Wieczorem sprawdzam temperaturę, żeby sprawdzić, czy lekarstwo działa.

In the evening I check my temperature to check whether the medicine is working.

Breakdown of Wieczorem sprawdzam temperaturę, żeby sprawdzić, czy lekarstwo działa.

• ja: I
• wieczorem: in the evening
• żeby: in order to
• sprawdzać: to check
• czy: whether
• działać: to work
• sprawdzić: to check
• lekarstwo: the medicine
• temperatura: the temperature

Questions & Answers about Wieczorem sprawdzam temperaturę, żeby sprawdzić, czy lekarstwo działa.

Why is it Wieczorem and not something like w wieczór for “in the evening”?

Polish often uses the instrumental case without a preposition to say “in/at [time of day]”.

• Wieczorem = “in the evening / at nightfall”
• It’s the instrumental form of wieczór (evening).

The same pattern appears with other parts of the day:

• rano (in the morning)
• po południu (in the afternoon) – here with a preposition
• nocą (at night)

W wieczór is not natural in modern Polish in this meaning. You might see something like w wieczór wigilijny (“on Christmas Eve evening”), but even there most people would simply say wieczorem wigilijnym or rephrase the sentence.

So: Wieczorem is the standard, idiomatic way to say “in the evening”.

What is the difference between sprawdzam and sprawdzić in this sentence? Why are two different forms used?

Both come from the same verb pair, but they are different aspects and forms:

• sprawdzam – imperfective, 1st person singular, present tense

  • “I check / I am checking”
  • Used for habitual or ongoing actions: “In the evenings, I (typically) check…”

• sprawdzić – perfective, infinitive

  • “to check (and get a result)”
  • With żeby, it expresses purpose: “in order to check…”

So the structure is:

• Wieczorem sprawdzam temperaturę
  “In the evening I (usually) check the temperature”

• żeby sprawdzić, czy…
  “in order to check whether…”

Imperfective (sprawdzam) describes what you do; perfective (sprawdzić) describes what result you want to achieve by doing it once.

Isn’t it redundant to say sprawdzam and then again żeby sprawdzić? Could I change the second one?

Repeating the same verb with different forms is very normal in Polish, especially when the second one is in a purpose clause.

However, you can change the second verb to avoid repetition, for example:

• Wieczorem sprawdzam temperaturę, żeby zobaczyć, czy lekarstwo działa.
  “In the evening I check the temperature to see whether the medicine is working.”

Other natural options:

• …żeby upewnić się, czy lekarstwo działa.
  “...to make sure the medicine is working.”
• …żeby ocenić, czy lekarstwo działa.
  “...to assess whether the medicine is working.”

But the original version with both sprawdzam and sprawdzić is completely correct and sounds natural.

How does żeby work here, and why does it take an infinitive (sprawdzić)?

Żeby introduces a purpose clause (“in order to…”).

When the subject of both clauses is the same (“I” in this sentence), Polish usually uses:

żeby + perfective infinitive

So:

• Sprawdzam temperaturę, żeby sprawdzić…
  “I check the temperature in order to check…”

If the subject were different, you’d typically use a finite verb instead of an infinitive:

• Sprawdzam temperaturę, żeby lekarz wiedział, czy lekarstwo działa.
  “I check the temperature so that the doctor knows whether the medicine is working.”

Alternatives to żeby with similar meaning:

• aby – a bit more formal/elevated: …aby sprawdzić…
• żeby móc sprawdzić – “in order to be able to check” (adds an extra nuance).

Why is there a comma before żeby and also before czy?

Both żeby and czy introduce subordinate clauses, and in Polish, subordinate clauses are separated by commas.

Structure of the sentence:

1. Wieczorem sprawdzam temperaturę,
   – main clause

2. żeby sprawdzić,
   – purpose clause (subordinate to the main clause)

3. czy lekarstwo działa.
   – indirect question / clause (subordinate to żeby sprawdzić)

So you get:

• comma before żeby → because a new subordinate clause starts
• comma before czy → because another subordinate clause starts inside that clause

Polish is stricter with commas than English; where English might omit them, Polish usually requires them around subordinate clauses.

Why is temperaturę in that form, and what case is it?

Temperaturę is the accusative singular form of temperatura (feminine noun).

You use the accusative for a direct object of a transitive verb:

• sprawdzam co? – temperaturę
  “I check what? – the temperature”

Other examples with the same pattern:

• czytam książkę – I read a book
• piję kawę – I drink coffee
• mierzę temperaturę – I measure the temperature

So temperaturę is the correct form because it is the direct object of sprawdzam.

Why do we say czy lekarstwo działa and not jeśli lekarstwo działa? Aren’t both “if”?

Czy and jeśli both often translate as “if” in English, but they’re used differently:

• czy introduces a yes/no question or an indirect question – it’s closer to “whether”.

  • czy lekarstwo działa = “whether the medicine is working”

• jeśli introduces a condition (“if” in a conditional sense).

  • Jeśli lekarstwo działa, to szybko wyzdrowiesz.
    “If the medicine works, then you’ll get well quickly.”

In your sentence, the speaker is checking something and waiting for a yes/no answer, so it’s an indirect question:

• …żeby sprawdzić, czy lekarstwo działa.
  “…to check whether the medicine is working.”

Using jeśli here would sound unnatural and change the meaning.

What is the nuance of lekarstwo? Could I use lek instead?

Both refer to medicine, but their usage differs slightly:

• lekarstwo

  • very common, neutral, everyday word
  • often for things like tablets, syrup, drops: medicine you take
  • feels a bit more everyday/colloquial

• lek

  • more technical or formal
  • used a lot in medical and pharmaceutical contexts
    e.g. lek przeciwbólowy (painkiller), lek na nadciśnienie (medicine for hypertension)

In this sentence, lekarstwo is perfect because it sounds like something a patient or family member would naturally say.
Lek would not be wrong, but it would sound slightly more clinical: …czy lek działa.

Why is it lekarstwo działa and not something like pracuje or funkcjonuje?

For medicine, the standard verb in Polish is działać (“to work / to take effect”).

• lekarstwo działa – the medicine is working / taking effect
• lekarstwo nie działa – the medicine is not working

Other verbs like:

• pracować = to work (a person, a machine at a job)
• funkcjonować = to function, operate

are not used with lekarstwo in this sense. So when you talk about effectiveness of a drug, use:

• lek/lekarstwo działa / nie działa / działa dobrze / słabo działa.

Could I say Wieczorem sprawdzę temperaturę instead of sprawdzam? What’s the difference?

Yes, but the meaning changes:

• Wieczorem sprawdzam temperaturę…
  – present tense, imperfective
  – usually means habit / routine:
  “In the evening I (usually) check the temperature…”

• Wieczorem sprawdzę temperaturę…
  – future tense, perfective
  – usually means a specific, single future action:
  “This evening I will check the temperature…”

So:

• Talking about what you generally do every evening → sprawdzam
• Talking about what you will do tonight, this one time → sprawdzę

How flexible is the word order? Can I move wieczorem or temperaturę to another position?

Polish word order is relatively flexible, so you can rearrange elements without changing the basic meaning, though you might change the emphasis slightly.

All of these are grammatical:

• Wieczorem sprawdzam temperaturę, żeby sprawdzić, czy lekarstwo działa.
• Sprawdzam wieczorem temperaturę, żeby sprawdzić, czy lekarstwo działa.
• Temperaturę wieczorem sprawdzam, żeby sprawdzić, czy lekarstwo działa. (more emphasis on temperaturę)

Placing wieczorem at the beginning is very natural for setting the time frame:

• Wieczorem (when?) sprawdzam temperaturę… (what do I do then?)

Moving words around mostly affects what you highlight, but the sentence remains understandable in all these orders.

Is there a way to say this as a more clearly habitual action, like “in the evenings” rather than “in the evening”?

Yes. You can use the plural adverbial form:

• Wieczorami sprawdzam temperaturę, żeby sprawdzić, czy lekarstwo działa.
  “In the evenings I check the temperature to see whether the medicine is working.”

Differences:

• Wieczorem – “in the evening”; can be understood as this evening or usually in the evening, depending on context.
• Wieczorami – clearly habitual, repeated action: on multiple evenings, regularly.

Both are correct; wieczorami just makes the “every evening” idea more explicit.