On oddycha powietrzem w parku i patrzy na drzewa.

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

• w: in
• i: and
• park: the park

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 .