W sobotę często oglądamy film wieczorem.

On Saturday we often watch a movie in the evening.

Breakdown of W sobotę często oglądamy film wieczorem.

• wieczorem: in the evening
• my: we
• często: often
• oglądać: to watch
• film: the movie
• w sobotę: on Saturday

Questions & Answers about W sobotę często oglądamy film wieczorem.

Why is it w sobotę and not w sobota?

The preposition w (“in / on”) can take different cases in Polish.

• For days of the week with the meaning “on [day]”, w is followed by the accusative case.
  
  • sobota (Saturday, nominative) → sobotę (accusative)
  • w sobotę = “on Saturday”

Other examples:

• w poniedziałek – on Monday
• w piątek – on Friday

So w sobota is ungrammatical in this meaning; you must say w sobotę.

What case is sobotę, and what does the ending -ę mean?

sobotę is accusative singular, feminine.

For many feminine nouns ending in -a in the nominative:

• nominative: -a → sobota, kawa, kolega (masc., but same pattern)
• accusative: -ę → sobotę, kawę, kolegę

So the -ę ending tells you the noun is in the accusative singular (here: required by w with a day of the week).

Why is there no word for “a” before film? Why not jakiś film or something similar?

Polish has no articles (no direct equivalent of a / an / the).

• film by itself can mean “a film / a movie” or “the film / the movie”, depending on context.

You add other words only if you need extra nuance:

• jakiś film – some film (you don’t care which)
• ten film – this film
• tamten film – that film

In this sentence, just film is natural and covers the meaning of English “a movie”.

Why is there no my (“we”) before oglądamy?

Polish usually drops subject pronouns (it’s a “pro‑drop” language).

• The verb ending -my in oglądamy already tells you the subject is “we”.

So:

• Oglądamy film. – We are watching / we watch a film.
• My oglądamy film. – We (as opposed to someone else) are watching a film.

You use my mainly for emphasis or contrast; otherwise it’s omitted.

Does oglądamy mean “we watch” or “we are watching”? Which tense is this?

oglądamy is present tense of the verb oglądać (to watch, to look at).

Polish present tense of imperfective verbs, like oglądać, can mean:

• an action happening right now
  
  • Teraz oglądamy film. – We are watching a film (right now).
• a habitual / repeated action
  
  • W sobotę często oglądamy film. – On Saturdays we often watch a film.

English separates these with “we watch” vs “we are watching”; Polish uses the same present tense and the context (here w sobotę, często) shows it’s habitual.

Why is it oglądamy, not something like obejrzymy? What’s the difference?

This is about aspect (imperfective vs perfective).

• oglądać (impf.) – to watch (process, repeated, not focusing on completion)
  
  • oglądamy film – we watch a film / we are watching a film
• obejrzeć (pf.) – to watch (to the end, as a single completed event)
  
  • obejrzymy film – we will watch (and finish) a film

In Polish, present‑tense forms of perfective verbs (like obejrzymy) usually refer to the future:

• Obejrzymy film jutro. – We will watch a film tomorrow.

In your sentence, we’re talking about a repeated habit, so the imperfective verb oglądać and its present form oglądamy is the correct choice.

Can I say oglądamy filmy instead of oglądamy film? Does that change the meaning?

Yes, you can; both are grammatical, with a slight nuance:

• oglądamy film – we (typically) watch a film (one movie) on Saturdays.
• oglądamy filmy – we watch films / movies (plural, maybe more than one, or speaking more generally).

In everyday speech, oglądamy film can still be understood in a generic, habitual way (not one specific movie every time), just like English often uses the plural “we watch movies.” Both versions are natural; context and habit decide which sounds better.

What is wieczorem exactly? Why isn’t it w wieczór?

wieczór = evening (nominative).

wieczorem is the instrumental singular form of wieczór, used adverbially to mean “in the evening”. For time expressions, Polish very often uses this bare instrumental form without a preposition:

• rano (from ranek) – in the morning
• wieczorem (from wieczór) – in the evening
• nocą (from noc) – at night

So:

• oglądamy film wieczorem – we watch a film in the evening

w wieczór is not natural; you might say w ten wieczór (“on that evening”), but for the general time of day, wieczorem is the standard form.

What case is film in, and why does it look the same as the dictionary form?

film here is in the accusative singular, because it is the direct object of the verb oglądamy.

For masculine inanimate nouns like film, the accusative form is identical to the nominative:

• nominative: film – (a/the) film is good
• accusative: film – we watch a film

Compare with masculine animate nouns, which do change:

• nominative: kolega (friend, m.)
• accusative: kolegę – widzę kolegę (I see my friend)

Can I move często to a different position? For example: Często w sobotę oglądamy film wieczorem?

Yes. Polish word order is fairly flexible, especially for adverbs like często (“often”). All of these are possible and natural:

• W sobotę często oglądamy film wieczorem.
• W sobotę wieczorem często oglądamy film.
• Często w sobotę wieczorem oglądamy film.

The basic meaning stays the same (“we often watch a film on Saturday evening”). Different orders can slightly change what is being emphasized, but they’re all correct.

A neutral pattern is often: [time] – [frequency] – [verb] – [object] – [other info], which your original sentence follows.

How flexible is the overall word order? Could I say Oglądamy często film w sobotę wieczorem?

Yes, that sentence is also grammatical. Some common variants:

• W sobotę często oglądamy film wieczorem.
• W sobotę wieczorem oglądamy często film.
• Oglądamy film często w sobotę wieczorem.
• Często oglądamy film w sobotę wieczorem.

Polish relies more on endings (cases, verb endings) than word order to show grammatical roles. Word order mainly affects:

• what is new vs. known information
• what you want to emphasize

Your proposed Oglądamy często film w sobotę wieczorem is understandable and correct, though many speakers might prefer putting często a bit earlier:

• Często oglądamy film w sobotę wieczorem.

How would I negate this? For example: “On Saturday we often don’t watch a film in the evening.”

Negation in Polish puts nie directly before the verb:

• W sobotę często nie oglądamy filmu wieczorem.

Note two points:

1. Position of nie

   • nie oglądamy – we do not watch

2. Case after negation

   • With a direct object, negated verbs usually require genitive instead of accusative:
     
     • positive: oglądamy film (accusative)
     • negative: nie oglądamy filmu (genitive)

To express “not any film at all,” you can add żadny:

• W sobotę często nie oglądamy żadnego filmu wieczorem. – On Saturdays we often don’t watch any film in the evening.

How do you pronounce this whole sentence? Anything tricky for an English speaker?

An approximate phonetic guide (not strict IPA, just to help you say it):

• W – here sounds like f (assimilation before s), so it’s like “f”
• sobotę – so-BO-teh (the ę at the end is often pronounced close to plain “e”)
• często – CHEN-sto
  
  • cz = like “ch” in “chair”, but harder
  • ę here is nasal, like “en” in French “ensemble” (approx.)
• oglądamy – og-WON-da-mee
  
  • ł in other words is like English “w” (here you only have l, but keep that in mind)
  • ą is a nasal vowel; roughly like “on” in French “bon”, but shorter
• film – like English “film”, but short, clear i
• wieczorem – vye-CHO-rem
  
  • w inside a word is like English “v”
  • cz again like “ch” in “chair”

Very rough whole-sentence guide:

[f so-BO-teh CHEN-sto og-WON-da-mee film vye-CHO-rem]

Stress in Polish is almost always on the second‑to‑last syllable:

• so-BO-tę, CZĘ-sto, og-lą-DA-my, wie-CZO-rem.