Learn Hardcore Polish: Ten podróżnik chce zobaczyć wysoką wieżę i starą galerię sztuki. - That traveler wants to see the tall tower and the old art gallery.

podróżnik literally means “traveler” – someone who journeys, often exploring new places or cultures. turysta means “tourist” – a person who travels mainly for leisure and visits popular attractions. A podróżnik may seek off-the-beaten-path experiences, while a turysta often follows well-known routes.

Why is ten used before podróżnik? Aren’t there articles in Polish?

Polish has no definite or indefinite articles like “a” or “the.” To say “this” or “that,” you use demonstratives such as ten (masculine), ta (feminine), to (neuter). Here ten = “this,” adding emphasis. Without it you would simply say Podróżnik chce zobaczyć… (“A traveler wants to see…” or “Traveler wants to see…”).

How do you form chce zobaczyć and what is the function of chce?

chce is the 3rd person singular present of the verb chcieć (“to want”). In Polish, to express wanting to do something, you conjugate chcieć and follow it with an infinitive:
Subject + chce + infinitive.
Here: Ten podróżnik (he) + chce + zobaczyć (“to see”).

Why is zobaczyć used instead of widzieć?

Polish verbs have aspect. zobaczyć is perfective (“to see” with focus on the action being completed or achieved – “to catch sight of”). widzieć is imperfective (“to see” in general or repeatedly). Because the traveler aims to actually visit and experience (complete the seeing), the perfective zobaczyć is more natural here.

Why are wysoką wieżę and starą galerię in these specific forms? How do cases work here?

Both phrases are direct objects of zobaczyć, so they take the accusative case.
– wieża (tower) is feminine; its accusative singular is wieżę (–a → –ę).
– Adjacent adjective wysoki (“high, tall”) must agree: feminine accusative singular wysoką (–i → –ą).
Similarly:
– galeria (gallery) → accusative galerię,
– stary (“old”) → starą.

Why is sztuki in the genitive case?

In Polish, to say “gallery of art” you use a noun in the genitive after another noun: galeria sztuki. Here sztuka (“art”) becomes genitive singular sztuki, literally “gallery of art.”

How do you pronounce the letters ó, ż, ą, ę in this sentence?

Approximate pronunciations in IPA:
– ó as [u] (like English “oo” in “food”) – podróżnik [pɔˈdruʑ.ɲik]
– ż as [ʐ] (like the “s” in “measure”) – podróżnik, wieżę [ˈvjɛʐɛ]
– ą as [ɔ̃] or [on] before consonants – podróżnik has nasalized [ɔ̃]
– ę as [ɛ̃] or [en] before consonants – galerię [gaˈlɛrjɛ̃]
In everyday speech ą and ę often sound like [om]/[em] before certain consonants.

Is the word order fixed (e.g., wysoką wieżę i starą galerię sztuki)? Can I reorder these elements?

Polish word order is relatively flexible because cases mark grammatical roles. You could say …zobaczyć starą galerię sztuki i wysoką wieżę without changing the core meaning. However, putting adjectives before nouns (as here) is most common, and swapping objects may slightly shift emphasis (first-mentioned item feels more prominent).