"Kuchyně jsou v jejich domech malé."
Translation:The kitchens in their houses are small.
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At least in US usage, "The kitchens are small in their houses" would be fine. For example, you might say or hear either version in a conversation about XYZ Company, which puts small kitchens in the houses they build, or about some friends who happen to live in houses where the kitchens are small.
I agree, kind of. "The kitchens in their houses are small" (the sample answer) sounds better to me, possibly because "small" on one side of the verb modifies the entire unit on the other side, "The kitchens in their houses". But I do agree that "The kitchens are small in their houses" could also work, as English is flexible with the position of these units of meaning (cf. "The kitchens there are small" and "The kitchens are small there", both OK).
The word order here is so confusing to me. Is it possible to write "Kuchyne jsou male v jejich domech" which, for those of us (me) locked in mortal combat with this issue, would be clearer re. what "male" is modifying. But I guess if it were modifying "domech" it would be malych. Hmmm...
Just like you explained to yourself, it's clear in Czech what "malé" modifies whereever it stands, because it agrees with "kuchyně" in case/number/gender.
As always, whatever is at the end is the focus, the key information that you're telling someone. It's likely that "small" is the key information, that's why it's at the end.
Your word order is possible, just less likely. "Kuchyně jsou malé v jejich domech" is either stressing "domech" (very unlikely -- so kitchens are not small in their what, palaces? boats? hotels?) or it's stressing "jejich" (we can't place "jejich" at the end, this is as close to the end as it gets) OR the whole expression "jejich domech") --- meaning that kitchens are NOT small in someone else's houses or somewhere else entirely. We are contrasting this here -- there has to be a place (implied or mentioned) WHERE the kitchens are not small. It's a far less likely (but theoretically possible) situation than simply stating that kitchens in these houses are SMALL.
Some other (likely) ways of saying the same are:
- V jejich domech jsou kuchyně malé. - As for their houses (topic), the kitchens are SMALL (focus) there.
- Kuchyně v jejich domech jsou malé. - this is similar to the main sentence (Kuchyně jsou v jejich domech malé), only it's treating "kuchyně v jejich domech" as a single unit taking up the first position (topic).
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Please what is the difference in Czech between "their" and "her"? It all seems like jejich?
Please check the declension table for "její" (her) at
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/jej%C3%AD#Declension
Notice that some of the plural forms are "jejích", not "jejich".
On the other hand "jejich" does not change when declined and means their.
'The kitchens are small in their houses.' I can see no reason why this is not acceptable, and 'small' is qualifying kitchens, not houses, so that in normal English usage it should go closer to kitchens.
I do not see either, because "The kitchens are small in their houses." is accepted. As we told you several times, you must, in cases like this one, use "My answer should have been accepted" and you must check for typos just before doing that. More often than not there is some typo or a similar error in the answer.
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Does "jsou" have to be second in that order in the sentence, i.e. can we write "Kuchyně v jejich domech jsou malé"? I understand that the focus goes to the end, but can't get my head around the way the word order works in Czech for the rest of it.
Yes, you can write that, too, and it's accepted. It just depends on how you group the words:
- Kuchyně (1st position, subject) jsou (copula, 2nd position) v jejich domech (where? adverbial) malé (predicate, focus).
- Kuchyně v jejich domech (1st position, single unit) jsou (copula, 2nd position), malé (predicate, focus).
In the latter sentence, we immediately define the kitchens more closely, grouping the descripition (the "where") with them as a modifier of "kuchyně".
Both ways work.