"František nese hrušky na talíři."

Translation: František is carrying pears on the plate.

[Paul378887]

Why is “Frantisek is carrying pears on plates” wrong? Isn’t “talíři” both singular and plural?

[endless_sleeper]

That would be "na talířích."

[snikta]

shouldn't this be "on a plate"

[VladaFu]

does not have to be

[Praha2023]

In a previous exercise involving 'reading in her bed', 'her' was assumed: 'se čte v posteli' (Or something close).

Why in this exercise are we sure it is 'the' plate and not his plate?

[MiroslavOl3]

These concepts are a bit tricky to directly translate but you are probably referring to the reflexive pronoun "si" -- "Kateřina si čte v posteli", "František si nese hrušky na talíři". This "si" adds to the sentence the idea that it is all around the subject, without much external influence -- they do it by themselves, for themselves, ... Therefore, with "si", it is more likely that they use their own equipment.

[Praha2023]

That makes sense. Thank you! So, can si be added to all such verbs?

[MiroslavOl3]

It can be added to many similar verbs -- hrát, psát, jít, udělat, plavat... With some it is relatively frequent, with others it sounds more like a language creativity. So I would recommend not trying to be overly creative but not being surprised when encountering it. It is also worth noticing that some verbs require "si" by default (e.g. "zasloužit si" = to deserve), or it can significantly change their meaning (e.g. "představit si" = to imagine / "představit" = to introduce).

[Praha2023]

Awesome explanation. Thank you so much!