Learn Hardcore Polish: Ola chce zobaczyć nowy film.

Some Polish verbs (like chcieć, móc, musieć) are followed by a second verb in the infinitive. In English we say “want to see”; in Polish you say chce zobaczyć (“wants to see”), keeping zobaczyć in its base infinitive form.

What’s the difference between zobaczyć, obejrzeć and widzieć when talking about films?

– zobaczyć: perfective “to see” or “to catch sight of” (view the film to completion)
– obejrzeć: perfective “to watch” (emphasizes the act of watching from start to finish)
– widzieć: imperfective “to see” (general ability, e.g. “I see him every day”)

When you say Ola chce zobaczyć nowy film, you focus on the completed action of seeing it. Colloquially you could also say obejrzeć film to stress “watching” it thoroughly.

Why is there no “a” or “the” before nowy film, and why does nowy come before film?

Polish does not have articles (no “a/the”). You simply say nowy film, and context tells you if it’s “a new film” or “the new film.”
As for word order, adjectives almost always precede nouns in Polish: nowy (new) + film (film).

What grammatical case is nowy film in, and how can you recognise it?

Nowy film is the direct object of zobaczyć and thus takes the accusative case. For masculine inanimate nouns like film, the nominative and accusative singular are identical, so you don’t see an ending change. The adjective nowy also remains the same in nom./acc. sing. masc. inanimate.

Can you drop Ola and just say Chce zobaczyć nowy film?

Yes. Polish is a pro-drop language: the ending of chce tells you it’s 3rd person singular, so Chce zobaczyć nowy film is perfectly natural if the context makes it clear you’re talking about Ola (or another person).

Is the word order fixed, or could I say Nowy film chce zobaczyć Ola?

Polish word order is fairly flexible. The default is S-V-O (Ola chce zobaczyć nowy film), but you can move elements for emphasis:

Nowy film chce zobaczyć Ola (emphasizes the film),
Ola nowy film chce zobaczyć (emphasizes the desire).
The meaning stays the same, though the nuance shifts.

How do you pronounce chce, zobaczyć and film?

– chce like the German Bach, “c”+“e” yields [t͡ʂɛ] like “che” in “chest” but voiceless.
– zobaczyć on the second syllable, “cz” = [t͡ʂ], “y” = [ɨ], final “ć” = soft [t͡ɕ].
– film “i” like “ee” in “see,” “l” clear, “m” as in English.

How would I turn it into a question: “Does Ola want to see the new film?”

Insert the question particle czy at the start:
Czy Ola chce zobaczyć nowy film?
Alternatively, you can simply use rising intonation:
Ola chce zobaczyć nowy film?

How do you make the sentence negative?

Place nie before the verb and change the direct object into genitive (common with negated transitive verbs):
Ola nie chce zobaczyć nowego filmu.
Here nowego filmu is genitive singular (“of a new film”) instead of accusative.