Ja dodaję cukier, żeby herbata była słodka, nie gorzka.

I add sugar so that the tea is sweet, not bitter.

Breakdown of Ja dodaję cukier, żeby herbata była słodka, nie gorzka.

• ja: I
• być: to be
• herbata: the tea
• nie: not
• żeby: so that
• dodawać: to add
• gorzki: bitter
• cukier: the sugar
• słodki: sweet

Questions & Answers about Ja dodaję cukier, żeby herbata była słodka, nie gorzka.

Why do we include ja at the beginning of the sentence?

Ja is the personal pronoun “I.” In Polish, subject pronouns are usually optional because the verb ending already tells you who’s doing the action. Here, ja is used for emphasis (e.g. “I, personally, add sugar”) or to contrast with someone else who might not add sugar.

Why is the verb dodaję (imperfective present) used instead of a perfective form like dodam?

Polish verbs come in two aspects:

• Imperfective (e.g. dodaję) describes ongoing, habitual, or repeated actions (“I add” / “I am adding”).
• Perfective (e.g. dodam) describes a single, completed action, often in the future (“I will add (once)”).

Since the speaker is talking about a general habit or current action, the imperfective dodaję is the correct choice.

What does żeby mean here, and how is it different from aby?

Both żeby and aby mean “so that” or “in order to.” Differences:

• Aby is slightly more formal or literary.
• Żeby is the everyday spoken form and actually derives from że + by.

In most casual contexts and conversations, żeby is preferred for introducing purpose clauses.

Why does the sentence use była instead of the present tense jest for “be”?

Polish doesn’t have a separate subjunctive mood. To express a desired or hypothetical state, you use:

1. The past-tense form of the verb (here była, feminine form of “was”)
2. Plus the particle by, which is already built into żeby

So żeby herbata była słodka literally means “so that the tea would be sweet.” Using jest would just state a fact: “the tea is sweet.”

Why are the adjectives słodka and gorzka in their feminine ending?

In Polish, adjectives must agree with the noun’s gender, number, and case. Here:

• Herbata is feminine singular in the nominative case.
• Therefore adjectives describing it take the feminine singular nominative ending –a: słodka, gorzka.

Why is there no verb before nie gorzka, and should we ever add a conjunction like a?

This is ellipsis in action:

• The verb and subject (herbata była) from the first clause carry over.
• We contrast słodka with nie gorzka without repeating herbata była.

If you want to make the contrast more explicit, you can insert a:
…żeby herbata była słodka, a nie gorzka.
But dropping a is perfectly natural and common.

Is the comma before żeby necessary?

Yes. In standard Polish punctuation, you place a comma before subordinate clauses introduced by conjunctions like żeby, aby, or że. Leaving it out would be considered incorrect in formal writing.

Can we drop subjects like ja or herbata and still be correct?

Absolutely. Polish often omits pronouns and even nouns when the context is clear. For example:

• Dodaję cukier, żeby była słodka, nie gorzka.

Here, both ja and the second herbata are left out, but the meaning remains clear because of verb endings and context. Including them is a stylistic choice for emphasis or clarity.