Czech Hobbies: hraju fotbal, hraju na kytaru

What you play, what you pick, what you grow — free time is where conversations become friendships. Czech splits "playing" cleanly in two.

Playing Games & Sports

hrát + bare accusative — no preposition at all: hraju fotbal, hraju hokej, hraju šachy (chess). Polish needs w, Russian needs в; Czech needs nothing.

Hraju fotbal a hokej. A někdy šachy.

I play football and hockey. And sometimes chess.

Note: Bare accusative — the missing preposition is correct.

Playing Instruments

Instruments take na: hraju na kytaru, na klavír (piano), na housle (violin).

Liking to Do Things

rád/ráda + verb — liking an activity: Rád čtu (m). Ráda vařím (f). Compare mám rád + noun from Chapter 1: Mám rád knihy (I like books) vs Rád čtu (I like reading).

Ráda vařím, ale nerada uklízím.

I like cooking, but I hate cleaning (f).

Note: nerad/nerada — the built-in dislike form.

Interests & the National Pastimes

Zajímám se o + accusative — I'm interested in: o historii, o sport. Věnuju se + dative — I devote myself to: hudbě. And the holy trinity of Czech free time: houbaření (mushroom picking), chataření (cottage weekends), zahrádka (the allotment).

Common Mistakes

hraju na fotbal. Sports take the bare accusative — hraju fotbal; na is for instruments.
rád as one-size. It agrees with the speaker: rád čtu (m), ráda čtu (f).
zajímám se v. The pattern is o + accusative: zajímám se o historii.

What You Can Do Now

You can discuss sports, instruments and passions with the right patterns, split rád čtu from mám rád knihy — and hold your own in mushroom season.