Svědek však popsal zloděje.

Svědek is in the nominative singular. It is the subject of the sentence — the person who performed the action.

• svědek = witness
• nominative is the basic dictionary form for many nouns and is typically used for the subject

So here, svědek is the witness who did the describing.

Because zloděje is the accusative singular form of zloděj.

The verb popsat takes a direct object, and in Czech the direct object is usually in the accusative case.

• nominative: zloděj = thief
• accusative: zloděje = the thief as the object of the verb

So:

• Svědek = the subject
• popsal zloděje = described the thief

This is also a good example of how masculine animate nouns often change in the accusative.

Popsal is past tense.

It comes from the infinitive popsat, meaning to describe.

In Czech past tense, the verb form often shows the gender and number of the subject:

• popsal = masculine singular
• popsala = feminine singular
• popsalo = neuter singular
• popsali / popsaly = plural

So popsal tells you that the subject is singular masculine — which matches svědek.

Because Czech often does not need subject pronouns when the subject is already clear.

In English, you usually need to say he described the thief. In Czech, the verb form itself often gives enough information, and in this sentence the noun svědek is explicitly stated anyway.

So Czech does not need an extra pronoun like on here.

Však means something like however, though, or but.

It adds a contrast with previous information. For example, if the previous sentence said that someone else did not see the thief clearly, this sentence might contrast that:

• Svědek však popsal zloděje.
• The witness, however, described the thief.

It is a common written or slightly formal word for contrast.

In Czech, words like však often appear in the second position of the sentence or clause.

So instead of putting however first, Czech often puts the first important element first and then places však right after it:

• Svědek však popsal zloděje.

This sounds natural in Czech.

English and Czech handle these linking words differently. English often says:

• However, the witness described the thief.

Czech often prefers:

• Svědek však popsal zloděje.

This is an aspect difference.

• popsal is perfective
• popisoval is imperfective

Here, popsal suggests a completed act: the witness gave the description.

By contrast, popisoval would suggest an ongoing, repeated, or process-focused action:

• Svědek popsal zloděje. = The witness described the thief.
• Svědek popisoval zloděje. = The witness was describing the thief / described the thief in a process-oriented sense.

In many contexts, the perfective popsal is the natural choice if you are reporting that the description was successfully given.

Yes. Czech word order is more flexible than English because the cases show who is doing what.

For example, these are all possible, though they sound different in emphasis:

• Svědek však popsal zloděje.
• Zloděje však popsal svědek.
• Svědek zloděje však popsal. (less neutral, more marked)

The original sentence is the most neutral and natural if you simply want to say that the witness, however, described the thief.

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

In this sentence, zloděje is understood as singular accusative because of the verb and the meaning.

With masculine animate nouns, some forms can look similar, so context matters. Here:

• popsal zloděje most naturally means described the thief

If it were plural, the sentence would usually need a context that clearly points to multiple thieves. Without that, learners should read zloděje here as one thief in the accusative singular.

Both the noun and the past-tense verb would change.

A natural version would be:

• Svědkyně však popsala zloděje.

Changes:

• svědek → svědkyně = female witness
• popsal → popsala = past tense with a feminine singular subject

This is a good reminder that Czech past tense agrees with the gender of the subject.

Zloděje is pronounced approximately ZLO-dye-ye, though the exact Czech sounds are a bit different from English.

A few useful points:

• ě often softens the preceding consonant
• dě sounds roughly like dye
• the ending -je is pronounced clearly, not swallowed

So the word has three main parts:

• zlo
• dě
• je

For an English speaker, it helps to say it slowly at first:

• zlo-dě-je

Then speed it up naturally.