Proszę dokładnie sprawdzić adres na tej karcie.

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Breakdown of Proszę dokładnie sprawdzić adres na tej karcie.

• proszę: please
• ta: this
• adres: the address

Questions & Answers about Proszę dokładnie sprawdzić adres na tej karcie.

What exactly is the role of the word Proszę here?

Proszę is literally “I request,” but in modern Polish it’s a fixed polite formula used to make requests when followed by an infinitive: Proszę + infinitive. In this sentence it functions like a courteous “please,” roughly equivalent to “Please (would you) …”.

Who is being addressed if there’s no “you” in the sentence?

Polish often leaves the addressee implicit. With Proszę + infinitive, the person you’re speaking to is understood—typically a politely addressed Pan (sir) or Pani (madam). If you want to make it explicit, you can say Proszę Pana/Panią, … or use Niech Pan/Pani … plus a verb.

How would I say this informally or to more than one person?

• Informal singular (to a friend): Sprawdź dokładnie adres na tej karcie.
• Informal plural (to several friends): Sprawdźcie dokładnie adres na tej karcie.
• Formal to one man/woman: Niech Pan/Pani dokładnie sprawdzi adres na tej karcie.
• Formal to a group: Niech Państwo dokładnie sprawdzą adres na tej karcie.

Why is it sprawdzić and not sprawdzać?

Sprawdzić is perfective: a single, complete act of checking. Requests for one-off, result-oriented actions usually use the perfective. Sprawdzać is imperfective (an ongoing or repeated process) and would sound like asking someone to be in the habit of checking.