Z podziemnego parkingu wjeżdżamy windą prosto do mieszkania.

From the underground parking lot we go up by elevator straight to the apartment.

Breakdown of Z podziemnego parkingu wjeżdżamy windą prosto do mieszkania.

• do: to
• z: from
• winda: the elevator
• mieszkanie: the apartment
• parking: the parking lot
• prosto: straight
• podziemny: underground
• wjeżdżać: to go up

Questions & Answers about Z podziemnego parkingu wjeżdżamy windą prosto do mieszkania.

Which prepositions and cases are used in Z podziemnego parkingu wjeżdżamy windą prosto do mieszkania?

There are two key prepositions, each governing the genitive case, and one instrumental:

• z podziemnego parkingu

  • z
    • genitive → podziemnego parkingu
  • means from (out of) the underground parking (garage)

• do mieszkania

  • do
    • genitive → mieszkania
  • means to the apartment

And one instrumental phrase:

• windą
  • instrumental singular of winda (lift/elevator)
  • means by (means of) elevator

So:

• z → genitive (source: from somewhere)
• do → genitive (goal: to somewhere)
• Instrumental (no preposition here) → means of transport: windą (by elevator)

Why is it z podziemnego parkingu and not z podziemny parking?

Because after z (in the sense from/out of), Polish requires the genitive case.

Base (dictionary) forms:

• podziemny – underground (masc. sg. nominative)
• parking – parking lot / garage (masc. sg. nominative)

Genitive singular masculine:

• podziemny → podziemnego
• parking → parkingu

So you must say:

• z podziemnego parkingu = from the underground parking (garage)

Saying z podziemny parking would be ungrammatical, because:

• the adjective and noun are still in nominative, not genitive
• z (from) needs genitive: z kogo? z czego? → z podziemnego parkingu

What case is podziemnego parkingu, and how is it formed?

Podziemnego parkingu is in the genitive singular.

Breakdown:

• parking

  • gender: masculine inanimate
  • nominative sg: parking
  • genitive sg: parkingu (typical -u ending for many masculine nouns)

• podziemny (adjective)

  • nominative sg masc: podziemny
  • genitive sg masc (and neuter): podziemnego

Together:

• podziemny parking (nom.) → podziemnego parkingu (gen.)
• Used because of the preposition z (from), which requires genitive.

Why is it wjeżdżamy, and not just jedziemy or idziemy?

Polish has several motion verbs, and wjeżdżać is more specific:

• iść – to go on foot (one direction, now)
• jechać – to go by vehicle (one direction, now)
• wjeżdżać – to go in / up / into somewhere by vehicle (or something that carries you, like a lift)

wjeżdżamy means:

• we go in/up (enter) by some vehicle/lift

Here the context is an elevator:

• wjeżdżamy windą → we go up by elevator / we ride up in the elevator

If you said just:

• jedziemy windą – we’re going by elevator (neutral)
• wjeżdżamy windą – adds the idea of moving up/into the building (or up to a floor)

So wjeżdżamy fits well because you are going up from the underground parking into the building.

Is wjeżdżamy imperfective or perfective? What would the perfective form be?

Wjeżdżamy is imperfective, present tense, 1st person plural:

• infinitive: wjeżdżać
• meaning: to be going up/in (repeatedly, or as a process)

Typical imperfective/perfective pair:

• wjeżdżać (impf) – wjechać (pf)

Examples:

• Codziennie z podziemnego parkingu wjeżdżamy windą prosto do mieszkania.
  Every day we go up by elevator straight from the underground parking to the apartment.
  (habit – imperfective)

• Wczoraj z podziemnego parkingu wjechaliśmy windą prosto do mieszkania.
  Yesterday we went up by elevator straight from the underground parking to the apartment.
  (one completed event – perfective)

Why is windą used here, and what form is it?

Windą is the instrumental singular of winda (lift / elevator).

Declension of winda (feminine):

• nominative sg: winda
• instrumental sg: windą

The instrumental is often used for means of transport:

• jechać autobusem – to go by bus
• lecieć samolotem – to fly by plane
• płynąć statkiem – to travel by ship
• jechać windą / wjeżdżać windą – to go (up) by elevator

So wjeżdżamy windą literally means:

• we go up (enter) *by means of the elevator*

What does prosto mean here? Could we leave it out?

Prosto is an adverb meaning:

• straight, directly

In this context:

• prosto do mieszkania = straight to the apartment / directly into the apartment

It emphasizes that the elevator goes directly to the flat, without a corridor or extra steps.

You could grammatically say:

• Z podziemnego parkingu wjeżdżamy windą do mieszkania.

That would still be correct; you’d just lose the nuance of straight/directly. With prosto, the idea is stronger: the lift opens right into the apartment.

Why is it do mieszkania and not do mieszkanie?

Because the preposition do (to, into) requires the genitive case.

Base noun:

• mieszkanie – apartment, flat (neuter, nominative singular)

Genitive singular of neuter nouns in -e is usually -a:

• mieszkanie → mieszkania

So:

• nominative: mieszkanie (This is my apartment. – To jest moje mieszkanie.)
• genitive: mieszkania (I’m going to the apartment. – Idę do mieszkania.)

With do:

• do kogo? do czego? (to whom? to what?) → do mieszkania

Hence prosto do mieszkania = straight to the apartment.

Why does podziemny change to podziemnego, but prosto doesn’t change at all?

Because podziemny is an adjective, while prosto is an adverb.

• Adjectives in Polish must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun:

  • nominative: podziemny parking
  • genitive: podziemnego parkingu

• Adverbs do not decline; they have a fixed form:

  • prosto stays prosto regardless of case, gender, etc.

So:

• podziemny → podziemnego (to match parkingu in the genitive)
• prosto stays the same because it modifies the verb phrase (wjeżdżamy… do mieszkania) as an adverb: we go up directly.

What is the difference between na parkingu and z parkingu in this context?

They answer different questions:

• na parkingu – on/at the parking lot, location

  • uses the locative case: na parkingu
  • Samochód stoi na parkingu. – The car is in the parking lot.

• z parkingu – from the parking lot, source/origin

  • uses the genitive case: z parkingu
  • Wracamy z parkingu. – We’re coming back from the parking lot.

In your sentence:

• Z podziemnego parkingu wjeżdżamy…
  Focus is on where you’re coming from, so z
  • genitive is required.

Can the word order in this sentence be changed? For example, is Wjeżdżamy windą z podziemnego parkingu prosto do mieszkania also correct?

Yes, Polish word order is quite flexible, especially when the roles of words are clear from cases and prepositions.

All of these are grammatical and natural, with slightly different emphasis:

• Z podziemnego parkingu wjeżdżamy windą prosto do mieszkania.
  Neutral; starts by setting the starting point: From the underground parking…

• Wjeżdżamy windą z podziemnego parkingu prosto do mieszkania.
  Starts with the action; still very natural: We go up by elevator from the underground parking…

• Windą wjeżdżamy z podziemnego parkingu prosto do mieszkania.
  Emphasizes windą (by elevator): It’s by elevator that we go up from the underground parking…

The original version is probably the most neutral, but the others are correct and understandable.