Byla mi ukradena peněženka. = My wallet was stolen.
• Někdo mi ukradl telefon. = Someone stole my phone.
• Kde můžu podat oznámení? = Where can I file a report?
• Stalo se to včera večer. = It happened yesterday evening.
• Tady jsou moje doklady. = Here are my documents.
• Potřebuji pomoc. = I need help.

These are often useful in the same situation as Chci nahlásit krádež.