Breakdown of Chciałbym spędzić cały weekend bez telefonu i komputera.
ja
I
i
and
telefon
the phone
komputer
the computer
bez
without
chcieć
would like
spędzić
to spend
cały
whole
weekend
the weekend
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Questions & Answers about Chciałbym spędzić cały weekend bez telefonu i komputera.
Why does the sentence start with Chciałbym instead of Chcę?
Chciałbym is the conditional (polite) form of chcieć, to want, translating as I would like. Chcę is the present tense, I want, which sounds more direct and less polite.
What does the ending -bym in chciałbym indicate?
The ending -bym marks the 1st person singular conditional mood. It’s formed from the past-participle stem chciał + by (conditional particle) + -m (1st person ending). It signals a hypothetical or polite request.
Why is spędzić in the infinitive form after chciałbym?
In Polish, after modal verbs like chcieć, to want, the main verb appears in the infinitive. So chciałbym spędzić literally means I would like to spend.
Why is spędzić (perfective) used instead of spędzać (imperfective)?
The perfective spędzić emphasizes a completed or bounded action—spending the entire weekend as a single event. The imperfective spędzać implies a habitual or ongoing action (to be spending).
What case governs telefonu and komputera, and why are they not in the nominative?
They are in the genitive case (singular: telefonu, komputera) because the preposition bez (without) always requires its object in the genitive to express absence.
Why are there no articles like a or the before telefonu and komputera?
Polish has no indefinite or definite articles. Context usually clarifies definiteness. If you need to specify my phone, you’d add a possessive adjective, e.g. mojego telefonu.
What case and gender is cały weekend, and why is cały used here?
Weekend is a masculine inanimate noun. As the direct object of spędzić, it takes the accusative case which for masculine inanimate matches the nominative: cały weekend. The adjective cały (whole/entire) emphasizes that you mean the entire weekend.
Why is there no personal pronoun ja at the beginning of the sentence?
In Polish, the verb ending already shows the subject. Chciałbym implies ja. Adding ja would be redundant unless you want special emphasis (e.g. Ja chciałbym).