Learn Hardcore Polish: Przed snem zapalam dwie świece, żeby ekran telefonu mnie nie rozpraszał. - Before sleep I light two candles so that the phone screen does not distract me.

The preposition przed, when indicating “before” in a time expression, always governs the instrumental case. That means the noun sen (nominative) changes to snem (instrumental) after przed.

Why is zapalam in the imperfective present tense rather than a perfective form?

The speaker describes a habitual or repeated action (“I light candles every night”). In Polish, imperfective verbs in the present tense express ongoing or regular activities. A perfective form (e.g. zapalę) would refer to a single, completed action in the future, not a nightly routine.

Why do we use dwie instead of dwa, and why is it świece?

1) Świeca is a feminine noun, so the numeral “two” must agree in gender: feminine nouns take dwie, masculine take dwa.
2) When counting with 2, 3 or 4, the counted noun appears in the nominative plural. Świeca (singular) becomes świece (plural) after dwie.

What role does żeby play, and why is the verb in the subordinate clause rozpraszał (past tense)?

Żeby introduces a purpose or result clause (“so that/in order that…”). In such clauses Polish uses what feels like a subjunctive mood, formed with the past-tense stem of an imperfective verb. So rozpraszał (3rd person singular past) here conveys “would distract” in English.

Why is telefonu in the genitive case in ekran telefonu?

Polish expresses possession by putting the possessor noun in the genitive. Here ekran is the thing (“screen”) and telefonu (genitive of telefon) marks “of the phone,” i.e. “the phone’s screen.”

Could I swap ekran telefonu and mnie, as in żeby mnie ekran telefonu nie rozpraszał?

Yes. Polish word order is flexible. You may place the object pronoun mnie before the subject for emphasis or style. Both
• żeby ekran telefonu mnie nie rozpraszał
and
• żeby mnie ekran telefonu nie rozpraszał
are grammatically correct.

Can I replace żeby with aby, and is there a difference?

You can. Aby and żeby both introduce purpose/result clauses and require the same past-tense verb form. Aby is slightly more formal or literary, while żeby is common in everyday speech.

Why is the negative particle nie placed directly before rozpraszał?

In Polish, nie always precedes the verb it negates, forming a single unit (nie rozpraszał). Placing nie after the verb (e.g. rozpraszał nie) would be ungrammatical. You can, however, move the pronoun around it (e.g. mnie nie rozpraszał or rozpraszał mnie nie is less usual).