Questions & Answers about Mój telefon jest zawsze włączony.
Because telefon is grammatically masculine in Polish. Possessive pronouns (like mój / moja / moje) must agree with the gender and number of the noun they modify.
- mój – masculine singular (e.g. mój telefon, mój komputer)
- moja – feminine singular (e.g. moja książka, moja siostra)
- moje – neuter singular (e.g. moje dziecko) or not-masculine-personal plural (e.g. moje okulary)
So with telefon (masculine), you have to use mój.
They are both in the nominative singular.
- mój telefon is the subject of the sentence.
- In a simple “X is Y” sentence, the subject is in the nominative case.
- The adjective/participle włączony is also in the nominative, agreeing with telefon.
So you have:
- mój – nominative masculine singular
- telefon – nominative masculine singular
- włączony – nominative masculine singular
Yes, that is grammatically correct.
- Telefon jest zawsze włączony – “The phone is always on” (whose phone is understood from context, or you’re talking about some phone in general).
- Mój telefon jest zawsze włączony – explicitly “My phone is always on.”
Polish doesn’t require a possessive pronoun every time; it’s often omitted if ownership is obvious from context.
Mój telefon to zawsze włączony is incorrect.
In Polish:
- to is used mainly to link nouns:
- Mój telefon to skarb. – “My phone is a treasure.”
- When you link a noun with an adjective or a participle (like włączony), you use jest:
- Mój telefon jest włączony.
- To jest trudne. – “This is difficult.”
Since włączony functions like an adjective (“on, switched on”), you need jest, not to.
Yes, Mój telefon zawsze jest włączony is also correct.
Common options:
- Mój telefon jest zawsze włączony.
- Mój telefon zawsze jest włączony.
Both mean the same and are natural. The adverb zawsze (“always”) is fairly flexible in word order. Very often it’s placed:
- right before the verb (zawsze jest), or
- between the verb and what describes the state (jest zawsze włączony).
The difference in nuance is minimal or nonexistent in everyday speech.
Włączony is a past passive participle of the verb włączyć (“to switch on, to turn on”). Here it functions as an adjective meaning “(in the state of being) turned on”.
It has to agree with telefon in gender, number, and case:
- masculine singular nominative: włączony (telefon)
- feminine singular nominative: włączona (np. lampka jest włączona)
- neuter singular nominative: włączone (np. radio jest włączone)
- plural (not masculine-personal): włączone (np. światła są włączone)
The ending -y in włączony is the typical masculine singular nominative ending for this type of participle/adjective.
No, that would be incorrect.
- włączone is the form for neuter singular or non-masculine-personal plural.
- telefon is masculine singular, so the correct form is włączony.
The adjective/participle must match the noun:
- telefon – włączony
- lampka – włączona
- radio – włączone
Yes, there is a clear difference.
Telefon jest włączony – “The phone is (in the state of being) on.”
This describes a state (result): the phone has been turned on and is now on.Telefon jest włączany – literally “The phone is being turned on” / “The phone gets turned on (regularly).”
włączany is an imperfective passive participle, used for an ongoing process or a repeated action, not a stable state.
In the sentence you gave, you want the state, so włączony is correct.
Approximate pronunciation (for an English speaker): [VWOHN-CHO-nih]
More detail:
- w – like English v
- ł – like English w
- ą – a nasal vowel, roughly like on in French bon or like o in “wrong” with nasalization
- cz – like ch in “church”
- o – like o in “pot” (British) or “off”
- ny (-ny) – like ni in “Nick”, not like the English long ee
Syllables and stress: włą-CZO-ny (stress on CZO, the second syllable, as usual in Polish).
Polish has no articles (no equivalents of English a/an/the).
Whether English would use a phone, the phone, or my phone is shown in Polish by:
- possession words (mój, twój, jej, etc.),
- context,
- or sometimes by word order and emphasis.
So telefon can correspond to a phone or the phone depending on context. Here you specify possession with mój, so English naturally uses my phone.
Yes, Zawsze mam włączony telefon is natural and very close in meaning.
Nuance:
- Mój telefon jest zawsze włączony. – Focus on the state of the phone: it is always on.
- Zawsze mam włączony telefon. – Focus on you as the subject: you always keep your phone on.
Grammar note in the second sentence:
- mam – “I have”
- telefon is the object (often omitted: just Zawsze mam włączony telefon or even Zawsze mam włączony if context is clear)
- włączony agrees with telefon, but here it’s in the accusative masculine singular (same form as nominative for this type of adjective/participle).
Jest is the present tense of the verb być (“to be”).
Polish does not have a separate continuous/progressive tense like English “is being / is doing”. Instead, it uses:
- Simple present (jest) for both “is” and “is being” type meanings, and
- Verb aspect (imperfective vs. perfective) and participles to distinguish ongoing actions from resulting states.
In your sentence, jest włączony expresses a current state: the phone is in the “on” state.