Breakdown of Ja muszę zapisać nowe słowo w zeszycie.
ja
I
w
in
nowy
new
musieć
to have to
zeszyt
the notebook
słowo
the word
zapisać
to write down
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Questions & Answers about Ja muszę zapisać nowe słowo w zeszycie.
Why is ja used at the beginning of the sentence?
In Polish you usually drop the personal pronoun because the verb ending already shows who is doing the action. Adding ja here is optional and simply emphasizes “I” – it’s like saying “As for me, I must write down…”
What exactly is muszę and how does it work?
muszę is the 1st person singular present tense of the modal verb musieć, meaning “must” or “have to.” It expresses obligation, and when you use it, the main action verb stays in the infinitive (here zapisać).
Why is the main verb zapisać in the infinitive, not conjugated?
After modal verbs like muszę, Polish requires the next verb to be in the infinitive form. So you say muszę zapisać (“I have to write down”), not muszę zapisuję.
Why choose zapisać (perfective) and not zapisywać (imperfective)?
Perfective aspect (here zapisać) indicates a single, completed action (“to write down once”). The imperfective zapisywać would stress an ongoing or habitual action (“to be writing down” or “to write down repeatedly”).
What case is nowe słowo in, and why does the adjective appear as nowe?
nowe słowo is in the accusative case (the direct object of zapisać). słowo is a neuter noun, whose accusative form matches its nominative, and the adjective nowy also takes the neuter accusative ending -e, giving nowe.
What case is zeszycie in, and why is w used?
zeszycie is in the locative case, which is always used with w (and a few other prepositions) to indicate location. Here it literally means “in the notebook.”
Could you say na zeszycie instead of w zeszycie?
No—w (“in”) is correct for writing on the pages inside the notebook. na zeszycie would mean “on top of the notebook” (e.g. on its cover), which doesn’t convey writing an entry.
Is it acceptable to omit ja or change the word order?
Yes. You could simply say Muszę zapisać nowe słowo w zeszycie. Polish word order is fairly flexible, so you could also front w zeszycie for emphasis: W zeszycie muszę zapisać nowe słowo.
What’s the difference between zeszyt and notatnik?
A zeszyt is typically a school notebook with fixed sheets (often lined), used by pupils. A notatnik is more like a notepad or notebook for general notes, and can be spiral-bound or a pad of loose pages.