W aptece pytają o numer recepty, a ja mam go w zegarku.

At the pharmacy they ask for the prescription number, and I have it in my watch.

Breakdown of W aptece pytają o numer recepty, a ja mam go w zegarku.

• ja: I
• mieć: to have
• w: in
• a: and

Questions & Answers about W aptece pytają o numer recepty, a ja mam go w zegarku.

What does w aptece mean and why use w + locative here?

w aptece means in or at the pharmacy. Polish uses w (in) with the locative case to indicate location inside a place. You go do apteki (to the pharmacy) but once inside you say w aptece. You don’t say na aptece because apteka is treated as an enclosed space, not a surface.

Why is it pytają (they ask) and not pyta (it asks)?

Here the speaker refers to the staff or employees at the pharmacy, so the implied subject is oni (they) and the verb is plural pytają. In everyday Polish businesses are often personified as their employees (e.g. w banku każą podpisywać uses plural). Saying apteka pyta is grammatically possible but sounds as if the building itself is doing the asking.

Why use pytają o numer recepty? What case does o require?

The verb phrase pytają o (ask about) always takes an accusative object after o. Numer stays as numer in accusative because it is an inanimate masculine noun whose nominative and accusative forms are identical. The whole phrase numer recepty is in the accusative.

Why is recepty in the genitive case?