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.

Breakdown of Przed snem zapalam dwie świece, żeby ekran telefonu mnie nie rozpraszał.

• nie: not
• przed: before
• żeby: so that
• telefon: the phone

Questions & Answers about Przed snem zapalam dwie świece, żeby ekran telefonu mnie nie rozpraszał.

Why is przed followed by snem instead of sen?

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)?