"malý Matěj"

Translation: little Matěj

[aleroncachero]

Is letter 'l' in 'malý' pronounced as a soft 'r'?

[VladaFu]

No, l is always pronounced as the English l.

[kQ4im3EW]

what is matej mean in English?

[Olda_tsuyl]

it's a given name (male), in english the equivalent is Matthew

[KrytofNovk1]

It's a first name, but one an unfamiliar in English, perhaps Petr would be better....

[BoneheadBass]

My guess is that "Matěj" and "František" are being used because one (Matěj) ends in a soft consonant, and the other (František) ends in a hard consonant.

As you're already discovering (possibly to your dismay), endings change... a LOT. And they often change based on the last letter of the word to which they're being attached. So we're sort of learning two declension paradigms for male names (without even realizing it) for the price of one! :-)

[ReneeMayna2]

Should also be able to mean young in this context, right?

[VladaFu]

sometimes, in the right context, but it is never the equivalent.

[JessicaLyk2]

What is Matej?

[endless_sleeper]

A masculine name.