"Who is that boy's mother?"

Translation: Kdo je matka toho chlapce?

[Giovanni919769]

May I also say "kdo je toho chlapce matka" or would it be incorrect?

[VladaFu]

No, that is very unusual even though you may encounter it in the 19th century poetry. "toho chlapce" acts like a non-agreeing modifier (does not change with cases) and should be placed after the noun.

[Soolrak]

Isn't toho used for the Accusative case? If I am correct, why is this word here? According to me, it should have been to, since it's the Nominative case (and chlapce the Genitive, yes).

I am sure I am wrong, but please explain to me why, I need to know. Thank you in advance! =)

[VladaFu]

nom. ten

gen. toho <---

dat. tomu

acc. toho

loc. tom

instr. tím

It is genitive. The subject matka is irrelevant here.

[Soolrak]

Oh, I see. Sorry for the mistake and thank you very much for all your help. I really appreciate it!

[Randonneur3]

If translating 'who is the mother of that boy?' (no possesive apostrophe) would it be the same?

[VladaFu]

of course, it is accepted

[MKnight20]

Thank ypu VladaFu for your support it really helps

[MKnight20]

still after running in the family quiz a while i wonder why it is not
kdo je matka tech chlapcu

[BoneheadBass]

It is not těch chlapců because we have "the boy's mother" and not "the boys' mother." Since there is only one boy, we need the genitive singular, not the genitive plural. But you might have just gotten matka těch chlapců stuck in your head from another exercise; happens to me all the time! :-)