Kiedy wracam do domu, od razu robię herbatę.

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Breakdown of Kiedy wracam do domu, od razu robię herbatę.

• dom: the house
• herbata: the tea
• do: to

Questions & Answers about Kiedy wracam do domu, od razu robię herbatę.

What role does kiedy play in this sentence?

kiedy is a subordinating conjunction meaning when. It introduces the time clause Kiedy wracam do domu (“when I get back home”) and links it to the main action in the second clause.

Why is there a comma after domu?

In Polish, a comma separates a subordinate clause from the main clause when the subordinate clause comes first. Here Kiedy wracam do domu is the introductory time clause, so we place a comma before the main clause od razu robię herbatę.

Why are the verbs wracam and robię in the present tense (imperfective aspect)? Could we use perfective forms like wrócę or zrobię?

This sentence describes a habitual or repeated action (“whenever I get home, I make tea”). For routines, Polish uses the imperfective aspect in the present tense.

• wracam (imperfective present) = I (regularly) come back
• wrócę (perfective future) would mean “I will come back” once, not habitually
• robię (imperfective present) = I (regularly) make
• zrobię (perfective future) would imply “I will make [and finish making]” once

Why is it do domu and not w domu?