Breakdown of Po prostu poczekajmy chwilę i zobaczmy.
i
and
zobaczyć
to see
poczekać
to wait
chwila
the moment
po prostu
just
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Questions & Answers about Po prostu poczekajmy chwilę i zobaczmy.
What verb forms are poczekajmy and zobaczmy?
They’re first-person plural imperative (hortative) forms: “let’s …”.
- poczekajmy comes from perfective poczekać.
- zobaczmy comes from perfective zobaczyć. The ending -my marks “we” (the subject pronoun is not needed).
Why are perfective verbs used here?
Because the speaker proposes single, bounded actions: wait for a bit and then check/see the result.
- poczekajmy (perfective) = wait and be done with it (a short, complete wait).
- czekajmy (imperfective) would sound like “let’s be waiting” (an ongoing process) and is less natural with chwilę here.
- zobaczmy is the natural “let’s see”; the imperfective counterpart (widzieć) isn’t used in this sense.
Can I say Poczekajmy chwilę i zobaczymy?
Yes. It’s common and natural. Nuance:
- … i zobaczmy = two symmetrical suggestions: “let’s wait and let’s see.”
- … i zobaczymy = “let’s wait and we’ll see (what happens)”—slightly more predictive/neutral.
What does po prostu add? Can I drop it?
po prostu means “simply/just” and makes the suggestion sound down-to-earth and non-dramatic. It’s optional; dropping it keeps the core meaning but loses that softening/toning-down effect.
Where else can I put po prostu?
All of these are fine:
- Po prostu poczekajmy chwilę i zobaczmy. (most common)
- Poczekajmy po prostu chwilę i zobaczmy.
- Poczekajmy chwilę i po prostu zobaczmy. The first sounds the smoothest; the others are acceptable and shift emphasis slightly.
Why does chwilę end with -ę?
It’s the accusative singular of the feminine noun chwila (“a moment”). Feminine nouns in -a typically take -ę in the accusative: chwila → chwilę, kawa → kawę, kobieta → kobietę.
Are there more colloquial ways to say “for a moment”?
Yes:
- chwilkę (diminutive, very common)
- momencik / moment
- sekundkę (informal “a second”) All are compatible with poczekajmy.
How do I say “let’s wait for someone/something”?
Use czekać/poczekać na + accusative:
- Poczekajmy na niego / na autobus / na wyniki. You can also say “wait with doing something”: Poczekajmy z decyzją.
Do I need to say my?
No. The ending -my already encodes “we.”
- My poczekajmy… is possible only with strong contrastive emphasis (“WE, let’s wait…”), and it’s rare in everyday speech.
Any punctuation traps? Do I need a comma before i?
No comma is needed before i here. Polish generally doesn’t use a comma before i when linking two coordinated clauses like this. You would add commas if you insert a subordinate clause later (e.g., after zobaczmy, before a “what/if/whether”-type clause).
How polite/formal is this? Are there more formal options?
Neutral and acceptable in both informal and semi-formal contexts. To make it more polite/softer:
- Proszę, poczekajmy chwilę i zobaczmy.
- Proponuję, żebyśmy chwilę poczekali i zobaczyli. Avoid using niech with 1st-person plural here; Niech poczekamy is nonstandard.
Can I add an object after zobaczmy?
Yes:
- Zobaczmy to.
- Zobaczmy wyniki.
- Or add a clause: Zobaczmy, czy… / jak… / co… (very common).
Any quick pronunciation tips?
- Polish stress is (almost always) on the second-to-last syllable: po PRO-stu | po-cze-KAJ-my | zo-BAcz-my.
- cz = “ch” in “church”; ch/h = the sound in German “Bach.”
- Final -ę in chwilę is often pronounced like plain “-e” in casual speech.
- In chw-, the w devoices, so it sounds close to “f”: roughly “hfeel-eh.”