Learn Hardcore Polish: Idę na spacer, chociaż jestem zmęczony. - I am going for a walk, although I am tired.

Preposition “na”
- With certain activities, Polish uses na + noun (accusative) to express “for (an activity)”:
  - iść na spacer – go for a walk
  - iść na kawę – go for a coffee
  - iść na zakupy – go shopping
Not “dla spaceru”
- dla means “for (the benefit of)” someone:
  - dla dzieci – for children
- It’s not used to mean “in order to do an activity” here, so dla spaceru is wrong in this sense.
You can’t drop the preposition
- Idę spacer is ungrammatical. The noun spacer needs the preposition na here.

So the correct and natural phrase is Idę na spacer.

What case is “spacer” in, and why? I thought “na” sometimes uses a different case.

You’re right: na can take accusative or locative, depending on meaning.

In Idę na spacer, na takes accusative:
- na + accusative = movement onto/into something, or towards an activity.
- spacer is accusative singular (same form as nominative for masculine inanimate).

Compare:

Idę na spacer. – I’m going for a walk. (movement, activity → accusative)
Jestem na spacerze. – I’m on a walk / out for a walk. (location → locative: spacerze)

So here spacer is in the accusative because it’s about going (movement) to an activity.

What’s the difference between “Idę na spacer” and “Chodzę na spacer”?

Both use verbs of motion, but they differ in aspect and meaning:

Idę na spacer
- Verb: iść = to go (one time, right now / currently)
- Meaning: I’m going for a walk (now / this particular time).
Chodzę na spacer
- Verb: chodzić = to go (habitually, repeatedly)
- Meaning: I (usually / often) go for a walk. – a habit, not this exact moment.

In your sentence:

Idę na spacer, chociaż jestem zmęczony.
→ I’m going for a walk now, even though I’m tired. (about this particular walk, not a general habit).

Could I say “Pójdę na spacer, chociaż jestem zmęczony” instead? What’s the difference?

Yes, that’s correct, but the meaning changes slightly.

Idę na spacer
- Present tense, iść (imperfective)
- Either “I’m going now / I’m on my way” or a very near future (in context).
Pójdę na spacer
- Future tense, pójść (perfective)
- Clearly future: I will go (once) for a walk.

So:

Idę na spacer, chociaż jestem zmęczony.
→ I’m going (now), although I’m tired.
Pójdę na spacer, chociaż jestem zmęczony.
→ I will go (later / at some point), although I’m tired.

Both are fine; you choose based on whether you mean now or (definite) future.

Why is there a comma before “chociaż”? Is it always required?

Yes, here the comma is required.

chociaż (although / even though) introduces a subordinate clause:
- chociaż jestem zmęczony – although I am tired

In Polish, subordinate clauses are normally preceded by a comma:

Idę na spacer, chociaż jestem zmęczony.
Chociaż jestem zmęczony, idę na spacer.

Both word orders are correct; the comma must stay because we have two clauses:

Idę na spacer – main clause
chociaż jestem zmęczony – subordinate clause

So yes: with chociaż connecting two clauses like this, use a comma.

Can I switch the order and say “Chociaż jestem zmęczony, idę na spacer”? Does it change the meaning?

You can, and the meaning stays essentially the same:

Chociaż jestem zmęczony, idę na spacer.
– Although I’m tired, I’m going for a walk.

The difference is emphasis:

Idę na spacer, chociaż jestem zmęczony.
- Slightly more focus on the action (I’m going), then you add the contrast.
Chociaż jestem zmęczony, idę na spacer.
- Slightly more focus on the difficulty / contrast (even though I’m tired).

Both are natural; the second can sound a bit more formal or slightly more dramatic.

What’s the difference between “chociaż”, “choć”, and “mimo że” here?

All three can express a similar concessive meaning (“although / even though”), but they differ in tone and usage:

chociaż
- Very common, neutral:
  - Idę na spacer, chociaż jestem zmęczony.
choć
- Shorter, often a bit more colloquial or literary, depending on context:
  - Idę na spacer, choć jestem zmęczony.
- In everyday speech, this sounds very natural.
mimo że
- Literally “despite the fact that”; feels a bit stronger / more formal:
  - Idę na spacer, mimo że jestem zmęczony.
- Closer in nuance to English “despite being tired”.

All three are correct in this sentence. The default, neutral choice is chociaż or choć.

Why is it “zmęczony” and not “zmęczona”? How does this relate to gender?

The adjective zmęczony (tired) agrees with the grammatical gender of the subject.

For a man speaking about himself (or a masculine subject):
- Jestem zmęczony. – I’m tired.
For a woman speaking about herself (or a feminine subject):
- Jestem zmęczona.

So:

A man would say:
- Idę na spacer, chociaż jestem zmęczony.
A woman would say:
- Idę na spacer, chociaż jestem zmęczona.

Other forms:

Oni są zmęczeni. – They (mixed/masc.) are tired.
One są zmęczone. – They (all-female or non-masc.) are tired.

In your sentence, zmęczony implies that the speaker is male (or the subject is masculine singular).

Do I really need “jestem”? Could I say “Idę na spacer, chociaż zmęczony”?

You can omit jestem in some contexts, but it changes the style.

Full, neutral sentence:
- Idę na spacer, chociaż jestem zmęczony. – completely standard.
More condensed / literary style:
- Choć zmęczony, idę na spacer.
- Here, jestem is omitted, but the structure is more “written” or stylish.

Your exact version:

Idę na spacer, chociaż zmęczony.
- Grammatically possible, but sounds a bit unfinished or stylistically odd in everyday speech.
- Native speakers prefer chociaż jestem zmęczony in this position.

So for learners, it’s safest to keep jestem:
Idę na spacer, chociaż jestem zmęczony.

How do you pronounce “chociaż” and “zmęczony”? Any tricky sounds?

Yes, there are a few sounds that can be tricky for English speakers.

chociaż
- Syllables: cho-ciaż (stress on cho): CHO-ciaż
- ch = like the ch in Scottish loch or German Bach (a voiceless velar fricative).
- cia = roughly tcha (soft ć+a).
- ż = like zh in measure.
zmęczony
- Syllables: zmę-czo-ny (stress on czo): zmę-CZO-ny
- zm at the start: say z then m together quickly.
- ę before cz: nasal vowel, somewhere between “ehn” and “en”, but quite short. In fast speech it can sound close to a normal e.
- cz = like ch in church.
- Final y = a short vowel between English i in bit and u in put, but centralized (Polish y).

Stress rule: in Polish it’s almost always on the second-to-last syllable, as in CHO-ciaż, zmę-CZO-ny.

Is this sentence formal, informal, or neutral? Would I say it to anyone?

The sentence is neutral and can be used in most situations:

Idę na spacer, chociaż jestem zmęczony.

It’s fine:

with friends or family
in normal conversation
in writing (messages, emails, etc.)

It’s neither slangy nor particularly formal. In very formal writing you might rephrase it, but this sentence itself is perfectly acceptable nearly everywhere.

Could I use “ale” instead of “chociaż”, like “Idę na spacer, ale jestem zmęczony”? Is that the same?

You can say “Idę na spacer, ale jestem zmęczony”, but the meaning is slightly different.

chociaż = although / even though (concession)
- Emphasises that you do the action despite the obstacle.
- Idę na spacer, chociaż jestem zmęczony.
  → I’m going for a walk even though I’m tired.
ale = but (simple contrast)
- Just states two contrasting facts, not necessarily “despite”.
- Idę na spacer, ale jestem zmęczony.
  → I’m going for a walk, but I’m tired. (More like: I’m going, and by the way, I’m tired.)

Both are correct, but chociaż highlights the “in spite of” relationship more strongly.