Learn Hardcore Polish: Teraz idę do pracy pieszo, ale zwykle chodzę tam z kolegą rano. - Now I am going to work on foot, but I usually go there with a friend in the morning.

iść / idę – one specific, concrete movement happening now or soon, in one direction
- Teraz idę do pracy pieszo.
  → Right now I’m on my way to work on foot (one specific trip, happening now).
chodzić / chodzę – repeated, habitual, or general movement, or movement back and forth
- Zwykle chodzę tam z kolegą rano.
  → I usually go/walk there with a colleague in the morning (a routine, a habit).

So the sentence contrasts:

this specific time now → idę
what usually happens → chodzę

Why is it do pracy and not something like do praca? What case is pracy?

The preposition do (“to, into”) in Polish always requires the genitive case.

Nominative (dictionary form): praca – “work, job”
Genitive (after do): pracy

So:

❌ idę do praca – incorrect
✅ idę do pracy – correct: “I’m going to work”

Other examples:

do domu (from dom) – to home
do szkoły (from szkoła) – to school
do sklepu (from sklep) – to the shop

What does pieszo literally mean, and how is it different from na piechotę?

Both pieszo and na piechotę mean “on foot, by walking.”

Teraz idę do pracy pieszo.
Teraz idę do pracy na piechotę.

Both are correct and very common. Differences:

Style / feel:
- pieszo – a bit shorter, slightly more neutral or “bookish” to some ears
- na piechotę – very common in everyday speech
Meaning: practically the same. In most contexts you can treat them as synonyms.

So you can freely say:

Idę pieszo. = I’m going on foot.
Idę na piechotę. = Same meaning.

Why is there both do pracy and tam? Doesn’t do pracy already say where I’m going?

They do slightly different things:

do pracy – to work (names the destination)
tam – there (points to that place as a known location in the conversation)

In zwykle chodzę tam z kolegą rano, the idea is:

We already know which place we’re talking about (work), so we can refer to it as tam (“there”).
It sounds natural in Polish to say chodzę tam when you mean “I go to that place (e.g. to work, to school)” as part of your routine.

You could say:

Teraz idę do pracy pieszo, ale zwykle chodzę do pracy z kolegą rano. – fully explicit
Teraz idę do pracy pieszo, ale zwykle chodzę tam z kolegą rano. – avoids repetition; very natural.

So tam here is basically “to that place (i.e. to work)”.

Why is the pronoun ja (“I”) missing? Why not Ja teraz idę do pracy?

Polish is a pro‑drop language: subject pronouns (ja, ty, on, etc.) are often omitted when the verb ending already shows the person.

idę already tells you it’s 1st person singular (“I”).
chodzę does the same.

So:

✅ Teraz idę do pracy pieszo. – perfectly normal
✅ Ja teraz idę do pracy pieszo. – also correct, but ja adds emphasis: I (as opposed to someone else) am going now.

You typically use ja:

to contrast: Ja idę pieszo, a on jedzie autobusem.
to stress “me”: Ja tego nie zrobiłem. – I didn’t do it.

Why is there a comma before ale?

In Polish, you must put a comma before ale when it joins two clauses.

Here we have two clauses:

Teraz idę do pracy pieszo
(ale) zwykle chodzę tam z kolegą rano

They are joined by ale (“but”), so a comma is required:

✅ Teraz idę do pracy pieszo, ale zwykle chodzę tam z kolegą rano.

That’s a standard rule:

…, ale … always takes a comma in this kind of sentence.

Could I change the word order and say Idę teraz do pracy pieszo or Zwykle rano chodzę tam z kolegą?

Yes. Polish word order is flexible, and all of these are grammatical, but they change emphasis slightly.

Examples:

Teraz idę do pracy pieszo. – neutral: “Now I’m going to work on foot.”
Idę teraz do pracy pieszo. – similar meaning, but the verb idę comes earlier, slightly emphasizing the action (“I’m going now”).
zwykle chodzę tam z kolegą rano. – quite neutral
Zwykle rano chodzę tam z kolegą. – focuses a bit more on the time (“usually in the morning I go there with a colleague”).
Rano zwykle chodzę tam z kolegą. – even more emphasis on morning.

Polish uses word order more for focus and rhythm than for basic grammar, since endings show who is doing what.

What case is z kolegą, and why does z use that case?

Z kolegą is in the instrumental case.

Nominative: kolega – “(male) colleague, friend”
Instrumental: kolegą

The preposition z (“with”) in the sense of “together with someone” uses the instrumental:

z kolegą – with a (male) colleague
z koleżanką – with a (female) colleague/female friend
z mamą – with (my) mother
z psem – with a dog

So the pattern is:
z + [instrumental] → “with X”.

If my colleague is female, can I still say z kolegą? Or do I need another word?

If the colleague is female, you normally use koleżanka:

Nominative: koleżanka (female colleague/friend)
Instrumental: koleżanką

So you’d say:

Zwykle chodzę tam z koleżanką rano. – I usually go there with a (female) colleague in the morning.

z kolegą almost always implies a male person.

Why is it teraz idę in the present tense if in English we often say “I’m going” with a continuous form? Does Polish have continuous tenses?

Polish does not have a separate continuous/progressive tense like English (“am going”, “was going”).

Instead, Polish uses the simple present for both:

idę =
- “I go” (right now)
- “I’m going (now)”

So:

Teraz idę do pracy pieszo. → “Now I’m going to work on foot.” (or literally “Now I go to work on foot.”)

To distinguish habit from right now, Polish mostly relies on:

context words (teraz, zwykle, często, czasem), and
choice of verb (iść vs chodzić, jechać vs jeździć, etc.).

In this sentence:

teraz idę – now, one specific action
zwykle chodzę – usually, a repeated habit.

If I go to work by car or bus instead of on foot, do I still use idę / chodzę, or something else?

If you are not walking, but using a vehicle (car, bus, tram, train), you usually switch to:

jechać → present: jadę – one specific trip now
jeździć → present: jeżdżę – habitual / repeated trips

Examples:

Teraz jadę do pracy samochodem. – I’m going to work by car now.
Zwykle jeżdżę tam autobusem rano. – I usually go there by bus in the morning.

Use:

iść / chodzić – on foot
jechać / jeździć – by some means of transport (car, bus, bike, train, etc.).

Can I say do roboty instead of do pracy? What’s the difference in tone?

Yes, you can say do roboty, but it’s more informal / colloquial.

praca – neutral, standard word for “work, job”
robota – colloquial; can sound more casual, sometimes slightly rough (depending on context)

Compare:

Idę do pracy. – neutral: I’m going to work.
Idę do roboty. – informal: I’m off to work (more casual, maybe a bit complaining in some contexts).

In your sentence:

Teraz idę do pracy pieszo… – neutral, suitable in almost any context.
Teraz idę do roboty pieszo… – casual, spoken language, among friends.

What does rano function as here? Is it a noun or an adverb, and where can it go in the sentence?

Rano here functions as an adverb of time: “in the morning”.

It’s very flexible in placement:

Zwykle rano chodzę tam z kolegą.
Zwykle chodzę tam rano z kolegą.
Rano zwykle chodzę tam z kolegą.

All mean essentially: “I usually go there with a colleague in the morning.”
The different positions just shift emphasis slightly (e.g. focusing more on morning vs usually), but they’re all correct and natural.