W pudełku mam ołówek i gumkę.

In the box I have a pencil and an eraser.

Breakdown of W pudełku mam ołówek i gumkę.

• ja: I
• mieć: to have
• w: in
• i: and
• pudełko: the box
• ołówek: the pencil
• gumka: the eraser

Questions & Answers about W pudełku mam ołówek i gumkę.

Why does the sentence start with the place phrase W pudełku? Could I also say Mam w pudełku ołówek i gumkę?

Yes, both word orders are correct. Polish allows flexible word order.

• W pudełku mam… front-loads the location and sounds like “As for the box, I have…”
• Mam w pudełku… is a very neutral, common order focusing first on the fact of having something. No grammatical meaning changes; it’s a matter of emphasis and flow.

Why is it w pudełku and not w pudełko? What case does w take?

With a static location (“in/inside”), w takes the Locative case, hence pudełku (Locative singular of pudełko). So:

• “in the box” → w pudełku (Locative) For motion “into,” Polish typically uses do
  • Genitive:
• “into the box” → do pudełka

What case are ołówek and gumkę, and why do they look different?

They’re direct objects of mam (“I have”), so they are in the Accusative.

• ołówek is masculine inanimate; its Accusative equals its Nominative: ołówek.
• gumka is feminine; its Accusative singular ends in -ę: gumkę. Tip: masculine animate nouns (e.g., pies) change in Accusative: mam psa.

How do I pronounce the tricky letters here: ł, ó, and ę?

• ł sounds like English “w”: pudełku → “poo-DEW-koo,” ołówek → “oh-WOO-vek.”
• ó sounds like “u”: ołówek has the “u” sound despite the ó.
• ę at the end of a word is usually pronounced like plain “e” (lightly nasal or just “e” in everyday speech): gumkę ≈ “GOOM-keh.” Don’t say “GOOM-ken.”

Do I need an article (“a/the”) before “pencil/eraser” in Polish?

No. Polish has no articles. Definiteness/indefiniteness is inferred from context, word order, and stress.

What’s the difference between using mam versus jest/są here?

• Mam w pudełku… frames the items as yours (possession).
• W pudełku są ołówek i gumka states what exists in the box (existence/location). Because there are two items, use plural są. In casual speech, some say jest before lists, but są is the careful/standard choice.

Why use i here? Could I use oraz or a instead?

• i = “and,” neutral and most common.
• oraz = “and” too, a bit more formal or list-like; fine here.
• a often means “and/but” in a contrastive sense; not appropriate if you’re just listing two items in one set.

Does gumka always mean “eraser”?

Most commonly yes: gumka ≈ “eraser” (also said gumka do ścierania or do mazania). With modifiers, it can mean other rubbery things:

• gumka do włosów = hair tie
• gumka recepturka = rubber band Colloquially, gumka can mean a condom, but context usually prevents confusion.

Why does pudełko become pudełku exactly?

It’s the Locative singular form. Many neuter nouns in -ko take -u in the Locative:

• biurko → biurku, łóżko → łóżku, pudełko → pudełku Others take -e (e.g., okno → oknie, krzesło → krześle). You’ll learn which pattern each noun follows.

What would the plural look like?

• Plural nouns: ołówki, gumki.
• With “have”: W pudełku mam ołówki i gumki.
• With “be”: W pudełku są ołówki i gumki.

Do I need to say ja (I) before mam?

No. Polish regularly drops subject pronouns because the verb ending shows the person. Mam already means “I have.” You add ja only for emphasis or contrast: Ja mam, a on nie.

When do I use we instead of w?

Use we before some words starting with difficult clusters (often initial w or f) to make pronunciation easier:

• we Wrocławiu, we Francji, we wtorek (archaic/rare; normally “we wtorek” is dialectal—standard is “we wtorek” only regionally; the common standard is “we wtorek” in some style guides, but most say “we wtorek” is acceptable; safest examples: we Włoszech, we wrześniu). Here, w pudełku is natural; we pudełku would be wrong.