Learn Hardcore Polish: Po kolacji muszę umyć talerze. - After dinner I must wash the plates.

When po means “after (in time)”, it is followed by the locative.
Kolacja (dinner/supper) is a feminine noun.
- Nominative (dictionary form): kolacja
- Locative (singular): kolacji

So:

po kolacji = after dinner (locative)
*po kolacja is ungrammatical here because it leaves the noun in nominative instead of changing it to locative.

Other examples with po + locative (time):

po pracy – after work
po szkole – after school
po spotkaniu – after the meeting

What does muszę mean, and why is there no word like “to” between muszę and umyć?

Muszę is the 1st person singular form of the verb musieć = “to have to / must”.

muszę = I have to / I must
muszę umyć = I have to wash / I must wash

In Polish, modal verbs like musieć are followed directly by an infinitive, without an extra word like to:

muszę pracować – I have to work
chcę umyć talerze – I want to wash the plates
mogę wyjść – I can go out

So muszę umyć is the normal, correct structure. Adding anything like English to between them would be wrong in Polish.

Why is it umyć and not myć? What is the difference between myć, umyć, and zmywać?

Polish verbs come in aspect pairs:

imperfective – focuses on the process or repeated/habitual action
perfective – focuses on a single, completed action or result

Here are the relevant verbs:

myć – imperfective, to wash (process / habit)
- Lubię myć naczynia. – I like washing dishes.
- Myję talerze. – I am washing the plates.
umyć – perfective, to wash (and get it done), to wash completely
- Muszę umyć talerze. – I have to wash the plates (get them done).
- Umyłem talerze. – I (have) washed the plates (they’re done).
zmywać – imperfective, more specifically to do the dishes / wash up
- Zmywam naczynia. – I’m doing the dishes.
- Nie lubię zmywać. – I don’t like doing the dishes.

In Po kolacji muszę umyć talerze, the speaker is talking about a single, specific task that needs to be completed, so the perfective infinitive umyć is natural. You could also say:

Po kolacji muszę zmyć naczynia. – After dinner I have to do the dishes.

Does muszę umyć talk about the present or the future? It looks like present tense – why does it mean “I will have to wash” (after dinner)?

Grammatically, muszę is present tense of musieć:

(ja) muszę – I must / I have to
(ty) musisz – you must
(on/ona) musi – he/she must

However, when you say “I have to X” about something that is not yet happening, it naturally refers to a future obligation:

Dzisiaj muszę pracować. – Today I have to work.
Jutro muszę wstać wcześnie. – Tomorrow I have to get up early.

In Po kolacji muszę umyć talerze, the moment of washing is in the future (after dinner), but you are stating the obligation now, so the verb is in present tense. This is very similar to English:

“I have to wash the dishes after dinner.” (present form, future action)

Why is the subject “I” (ja) missing? Shouldn’t it be Ja po kolacji muszę umyć talerze?

In Polish, subject pronouns like ja (I), ty (you), on/ona (he/she) are often omitted, because the verb ending already shows who is doing the action.

muszę – clearly tells us I (ja) must
musisz – tells us you (ty) must
musimy – we (my) must

So:

Po kolacji muszę umyć talerze. – completely natural
Ja po kolacji muszę umyć talerze. – also grammatically correct but adds emphasis on ja (“I have to wash the plates (not someone else)”).

You usually add ja only for emphasis or contrast.

What case is talerze in, and why does it look like that?

Talerze is the accusative plural of talerz (plate).

talerz – nominative singular (dictionary form)
talerze – nominative and accusative plural

For masculine inanimate nouns like talerz, the accusative plural often looks the same as the nominative plural.

Here, talerze is the direct object of the verb umyć:

umyć co? – to wash what? → talerze (accusative plural)

So:

Jeden talerz – one plate
Dwa talerze – two plates
Widzę talerze. – I see plates.
Myję talerze. – I’m washing plates.

Why does the plural of talerz end in -e (talerze) and not -y (*talerzy)?

This is about plural formation for masculine nouns.

Talerz is masculine inanimate.
Many masculine nouns form their nominative plural with -y or -i, but some take -e. Unfortunately, this is partly a matter of vocabulary pattern and must be learned word by word.

Examples of masculine inanimate nouns with -e in plural:

talerz → talerze – plate → plates
miesiąc → miesiące – month → months
noż → noże – knife → knives

So talerze is simply the correct, standard plural form; *talerzy is incorrect in the nominative/accusative plural. (Note: talerzy does exist, but as a different case – genitive plural, e.g. nie ma talerzy – there are no plates.)

Could I say “Po kolacji muszę umyć naczynia” instead of “talerze”? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can say:

Po kolacji muszę umyć naczynia.

Naczynia means dishes / crockery / tableware in general (plates, bowls, cups, etc.).

Differences:

talerze – specifically plates
naczynia – all dishes, broader term

So:

Po kolacji muszę umyć talerze. – After dinner I have to wash the plates.
Po kolacji muszę umyć naczynia. – After dinner I have to wash the dishes.

Both are natural; naczynia is closer to typical English “dishes”.

Can I change the word order, for example Muszę po kolacji umyć talerze or Muszę umyć talerze po kolacji?

Yes, Polish word order is quite flexible, and all of these are grammatically correct:

Po kolacji muszę umyć talerze.
Muszę po kolacji umyć talerze.
Muszę umyć talerze po kolacji.

Typical nuances:

Starting with Po kolacji (1) emphasizes the time frame: After dinner, I have to wash the plates.
Putting po kolacji later (2, 3) is more neutral, focusing first on the obligation muszę or the action umyć talerze.

All three are perfectly acceptable in everyday speech. The original sentence (1) is very natural.

What’s the difference between po kolacji and po obiedzie? Both seem like “after a meal”.

Both refer to meals, but different ones:

kolacja – evening meal, dinner / supper
obiad – main hot meal, often lunch or “dinner” depending on culture/time

So:

po kolacji – after dinner (in the evening)
po obiedzie – after lunch / after the main midday meal

Examples:

Po obiedzie idziemy na spacer. – After lunch we’re going for a walk.
Po kolacji oglądam telewizję. – After dinner I watch TV.

Which English word you choose (lunch/dinner) depends on context and your culture’s meal times.

How do you pronounce muszę and talerze? The letters don’t look obvious to me.

Approximate English-based pronunciation:

muszę → roughly: “MOO-sheh”
- u like oo in boot
- sz is like English sh
- ę at the end here is very lightly nasal or almost like -e; many speakers say it close to “musze” in casual speech
talerze → roughly: “ta-LEH-zheh”
- ta – like tah
- le – like leh
- rz is usually pronounced like the s in measure or zh
- e – like e in bed

So the whole sentence:

Po kolacji muszę umyć talerze.
≈ “Po ko-LAH-tsyee MOO-sheh OO-mych ta-LEH-zheh.” (very rough guide)

What are the basic grammatical features (gender, number, etc.) of the nouns in this sentence?

kolacja
- gender: feminine
- number here: singular
- case: locative (po kolacji)
talerz (dictionary form of talerze)
- gender: masculine inanimate
- number here: plural (talerze)
- case: accusative plural (direct object of umyć)

Knowing the gender helps with:

choosing correct adjective forms
understanding plural patterns
learning which case endings go with which nouns.