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Dzieci chodzą do parku w weekend.

Dzieci chodzą do parku w weekend.
Children walk to the park on the weekend.

Breakdown of Dzieci chodzą do parku w weekend.

dziecko
the child
do
to
park
the park
w weekend
on the weekend
chodzić
to walk
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Questions & Answers about Dzieci chodzą do parku w weekend.

Why is it chodzą and not idą in this sentence?

Polish has several verbs for “to go”, and they’re very picky:

  • iść – to go (on foot), one specific time, in one direction, right now or at a particular moment

    • Oni idą do parku. – They are going to the park (right now).

  • chodzić – to go / to walk habitually or repeatedly, or in various directions

    • Oni chodzą do parku. – They (regularly) go to the park.

In Dzieci chodzą do parku w weekend, the idea is habitual action:
The children go to the park on the weekend (as a routine).

So chodzą is correct here because it expresses a regular, repeated action.
If you used idą, it would sound more like “The children are going to the park (right now).”

Does chodzą mean “go” or “walk”? How should I think about it?

Chodzić literally has the idea of walking, but in practice it covers two notions:

  1. Physical walking:

    • Dzieci chodzą po domu. – The children walk around the house.

  2. Regularly going somewhere (often on foot):

    • Dzieci chodzą do szkoły. – The children go to school (regularly).
    • Dzieci chodzą do parku w weekend. – The children go to the park on weekends.

In this sentence, you should understand chodzą mainly as “(they) go (regularly)”, not as “(they) are walking around the park.”
Context tells you it’s about regular visits, not about how they move inside the park.

Why doesn’t the Polish sentence use any word for “the” before dzieci or park?

Polish has no articles (no “a/an” or “the”). Nouns appear without them:

  • dzieci – children / the children
  • park – a park / the park
  • parku – of the park / of a park (here: to the park)

Whether you understand it as “children go to a park” or “the children go to the park” comes from context, not from an article.

So:

  • Dzieci chodzą do parku w weekend.
    can mean:
    • Children go to the park on the weekend.
    • The children go to the park on the weekend.

Both are possible; English is simply more precise here because it uses articles.

What exactly is dzieci? Why not something like dziecka or dziecko?

The basic word is:

  • dziecko – a child (singular, neuter)

Its normal plural is dzieci:

  • dzieci – children (plural)

So in this sentence:

  • Dzieci – subject, plural (“children”)
  • Therefore, the verb must be 3rd person plural: chodzą.

You cannot say:

  • Dziecko chodzą… – wrong (singular noun with plural verb)
  • Dziecka chodzą… – wrong form and wrong agreement

Some extra notes:

  • dziecko is neuter singular, but dzieci is treated as a non-masculine-personal plural; grammatically it goes with the pronoun one (they – non‑masculine).
  • There is an old-fashioned/literary plural dziatki / dziatki, but dzieci is the normal, everyday plural.
What form is parku? Why isn’t it just park here?

Parku is the genitive singular of park.

The preposition do (“to”) in the sense of movement towards a place always takes the genitive case:

  • do
    • genitive
      • do parku – to the park
      • do szkoły – to (the) school
      • do domu – (to) home, to the house
      • do kina – to the cinema

Declension of park (masculine inanimate, singular):

  • Nominative: park – the park (subject)
  • Genitive: parku – of the park / to the park (after do)
  • Dative: parkowi
  • Accusative: park
  • Instrumental: parkiem
  • Locative: parku
  • Vocative: parku

So:

  • Dzieci chodzą do parku is literally “Children go to (the) park,” and parku is required by do.
Why is it w weekend, and not w weekendzie or na weekend?

All three forms exist, but they’re used a bit differently.

  1. w weekend

    • Very common, neutral. Time expression: on the weekend / at the weekend.
    • Uses accusative (same form as nominative: weekend).
    • Examples:
      • Dzieci chodzą do parku w weekend. – The children go to the park on the weekend.
      • Pracuję w weekend. – I work at the weekend.

  2. w weekendzie

    • Less common, sounds a bit heavier or more colloquial/regional.
    • Grammatically: locative case.
    • Meaning usually the same as w weekend, but often avoided in careful standard speech in favor of w weekend.

  3. na weekend

    • Means something like “for the weekend” (for the duration of the weekend / for this coming weekend).
    • It’s about purpose or planned period, not a general “on weekends” routine.
    • Example:
      • Jedziemy do babci na weekend. – We’re going to grandma’s for the weekend.

In your sentence, we are describing a general when (time of a routine), so w weekend is the natural choice.

What tense/aspect is chodzą? Why don’t we say something like “are going” in Polish?

Chodzą is:

  • present tense
  • 3rd person plural
  • of the imperfective verb chodzić

Polish present tense covers both:

  • English present simple: “They go”
  • English present continuous: “They are going”

The difference between habitual vs right now is often expressed not by a continuous form, but by choosing a different verb:

  • chodzą – they go (regularly), they walk (habitually)
  • idą – they are going (right now), one specific movement happening
  • pójdą – they will go (one-time, future, perfective)

So:

  • Dzieci chodzą do parku w weekend. – The children go to the park at the weekend (habitually).
  • Dzieci idą do parku. – The children are going to the park (now).
  • Dzieci pójdą do parku w weekend. – The children will go to the park at the weekend (this coming weekend, one event).
How would I say “The children are going to the park this weekend” (a specific upcoming weekend), not as a habit?

For a specific planned future event, Polish typically uses a future form of a perfective verb:

  • Dzieci pójdą do parku w ten weekend.
    – The children will go to the park this weekend.

You can also say:

  • Dzieci idą do parku w ten weekend.

This is possible, but it sounds more like a scheduled plan (“They are going to the park this weekend” in the sense of an arrangement).
For clear neutral future, pójdą is usually best here.

Compare:

  • Dzieci chodzą do parku w weekend. – They (normally) go to the park on weekends.
  • Dzieci pójdą do parku w ten weekend. – They (specifically) will go to the park this weekend.
Can I change the word order? For example: W weekend dzieci chodzą do parku?

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

  • Dzieci chodzą do parku w weekend.
  • W weekend dzieci chodzą do parku.
  • Dzieci w weekend chodzą do parku.

They all basically mean the same: “The children go to the park on the weekend.”

The differences are mostly about emphasis:

  • W weekend dzieci chodzą do parku.
    – Emphasis on when: As for the weekend, the children go to the park (then).

  • Dzieci w weekend chodzą do parku.
    – Emphasis on the children’s weekend routine.

In everyday speech, all three are natural. The original order is very neutral and common.

How do I pronounce Dzieci chodzą do parku w weekend?

Approximate pronunciation with English-style hints:

  • Dzieci – JYEH-chee

    • dz like in “jeans” but softer
    • ie like “yeh”
    • ci like a soft “chee”

  • chodzą – KHO-dzown (with a nasal ending)

    • ch like a harsh h (German Bach)
    • dz like in “kids”
    • ą is nasal, roughly like “on” in French “bon”; at the end here it sounds close to -own but with the vowel nasalized

  • do – doh

  • parku – PAHR-koo

    • stress on PAHR
    • r rolled
    • u like “oo” in “food”

  • w – like English v

  • weekend (in Polish) – VEE-kent

    • w = v
    • ee like in “see”
    • e like in “pet”

Full sentence (one possible guide):
JYEH-chee KHO-dzown doh PAHR-koo v VEE-kent
Stress in Polish is almost always on the second-to-last syllable of each word.