Nadchodzi dzień wymiany ubrań.

The day of the clothes swap is approaching.

Breakdown of Nadchodzi dzień wymiany ubrań.

• dzień: the day
• wymiana ubrań: a clothes swap
• nadchodzić: to approach; be coming

Questions & Answers about Nadchodzi dzień wymiany ubrań.

What does nadchodzi mean exactly, and what is its basic form?

Nadchodzi is the 3rd person singular present tense of nadchodzić.

Here it means something like:

• is approaching
• is coming
• is drawing near

So Nadchodzi dzień wymiany ubrań literally means The day of the clothes exchange is approaching.

A useful breakdown is:

• nad- = a prefix here giving the idea of something coming near
• chodzić = to go / walk (in a frequentative sense)
• nadchodzić = to approach, to come nearer in time or space

In this sentence it is used about an upcoming day or event, which is very natural in Polish.

Why is the verb first? Can I also say Dzień wymiany ubrań nadchodzi?

Yes, you can also say Dzień wymiany ubrań nadchodzi.

Polish word order is much more flexible than English word order because cases show grammatical roles. In this sentence:

• Nadchodzi dzień wymiany ubrań sounds a bit more like The clothes-swap day is coming / Here comes the clothes-swap day
• Dzień wymiany ubrań nadchodzi puts more focus on the day itself

Both are grammatical.

Very roughly:

• verb first can sound more dynamic or literary
• subject first can sound more neutral or straightforward

So the original sentence is completely natural, but not the only possible order.