On oddycha powietrzem w parku i patrzy na drzewa.

He breathes the air in the park and looks at the trees.

Breakdown of On oddycha powietrzem w parku i patrzy na drzewa.

• on: he
• w: in
• i: and
• park: the park
• na: at
• patrzeć: to look
• drzewo: the tree
• oddychać: to breathe
• powietrze: the air

Questions & Answers about On oddycha powietrzem w parku i patrzy na drzewa.

Why is it powietrzem and not powietrze?

Powietrzem is the instrumental case of powietrze (air).

Some verbs in Polish, including oddychać (to breathe), take the instrumental case to express “with / by means of what”:

• oddychać czym? – powietrzem (to breathe with air)
• pisać czym? – długopisem (to write with a pen)
• jechać czym? – autobusem (to go by bus)

Declension of powietrze (singular, most important forms):

• Nominative (who? what?): powietrze – air
• Instrumental (with what?): powietrzem – with/by air

So On oddycha powietrzem literally feels like “He breathes with air.”

What case is w parku, and why not w park?

W parku uses the locative case.

The preposition w (= in) normally takes the locative when it means “in/inside”:

• w domu – in the house
• w sklepie – in the shop
• w szkole – at school
• w parku – in the park

The noun park (masculine) in singular:

• Nominative: park – a/the park
• Locative (after w = “in”): w parku

So w park is ungrammatical; you must say w parku.

Why is it na drzewa and not na drzewach?

Because with the verb patrzeć (to look), Polish uses na + accusative to mean “look at”.

• patrzeć na kogo? co? – to look at someone/something
• On patrzy na drzewa. – He looks at (the) trees.

The noun drzewo (tree), plural:

• Nominative plural (who? what?): drzewa – trees
• Accusative plural (whom? what?): drzewa – trees (same form as nominative)
• Locative plural (about/on where?): drzewach

So:

• na drzewa (na + accusative) → at the trees (visually directed towards them)
• na drzewach (na + locative) → on the trees (physically located on top of them)

Compare:

• On patrzy na drzewa. – He looks at the trees.
• Ptaki siedzą na drzewach. – Birds sit on the trees.

Why do we say patrzy na drzewa, not just patrzy drzewa?

In Polish, patrzeć needs the preposition na before its object in this meaning:

• patrzeć na coś/kogoś – to look at something/someone

You cannot say patrzy drzewa; that sounds ungrammatical. Some other verbs do take a direct object without na:

• oglądać drzewa – to watch / look at the trees (more like observing, watching)
• widzieć drzewa – to see the trees

So:

• patrzeć na drzewa – physically direct your eyes at the trees
• oglądać drzewa – look at them more attentively, examine, watch
• widzieć drzewa – simply see them (whether you want to or not)

Is On necessary, or could I just say Oddycha powietrzem w parku i patrzy na drzewa?

You can drop On. Polish is a pro‑drop language: the subject pronoun is usually omitted because the verb ending already shows the person:

• Oddycha powietrzem w parku i patrzy na drzewa. – Correct and very natural.
• On oddycha… – Also correct, but On adds a bit of emphasis or makes it extra clear that you mean “he” (not “she”, “they”, etc.).

In neutral narration, you’d typically omit On once it’s clear who you’re talking about.

Can I change the word order, for example On w parku oddycha powietrzem i patrzy na drzewa?

Yes, Polish word order is fairly flexible. These versions are all grammatically correct:

• On oddycha powietrzem w parku i patrzy na drzewa. (original)
• On w parku oddycha powietrzem i patrzy na drzewa.
• W parku on oddycha powietrzem i patrzy na drzewa.
• W parku oddycha powietrzem i patrzy na drzewa.

The differences are mainly emphasis and information structure:

• Starting with On emphasizes he as the topic.
• Starting with W parku emphasizes the place: “In the park, he breathes the air and looks at the trees.”

For a learner, the original order is safe and natural.

What aspect is oddycha and how would I say “He took a breath”?

Oddycha is imperfective aspect – it describes an ongoing or repeated action:

• On oddycha powietrzem. – He is breathing air / He breathes air (habitually).

To express a single, completed act like “He took a breath”, Polish uses a perfective verb, for example:

• On odetchnął. – He took a breath / He breathed in (once).

So:

• oddychać – imperfective, ongoing/habitual breathing
• odetchnąć – perfective, one completed breath or relief

How do you pronounce oddycha, and why is there a double d?

Oddycha is pronounced roughly like:

• [od-dy-ha] (with a clearly audible, slightly lengthened d sound)

Spelling:

• It comes from the prefix od-
  • a verb related to dychać, and in spelling the two d’s are kept: od + dycha → oddycha.
• In speech, you just pronounce a strong d once, but the double dd often sounds like d held slightly longer.

Also note:

• ch in Polish is pronounced like a voiceless h, similar to the ch in German Bach or a strong English h: or [h] sound.

So, syllable by syllable: od‑dy‑cha.

Why is it patrzy, not patrze, for “he looks”?

The infinitive is patrzeć (to look). It conjugates like this in the present tense:

• ja (I) – patrzę
• ty (you sg.) – patrzysz
• on/ona/ono (he/she/it) – patrzy
• my (we) – patrzymy
• wy (you pl.) – patrzycie
• oni/one (they) – patrzą

So:

• patrzę ends in -ę for 1st person singular (“I look”).
• patrzy ends in -y for 3rd person singular (“he/she/it looks”).

That’s why in this sentence it must be patrzy, not patrze.

How would the sentence change if the subject were “she” or “they”?

For “she”:

• Ona oddycha powietrzem w parku i patrzy na drzewa.

Notice that in the present tense, the verb form oddycha / patrzy is the same for “he” (on) and “she” (ona). Only the pronoun changes.

For “they” (a group with at least one male, or mixed group):

• Oni oddychają powietrzem w parku i patrzą na drzewa.

For “they” (all female):

• One oddychają powietrzem w parku i patrzą na drzewa.

Here the verbs change to plural forms:

• oddycha → oddychają
• patrzy → patrzą

Why is there no word for “the” or “a” before powietrzem and drzewa?

Polish has no articles (no equivalents of English a/an/the). Nouns appear without them:

• powietrze / powietrzem – air / (with) air
• drzewa – trees

Whether you mean “the trees” or “some trees” is understood from:

• context
• word order
• sometimes added words like ten/ta/to (this) or jakiś/jakaś/jakieś (some, some kind of)

In this sentence:

• On oddycha powietrzem w parku i patrzy na drzewa.

is naturally translated as:

• “He breathes (the) air in the park and looks at (the) trees,”
  and English articles are just supplied by context, not by specific Polish words.