Ja mam spotkanie o szóstej.

I have a meeting at six.

Breakdown of Ja mam spotkanie o szóstej.

• ja: I
• mieć: to have
• spotkanie: the meeting
• o szóstej: at six

Questions & Answers about Ja mam spotkanie o szóstej.

Why is the pronoun Ja used at the beginning? Isn’t the verb form enough to show who’s speaking?

Polish is a “pro-drop” language, which means the verb ending already tells you the subject. You can safely omit Ja and simply say Mam spotkanie o szóstej. Including Ja is possible if you want to emphasize “I” (perhaps contrasting with someone else) or for added clarity, but it’s not required in everyday speech.

Could I start the sentence with O szóstej instead? Would that change the meaning?

Yes, you can say O szóstej mam spotkanie. Both word orders are grammatically correct. Placing O szóstej at the front shifts the emphasis slightly onto the time (“At six, I have a meeting”), whereas Ja mam spotkanie o szóstej. stresses the subject or the fact you personally have a meeting.

Why is the noun spotkanie used instead of a verb like “we meet” (e.g. spotykam się)?

Mam spotkanie literally means “I have a meeting,” using the noun spotkanie. This matches English closely and is a common way to talk about scheduled appointments. In contrast, spotykać się (or spotkać się) is “to meet” or “to get together” (focusing on the action of meeting someone, not the scheduled event).

Why is the preposition o used before szóstej to express the time?

In Polish, clock times are introduced with o plus the locative case of the hour: o szóstej means “at six.” You wouldn’t use w szóstej or just the number sześć alone. The pattern is always o + locative when giving a specific hour.

Why is the word szóstej in this form? It looks different from the basic szósty.

Szósty is the ordinal number “sixth.” After the preposition o, Polish requires the locative case. The locative of szósty is szóstej, marked by the –ej ending. That’s why you say o szóstej, not o szósty or o sześć.

Could I say o godzinie szóstej instead of just o szóstej?

Yes. O godzinie szóstej literally means “at the hour of six” and is slightly more formal or precise. In casual speech, most people simply say o szóstej.

Why aren’t there any articles like “a” or “the” before spotkanie?

Polish does not have articles. You simply use the noun without a or the. Context tells you whether it’s definite or indefinite.

Is mam always used for appointments, or can we use another verb like mieć in a different tense?

You use the appropriate form of mieć (“to have”) for any tense or person:

• Present: Mam spotkanie o szóstej. (“I have…”)
• Future: Będę miał spotkanie o szóstej. (“I will have…”)
• Past: Miałem spotkanie o szóstej. (“I had…”)
  The pattern mieć
  • spotkanie stays the same; you just change the verb form.

How would I ask someone “What time is your meeting?” in Polish?

You’d say O której masz spotkanie? Here której is the locative form of który (“which/what”) used with o to ask “at what [hour].”