Learn Hardcore Polish: Czy pamiętasz, czy jutro mamy badanie czy tylko wizytę u lekarza? - Do you remember whether tomorrow we have an examination or just a visit to the doctor?

At the beginning:
- Czy pamiętasz…? = “Do you remember…?”
  Here czy is a yes/no question particle that turns the whole thing into a question.
In the middle:
- …czy jutro mamy badanie… = “…if / whether we have an examination tomorrow…”
  This czy introduces an indirect yes/no question (like English if/whether after remember).
Before the second option:
- …badanie czy tylko wizytę… = “…an examination or just a visit…”
  Here czy connects alternatives (“A or B”) inside the question.

So, you can think of them roughly as:

first czy ≈ the “do” that marks a yes/no question,
second czy ≈ “if / whether”,
third czy ≈ “or” (in a choice within a question).

Can I omit the first czy and just say Pamiętasz, czy jutro mamy badanie…??

Yes, you can.

Czy pamiętasz, czy jutro mamy…? and
Pamiętasz, czy jutro mamy…?

are both correct.

Differences:

With czy pamiętasz…? – slightly more neutral or careful, very clear that it’s a question.
With pamiętasz…? – very common in speech; the question is shown mainly by intonation and the question mark.

Meaning-wise they are the same: “Do you remember if / whether…?”

Why is the verb pamiętasz used without the pronoun ty?

Polish usually drops subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows the person:

pamiętać (to remember)
- ja pamiętam – I remember
- ty pamiętasz – you remember
- on/ona pamięta – he/she remembers

In pamiętasz, the ending -asz clearly marks 2nd person singular (“you”), so saying ty pamiętasz is normally unnecessary unless you want to emphasize you (e.g. “YOU remember, not me”).

Why is it mamy (“we have”) and not something like “I have” (mam)?

Mamy is 1st person plural: we have.

In Polish, people often talk about appointments or plans in terms of “we”, especially:

family members or a couple: “Do we have an appointment?”
a parent talking to a child: “Tomorrow we have a check-up.”
colleagues discussing shared plans.

So czy jutro mamy badanie…? is literally “Do we have an examination tomorrow…?”, but in English you might translate it depending on context as:

“Do we have tests tomorrow…?” or
“Do I have tests tomorrow…?” (if it’s clear that “we” really means “you and I together in this situation”).

Grammatically, though, it is definitely we.

What cases are badanie and wizytę in, and why do they look different?

Both badanie (examination/test) and wizytę (visit, appointment) are direct objects of the verb mamy (“we have”), so they are in the accusative case.

badanie is a neuter noun.
Neuter singular has the same form in nominative and accusative:
- nominative: badanie – “(the) test”
- accusative: badanie – “(have) a test”
wizyta is feminine. Feminine singular changes in the accusative:
- nominative: wizyta – “(the) visit”
- accusative: wizytę – “(have) a visit”

So the difference in form (badanie vs wizytę) is just normal case marking:

mamy badanie – we have an examination
mamy wizytę – we have a visit

Why is it wizytę u lekarza and not wizyta u lekarza?

Because wizytę is the accusative form of wizyta, required after mamy (“we have”).

Structure:

mamy
- wizytę (accusative) – we have a visit
u lekarza – “at the doctor’s / with the doctor”

If you used wizyta u lekarza, that would be nominative (“a doctor’s visit” as a subject or just a noun phrase), not the object of “we have”. For example:

Wizyta u lekarza jest jutro. – The visit to the doctor is tomorrow.

How does u lekarza work grammatically, and what’s the difference between u lekarza and do lekarza?

u always takes the genitive case:

lekarz (doctor) – basic form (nominative)
lekarza – genitive; used after u

u lekarza literally means “at the doctor’s (place)”, so:

wizytę u lekarza – a visit at the doctor’s / a doctor’s appointment

do lekarza means “to the doctor”, expressing movement towards:

iść do lekarza – to go to the doctor

So, roughly:

u lekarza – at the doctor’s (location)
do lekarza – to the doctor (direction)

Can I replace czy between the two options with lub or albo, as in badanie lub tylko wizytę?

You can say badanie lub tylko wizytę, and it’s grammatically possible, but in questions and especially in a direct choice like this, czy is more natural.

Typical patterns:

In questions / alternatives in questions:
badanie czy (tylko) wizyta? – an examination or (just) a visit?
In statements:
badanie lub wizyta – an examination or a visit
badanie albo wizyta – an examination or a visit

Here, we’re inside an indirect question:

czy jutro mamy badanie czy tylko wizytę – whether we have an examination or only a visit

Using czy for the alternatives fits that questioning context better than lub/albo.

Is the word order czy jutro mamy badanie fixed, or can I say czy mamy jutro badanie?

Both are correct:

czy jutro mamy badanie
czy mamy jutro badanie

Polish has quite flexible word order. The differences are mainly in emphasis:

czy jutro mamy badanie – slightly more focus on “tomorrow” at the beginning.
czy mamy jutro badanie – more neutral, maybe slightly more focus on “do we have”.

For a learner, you can treat them as equivalent and not worry; both sound natural.

What exactly does tylko do in czy tylko wizytę u lekarza, and can its position change?

Tylko means “only / just”. Here it limits wizytę:

tylko wizytę u lekarza – only a visit to the doctor (and not something more, like tests)

Default position is before the word it limits:

tylko wizytę – only a visit
tylko badanie – only an examination

You can sometimes move it:

wizytę tylko u lekarza – “a visit only at the doctor’s” (not somewhere else)
Here it starts to limit u lekarza, not the whole idea of “a visit vs tests”.

So the safest and most natural here is exactly what you have:

czy tylko wizytę u lekarza – or just a visit to the doctor?

Can I drop Czy pamiętasz and just say Czy jutro mamy badanie czy tylko wizytę u lekarza?? How does the meaning change?

Yes, you can say:

Czy jutro mamy badanie czy tylko wizytę u lekarza?

Then you are asking directly about tomorrow:

“Do we have an examination tomorrow or just a visit to the doctor?”

In the original sentence:

Czy pamiętasz, czy jutro mamy badanie czy tylko wizytę u lekarza?

you are asking about the other person’s memory:

“Do you remember whether we have an examination tomorrow or just a visit to the doctor?”

So the shortened version drops the “Do you remember” part and becomes a straightforward question about the schedule.