Breakdown of Wszyscy czytają książki wieczorem.
czytać
to read
książka
the book
wieczorem
in the evening
wszyscy
everyone
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Questions & Answers about Wszyscy czytają książki wieczorem.
What does wszyscy mean and why is it used here instead of wszystko?
Wszyscy is the nominative masculine personal plural form of wszyscy, meaning “everyone” or “all people.” It refers specifically to groups of people. Wszystko, on the other hand, is neuter singular meaning “everything” (all things), so it wouldn’t be used when talking about people.
Why is the verb form czytają and not something else?
Czytają is the 3rd person plural present tense of the imperfective verb czytać (to read). The ending -ają marks “they” in present tense. Because czytać is imperfective, it expresses a habitual or ongoing action (“they read” or “they are reading”). If you wanted to express “they will read (to completion),” you’d use the perfective form przeczytają.
Why don’t we see the pronoun oni before czytają?
In Polish, subject pronouns like oni (“they”) are optional because the verb ending -ają already indicates the subject is third-person plural. You could say Oni czytają książki wieczorem for emphasis, but it’s not required.
What case is książki in, and why doesn’t it have a preposition?
Książki is in the accusative plural case, used for direct objects. Polish marks direct objects with case endings rather than prepositions. For feminine nouns like książka, the nominative plural (książki) looks identical to the accusative plural, so you rely on sentence structure and context.
How can I tell that książki is the object and not the subject?
Word order in Polish is flexible, but here the subject wszyscy appears first. The verb ending -ają agrees with wszyscy, and książki follows the verb, making it the direct object. In other constructions you’d still look at endings and agreement to decide subject vs. object.
What case is wieczorem and why do we use it to mean “in the evening”?
Wieczorem is the instrumental case of wieczór used adverbially to express time (“when” something happens). Polish often uses the instrumental for time expressions (e.g. rano for “in the morning,” nocą for “at night”).
Can I move wieczorem to the beginning or middle of the sentence?
Yes. Polish word order is quite flexible. You can say Wieczorem wszyscy czytają książki or Wszyscy wieczorem czytają książki. Placing wieczorem at the start adds emphasis to the time.
Should I translate czytają as “read” or “are reading”?
Polish present tense covers both English simple present (“read”) and present continuous (“are reading”). In this sentence it describes a habitual action, so They read books in the evening is the most natural translation.