Breakdown of Wystawa sztuki zaczyna się jutro w muzeum.
jutro
tomorrow
muzeum
the museum
zaczynać się
to start
w
at
wystawa sztuki
the art exhibition
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Questions & Answers about Wystawa sztuki zaczyna się jutro w muzeum.
Why is sztuki in the genitive case instead of sztuka?
In Polish, to say “exhibition of art” you take the head noun wystawa and follow it with the genitive of what’s being exhibited. The noun sztuka (art) in genitive singular becomes sztuki, marking “sztuka” as the content of the exhibition.
What does się in zaczyna się do?
The particle się makes zaczynać intransitive (“to begin” on its own) rather than transitive (“to begin something”).
- zaczynać coś = to start something (you need an object)
- zaczynać się = to begin / to get started (no direct object)
Why is the verb zaczyna się in the present tense even though the event is tomorrow?
Polish often uses the imperfective present tense plus a time adverb (here jutro) to talk about a planned future event. English must use future forms (“will start” or “is starting”), but in Polish zaczyna się jutro is perfectly normal. If you wanted to be more formal about a definite future start, you could switch to the perfective future: rozpocznie się jutro.
There are no words for “the” or “an” in that sentence—why?
Polish has no articles. Definiteness and indefiniteness are inferred from context or added explicitly with demonstratives (e.g. ta wystawa = “this exhibition”). In your sentence, context (we’re talking about a specific exhibition) is enough, so no article is used.
What case is muzeum in after w, and why doesn’t its form change?
The preposition w meaning “in” takes the locative case. Muzeum is a neuter noun of the second declension whose nominative and locative singular forms are identical (muzeum). You’re seeing the locative, even though it looks just like the nominative.
Could I reorder the sentence, for example: Jutro w muzeum zaczyna się wystawa sztuki?
Yes. Polish has fairly flexible word order. Fronting Jutro or W muzeum simply shifts emphasis—Jutro first stresses the time, W muzeum first stresses the place. The core grammar stays the same.
Is there an alternative word for zaczynać się?
You can use the perfective verb rozpocząć się (“to commence”), but only in future tense:
- Wystawa sztuki rozpocznie się jutro w muzeum.
This is slightly more formal and highlights the completion of the start.
Why is sztuka treated as a singular noun here, even though an exhibition shows many works?
Here sztuka means “art” in general—an uncountable concept—so it stays singular and takes genitive singular sztuki. If you exhibited countable items (e.g. sculptures), you would use the plural genitive: wystawa rzeźb (“exhibition of sculptures”).