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Questions & Answers about Zrób proszę herbatę.
Why is zrób used here? What form of the verb is it?
zrób is the 2nd-person singular imperative of the perfective verb zrobić, meaning to make or to do. Using the perfective form tells the listener to complete the action in one go. If you used the imperfective imperative rób, it would suggest an ongoing or habitual process (like “keep making”), which isn’t appropriate for a single request.
Why is herbatę in this form? Why not herbata?
herbatę is the accusative singular of the feminine noun herbata (“tea”), used for the direct object of a verb in Polish. Feminine nouns ending in -a typically change to -ę in the accusative case.
What role does proszę play in the sentence?
proszę is a politeness marker meaning please. In Polish you can insert proszę almost anywhere in a command to soften it. Here, Zrób proszę herbatę literally means “Make tea, please.”
Why isn’t the subject pronoun ty (“you”) used?
Polish normally omits subject pronouns because the verb ending already indicates the person. The ending in zrób clearly shows you’re addressing ty (you, singular), so adding ty would be redundant or could add unwanted emphasis.
Why is there no article like “a” or “the” before herbatę?
Polish does not have definite or indefinite articles. You simply say herbatę without a or the, and context tells you whether you mean “some tea,” “the tea,” etc.
Could you include mi (“me”) in this request, as in Zrób mi herbatę? Why might it be omitted here?
Yes—Zrób mi herbatę, proszę means “Please make me tea.” However, when it’s obvious that the request is for the speaker, the dative pronoun mi is often dropped. Zrób proszę herbatę is shorter but still clearly understood.
How would you make this request more formal or polite?
You can use conditional or more elaborate phrasing, for example:
• Czy mógłbyś zrobić herbatę? (“Could you make tea?”)
• Proszę, czy zechciałbyś zrobić herbatę? (“Please, would you be so kind as to make tea?”)
You can also start with Proszę plus the infinitive: Proszę zrobić herbatę.
Is the word order flexible here? Could I say Proszę zrób herbatę or Zrób herbatę proszę?
Yes. Polish word order is relatively free, so all of these are correct:
• Zrób proszę herbatę.
• Proszę, zrób herbatę.
• Zrób herbatę, proszę.
Shifts in order may change the emphasis slightly but the overall meaning stays the same.