Oni wciąż czekają na pociąg.

Breakdown of Oni wciąż czekają na pociąg.

oni
they
na
for
pociąg
the train
czekać
to wait
wciąż
still
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Questions & Answers about Oni wciąż czekają na pociąg.

What does wciąż mean, and how does it compare to synonyms like ciągle or nadal?

wciąż means “still” in the sense of “continuing up to now.”

  • ciągle also means “continuously” or “again and again,” often with a slightly more repetitive nuance.
  • nadal is more formal, meaning “still” or “any longer.”
    In everyday speech you can usually swap wciąż and ciągle without changing the basic meaning:
    • Oni wciąż czekają na pociąg.
    • Oni ciągle czekają na pociąg.
    Using nadal:
    • Oni nadal czekają na pociąg.
    All three are correct, but nadal sounds a bit more bookish.
What is czekają? How do you find its infinitive and conjugation?

czekają is the 3rd person plural present tense of the imperfective verb czekać (“to wait”). Imperfective aspect is used for ongoing or habitual actions. Conjugation of czekać in the present:
1st sg. – czekam
2nd sg. – czekasz
3rd sg. – czeka
1st pl. – czekamy
2nd pl. – czekacie
3rd pl. – czekają

Why isn’t there a separate “to be” + “waiting” structure (like English “are waiting”) in Polish? Is there a continuous tense?

Polish does not have a distinct present-continuous conjugation. Instead it uses verb aspect:
• Imperfective verbs (like czekać) by themselves can express ongoing or habitual actions (“they wait” / “they are waiting”).
• Perfective verbs (like poczekać) express actions viewed as complete.
So Oni czekają alone covers both English “they wait” and “they are waiting.”

Why do we use the preposition na with czekać, and which case does pociąg take?

When you want to express “to wait for something,” you use czekać na + accusative case.

  • pociąg is masculine inanimate, so its accusative is identical to the nominative: pociąg.
    Thus:
    Oni czekają na pociąg.
Can we omit the subject pronoun Oni? Why is it included here?

Yes, you can omit Oni because Polish is a pro-drop language: the verb ending -ają already signals “they.”
You include Oni only for emphasis or to avoid ambiguity when context is unclear.

How is the nasal vowel ą in pociąg pronounced?
The letter ą is a nasalized “o,” similar to the French nasal “on” in bon. So pociąg is pronounced roughly like põ-chyong, with a nasal “o” followed by “chong.”
Where can wciąż be placed in the sentence? Are other positions correct?

Polish word order is flexible; moving wciąż changes emphasis but doesn’t break grammar.
Neutral:
Oni wciąż czekają na pociąg.
Other valid variants:
Oni czekają wciąż na pociąg. (puts extra stress on the waiting)
Wciąż czekają na pociąg. (drops “they,” more colloquial)
Wciąż oni czekają na pociąg. (emphasizes “they” even more)