Learn Hardcore Polish: W sobotę ona odkurza dywan, a ja myję podłogę. - On Saturday she vacuums the carpet and I wash the floor.

In Polish, days of the week after w (in / on) are usually in the accusative case when you mean “on [this/that] Saturday” or a specific Saturday.

sobota – nominative (dictionary form)
sobotę – accusative

So:

w sobotę = on Saturday
w niedzielę = on Sunday
w poniedziałek = on Monday

The preposition w + a point in time like a day → accusative case.
That’s why you say w sobotę, not w sobota.

Can I leave out ona and ja, and just say W sobotę odkurza dywan, myję podłogę?

Yes, you can. Polish is a “pro‑drop” language: subject pronouns are often omitted because verb endings already show who is doing the action.

odkurza – 3rd person singular (he/she/it)
myję – 1st person singular (I)

So grammatically you can say:

W sobotę odkurza dywan, a myję podłogę.

However, adding ona and ja can:

make the contrast clearer: ona vs ja
add emphasis: She vacuums the carpet, and I wash the floor.

Both versions are correct; the original sounds slightly more explicit and emphatic.

Why is the conjunction a used here instead of i?

Polish has two very common ways to say “and”: i and a.

i – simply adds things together, no contrast
- Ona odkurza dywan i myję podłogę. (She vacuums the carpet and I wash the floor – just listing actions.)
a – often introduces a contrast or a change of subject; closer to “and / whereas”
- Ona odkurza dywan, a ja myję podłogę.
  = She vacuums the carpet, and I (on the other hand) wash the floor.

In this sentence, a highlights the division of labor: she does one task, I do another.

What is the difference between odkurza and the infinitive odkurzać?

odkurzać – infinitive, “to vacuum,” “to hoover”
odkurza – 3rd person singular, present tense: “he/she vacuums,” “he/she is vacuuming”

Conjugation (present tense, imperfective):

ja: odkurzam
ty: odkurzasz
on/ona/ono: odkurza
my: odkurzamy
wy: odkurzacie
oni/one: odkurzają

In the sentence:
ona odkurza dywan = “she vacuums / is vacuuming the carpet.”

Why is it myję and not something like myam or myę?

The verb myć (to wash) has a stem change in the 1st person singular:

infinitive: myć
ja: myję
ty: myjesz
on/ona/ono: myje
my: myjemy
wy: myjecie
oni/one: myją

So myję is the regular 1st person form: “I wash / I am washing.”

The spelling -ję reflects the pronunciation: roughly “my‑yeh.” There is no form myam or myę in standard Polish.

Why is dywan unchanged, but podłogę has an -ę at the end?

This is again about case and gender.

Both dywan (carpet) and podłoga (floor) are direct objects, so they’re in the accusative case.

dywan – masculine inanimate
- nominative: dywan
- accusative: dywan (same form)
podłoga – feminine
- nominative: podłoga
- accusative: podłogę

So:

odkurza dywan – she vacuums the carpet
myję podłogę – I wash the floor

The -ę ending is typical for many feminine singular nouns in the accusative.

Could the word order be different, like Ona w sobotę odkurza dywan, a ja podłogę myję?

Yes. Polish word order is relatively flexible, and you can move elements for emphasis or style.

Possible versions:

W sobotę ona odkurza dywan, a ja myję podłogę.
Ona w sobotę odkurza dywan, a ja w sobotę myję podłogę.
Ona odkurza dywan w sobotę, a ja myję podłogę.
Ona odkurza dywan, a ja podłogę myję. (emphasis on podłogę)

The original W sobotę ona odkurza dywan, a ja myję podłogę is neutral and clear: first, the time, then who does what.

Does W sobotę mean “on Saturdays (every Saturday)” or “on Saturday (this/one Saturday)”?

W sobotę by itself usually means “on Saturday” – a specific Saturday (context can make it “this” or “next” Saturday).

To express a regular, repeated action, Polish often uses:

w soboty – on Saturdays (habitually)
w każdą sobotę – every Saturday
w każdą sobotę ona odkurza dywan, a ja myję podłogę – every Saturday she vacuums the carpet and I wash the floor

So:

W sobotę ona odkurza dywan, a ja myję podłogę.
→ On Saturday she vacuums the carpet and I wash the floor.
W soboty ona odkurza dywan, a ja myję podłogę.
→ On Saturdays / every Saturday she vacuums the carpet and I wash the floor.

What aspect are odkurza and myję? How would the perfective look?

Both verbs here are imperfective:

odkurzać (imperfective) – odkurza
myć (imperfective) – myję

Imperfective is used for:

ongoing actions
repeated/habitual actions
general descriptions

The perfective partners are:

odkurzyć – to vacuum (and finish)
- Ona odkurzy dywan. – She will vacuum (and get it done).
umyć – to wash (and finish)
- Umyję podłogę. – I will wash (and get the floor clean).

In the present tense, perfective usually refers to future actions, so for a neutral present-time or habitual meaning, odkurza / myję (imperfective) is correct.

What exactly does odkurzać mean compared to sprzątać?

odkurzać – specifically to vacuum / to hoover (using a vacuum cleaner).
- odkurzać dywan, odkurzać kanapę
sprzątać – to clean up, to tidy, more general:
- sprzątać pokój – to clean/tidy the room
- it can include vacuuming, dusting, putting things away, etc.

So:

Ona odkurza dywan. – She vacuums the carpet.
Ona sprząta pokój. – She is cleaning/tidying the room (may or may not involve vacuuming).

Why is it myję podłogę, not myję podłoga?

Because podłoga is a direct object (“what are you washing?”), so it goes into the accusative case.

nominative: podłoga – the floor (subject)
accusative: podłogę – the floor (object)

Compare:

Podłoga jest czysta. – The floor is clean. (subject → nominative)
Myję podłogę. – I am washing the floor. (object → accusative)

Using podłoga after myję would be ungrammatical.

How do you pronounce the ę in sobotę and podłogę?

The letter ę is a nasal vowel. In modern Polish, at the end of a word it’s often pronounced very close to a normal “e”, sometimes with a slight nasal quality.

So:

sobotę → roughly so‑BO‑te (lightly nasal “e” or just “e”)
podłogę → roughly pod‑WAW‑ge (soft “g” as in get, final “e” with slight nasalization)

You don’t pronounce a clear “en” or “em” at the end; it’s not like English “soboten”. It’s more like a plain e with possible light nasal color.

Is this sentence talking about what is happening right now or a routine?

Polish present tense of imperfective verbs can mean:

Right now:
- (Teraz) w sobotę ona odkurza dywan, a ja myję podłogę.
  → (Right now) on Saturday she is vacuuming the carpet and I am washing the floor.
A routine / typical situation (especially with a time expression like w sobotę, w soboty, zawsze):
- W sobotę ona odkurza dywan, a ja myję podłogę.
  → On Saturday she (usually) vacuums the carpet and I (usually) wash the floor.

Context (or extra adverbs like zawsze, zazwyczaj) clarifies whether it’s a one‑time event or a habitual action.