Learn Hardcore Polish: W mieście też czasem stoi się w korku, zwłaszcza rano. - In the city one also sometimes sits in a traffic jam, especially in the morning.

W mieście też czasem stoi się w korku, zwłaszcza rano.

In the city one also sometimes sits in a traffic jam, especially in the morning.

Breakdown of W mieście też czasem stoi się w korku, zwłaszcza rano.

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Questions & Answers about W mieście też czasem stoi się w korku, zwłaszcza rano.

What does stoi się literally mean, and why is this form used instead of a normal subject like ja or ty?

Stoi się is an impersonal reflexive construction. Literally it’s like saying “it stands itself”, but that’s not how it’s understood.

In natural English it means something like:

“you (people) end up standing”,
“one stands”, or
“people stand” (in general, not a specific person).

Polish often uses 3rd person singular + się to talk about general, typical situations and experiences that can happen to anyone:

W Polsce jeździ się prawą stroną.
⇒ In Poland you drive on the right side.
Tutaj dobrze się mieszka.
⇒ It’s nice living here / You live well here.

So W mieście też czasem stoi się w korku means “In the city you also sometimes get stuck in a traffic jam” in a general, impersonal way – not about “me” or “you personally” but about what people typically experience.

Why is się placed after stoi and not before, like się stoi?

In Polish, się is a clitic – a little word that generally cannot stand first in the sentence or phrase. It tends to appear in second position or close to the verb.

You will normally see patterns like:

Ja się boję. (not ❌ Się ja boję)
On się śpieszy.
Rano stoi się w korku.

Putting się before the verb (się stoi) at the beginning of a sentence is incorrect in standard Polish. In the given sentence, stoi się is the natural, grammatically correct order.

Could I say W mieście też czasem stoisz w korku instead of stoi się w korku? What is the difference?

You can say W mieście też czasem stoisz w korku, but it changes the meaning:

stoi się w korku – general, impersonal:
“(In the city) you sometimes get stuck in traffic (people in general).”
It’s like talking about anyone’s experience.
stoisz w korku – 2nd person singular:
“(In the city) you (person I’m talking to) sometimes get stuck in traffic.”
Now it clearly refers to you personally.

The original sentence wants to describe a typical situation in general, not accuse a particular “you”, so the impersonal stoi się fits better.

Why is it w mieście and not something like w miastu? Where does mieście come from?

Miasto (city / town) in the phrase w mieście is in the locative case, because the preposition w (in) often requires locative when it answers the question “where?” (not “where to?”).

Nominative (dictionary form): miasto
Locative singular: (w) mieście

There is also a stem change: -asto → -eście. This is a regular historical sound change:

miasto → w mieście
miasto → o mieście (about the city)

So w miastu is simply ungrammatical; the correct locative singular form of miasto is mieście.

What does w korku mean here, and why is korku in that form?

Here, korek means “traffic jam”, not “cork” (as in a bottle cork).

The phrase w korku is:

Preposition w (in) + locative singular of korek.

Declension:

Nominative: korek (a traffic jam)
Locative singular: (w) korku

We use the singular because the picture is of being in one jam, even though in English we often say “in traffic” or “in traffic jams” in a more general way. Polish also has a plural form:

Stoi się w korkach.
⇒ “You (people) get stuck in traffic jams.”

But w korku is a very common, natural way to talk about “being stuck in traffic” in general.

Why is też used here, and how is it different from także?

Też means “also / too / as well”. In everyday spoken Polish, też is far more common than także.

W mieście też czasem stoi się w korku.
⇒ “In the city, you also sometimes get stuck in traffic.”

Także can also mean “also”, but:

it often sounds more formal or written,
it can sometimes mean “therefore / so” in some contexts, which can be confusing.

In this casual, conversational sentence, też is the natural choice. Using także here (W mieście także czasem stoi się w korku) is grammatically OK but a bit less colloquial.

What is the difference between czasem and czasami? Could I replace czasem with czasami here?

Czasem and czasami are very close in meaning; both roughly mean “sometimes”.

Nuances:

czasem – slightly shorter, very common in both spoken and written Polish.
czasami – also common; some speakers feel it can be a bit more “emphatic” or just a stylistic variant.

In this sentence, you can say:

W mieście też czasami stoi się w korku, zwłaszcza rano.

It’s still perfectly natural. The difference is tiny; it’s mainly a matter of personal style and rhythm.

Why is there a comma before zwłaszcza rano, and what does zwłaszcza mean?

Zwłaszcza means “especially / in particular”.

zwłaszcza rano ⇒ “especially in the morning”

The comma is used because zwłaszcza rano is like an additional comment that narrows down the statement. Polish often sets off such adverbial phrases with a comma, especially when they come at the end and sound like an afterthought:

Jest tu głośno, zwłaszcza wieczorem.
Było zimno, zwłaszcza w nocy.

So the comma in ..., zwłaszcza rano. is standard and natural.

How flexible is the word order here? Could I say Czasem też w mieście stoi się w korku, zwłaszcza rano?

Polish word order is fairly flexible, and your version is grammatically correct:

Czasem też w mieście stoi się w korku, zwłaszcza rano.

All of these are acceptable, with slightly different emphasis/rhythm:

W mieście też czasem stoi się w korku, zwłaszcza rano.
Czasem w mieście też stoi się w korku, zwłaszcza rano.
Też czasem w mieście stoi się w korku, zwłaszcza rano.

However, not every permutation sounds equally natural. The original:

W mieście też czasem stoi się w korku, zwłaszcza rano

flows very naturally and first sets the location (w mieście) as the topic, which is common in Polish: first say where / when, then what happens.

Does w mieście mean “in the city” or “in town”? Is there a difference in Polish?

The noun miasto covers both English “city” and “town”; Polish doesn’t have a strict separate everyday word for “town” versus “city”.

So w mieście can be translated as either:

“in the city”, or
“in town”,

depending on context and what sounds more natural in English.

Here, because we’re talking about traffic jams, English “in the city” is often a better-sounding translation, but “in town” could also be reasonable in some contexts (especially if you contrast city vs countryside).

Could you say staje się w korku instead of stoi się w korku? What is the difference?

No, staje się w korku would be wrong here.

stać (imperfective) – to stand, to be standing
- stoi się w korku ⇒ “you (people) stand in a traffic jam / are stuck in a traffic jam.”
stać się (perfective, reflexive) – to become, to happen
- staje się (present) ⇒ “is becoming / becomes / happens”

So staje się w korku would sound like “it becomes in a jam / it happens in a jam”, which does not match the intended meaning.

You need stać (“to stand”) in the present tense, impersonal reflexive form: stoi się.

Why is it korku (singular) and not korkach (plural)? What would w korkach mean?

Both forms exist, but they have slightly different flavors:

w korku – locative singular
- Very common; you imagine yourself in (one) traffic jam or simply in traffic in a generic way.
- W mieście stoi się w korku.
w korkach – locative plural
- Feels more like “in traffic jams”, maybe several of them or traffic jams in general.
- Rano zawsze stoimy w korkach.
  ⇒ “In the morning we’re always stuck in traffic jams.”

In everyday speech, w korku is extremely typical for the idea “stuck in traffic”, even if there are many jams in reality. The original sentence uses that common, idiomatic singular.