Learn Hardcore Polish: Co miesiąc odwiedzam rodzinę na wsi. - Every month I visit my family in the countryside.

co here means “every / each” in the sense of “per” (regular interval: co dzień, co tydzień, co rok).
You could also say każdego miesiąca (“each month / every month”), which is a bit more formal or heavier.
In everyday speech, co miesiąc is the most natural and compact way to say “every month”.

So:

co miesiąc ≈ every month
każdego miesiąca ≈ each month / every month (more explicit, slightly more formal)

Why is it miesiąc (singular) in co miesiąc, and not a plural like English “months”?

Polish uses the singular after co in this time‑expression pattern:

co dzień – every day
co tydzień – every week
co miesiąc – every month
co rok – every year

Grammatically, co is followed by a singular accusative (here: miesiąc), even though the meaning is repetitive. English uses a plural (“every month”), but Polish keeps the word in the singular form.

What aspect is odwiedzam, and why is that form used here?

odwiedzam is the present tense, imperfective form of odwiedzać (to visit regularly / in progress).

odwiedzać (imperfective) – to be visiting, to visit habitually or repeatedly
odwiedzić (perfective) – to visit once, to complete a visit

Because the sentence describes a habitual, repeated action (“every month”), Polish must use the imperfective verb:

Co miesiąc odwiedzam rodzinę… – I visit my family every month. (habit)

A perfective like odwiedzę would mean “I will visit (once)”, not a regular habit:

Jutro odwiedzę rodzinę. – I will visit my family tomorrow. (one specific visit)

Why is there no ja in the sentence? Could I say Ja co miesiąc odwiedzam rodzinę na wsi?

The pronoun ja (“I”) is normally omitted in Polish, because the verb ending already shows the person:

odwiedzam clearly indicates 1st person singular (“I visit”).

So:

Co miesiąc odwiedzam rodzinę na wsi. – natural, neutral
Ja co miesiąc odwiedzam rodzinę na wsi. – grammatically correct, but adds emphasis on “I”, e.g. in contrast:
- Ja co miesiąc odwiedzam rodzinę na wsi, a mój brat prawie nigdy. – I visit my family in the countryside every month, and my brother almost never does.

In normal, neutral statements, you drop “ja”.

Why is it rodzinę with ‑ę, and what case is that?

The base noun is rodzina (family). In the sentence we have rodzinę:

rodzina – nominative (dictionary form)
rodzinę – accusative singular (direct object)

odwiedzać kogo? co? – “to visit whom? what?” takes the accusative case for the person or thing visited:

odwiedzam rodzinę – I visit (whom?) my family.
odwiedzam mamę – I visit (whom?) my mum.
odwiedzam przyjaciela – I visit (whom?) my friend.

So rodzinę is accusative, because rodzina is the direct object of the verb odwiedzam.

Could I say odwiedzam do rodziny instead of odwiedzam rodzinę?

No. That would be incorrect.

odwiedzać kogo? co? – to visit someone/something directly (no do):
- odwiedzam rodzinę – I visit my family.

If you want to use do, it goes with verbs of movement like jechać / iść:

jadę do rodziny – I’m going to (my) family.
jadę do babci – I’m going to (my) grandma.

So:

odwiedzam rodzinę (no do) – I visit my family.
jadę do rodziny – I’m going to my family (physically going there).

What exactly does rodzina mean here? Is it “parents”, “relatives”, or something else?

rodzina means “family” as a group, not just “parents”.

In context, odwiedzam rodzinę usually suggests:

your close family (parents, siblings), and often also
other relatives living together or nearby.

Polish has more specific words:

rodzice – parents
krewni – relatives
dziadkowie – grandparents

But rodzina is a natural, general word: “my family” as a unit. The exact people are understood from context; the sentence doesn’t specify.

Why is it na wsi and not w wsi or na wieś?

There are two important patterns with wieś (“village / countryside”):

Location (where?) – na wsi – in the countryside, in a village
- Mieszkam na wsi. – I live in the countryside.
Direction (where to?) – na wieś – to the countryside, to a village
- Jadę na wieś. – I’m going to the countryside.

In your sentence, we are talking about where the family is, i.e. a location, so we use:

na wsi (preposition na
- locative wsi)

w wsi is not idiomatic; with wieś, Polish uses na wsi / na wieś, not w wsi.

Why is it wsi and not wieś after na in na wsi?

The base form is wieś (village, countryside), but nouns change form by case:

wieś – nominative (dictionary form)
wsi – locative and genitive

After na with the meaning “on / in” (expressing location), wieś goes into the locative case:

na wsi – in the countryside (locative)
- Mieszkam na wsi.

After na with direction (“to”), you use the accusative:

na wieś – to the countryside (direction)
- Jadę na wieś.

So in na wsi, the form wsi is simply locative of wieś.

Can I move co miesiąc to another place in the sentence, like Odwiedzam co miesiąc rodzinę na wsi?

Yes, Polish word order is fairly flexible, and all of these are possible:

Co miesiąc odwiedzam rodzinę na wsi.
Odwiedzam co miesiąc rodzinę na wsi.
Odwiedzam rodzinę na wsi co miesiąc.

They all mean essentially the same: “I visit my family in the countryside every month.”

Subtle differences:

Putting co miesiąc at the beginning slightly emphasizes the frequency.
Moving it later can emphasize other parts (for example, rodzinę na wsi).

But for a learner, you can treat these versions as practically equivalent and correct.

Are there other natural ways to say “every month” in Polish besides co miesiąc?

Yes, several:

co miesiąc – every month (most common, neutral)
każdego miesiąca – each month / every month (a bit more formal/emphatic)
raz w miesiącu – once a month
- Raz w miesiącu odwiedzam rodzinę na wsi. – I visit my family in the countryside once a month.
miesięcznie – monthly (mostly with numbers, money, or quantities, not usually with odwiedzać):
- Zarabiam 5000 zł miesięcznie. – I earn 5000 zł per month.

For your sentence about visiting family, co miesiąc or raz w miesiącu are the most natural choices.