Zawsze ją widzę w parku.

I always see her in the park.

Breakdown of Zawsze ją widzę w parku.

• ja: I
• w: in
• zawsze: always
• park: the park
• widzieć: to see
• ją: it

Questions & Answers about Zawsze ją widzę w parku.

Why is there no explicit word for I in this sentence?

Polish usually drops subject pronouns like ja (I) because the verb ending already shows the person and number.

• widzę clearly indicates I (1st person singular).
• So Ja zawsze ją widzę w parku is possible, but the neutral, most common version is without ja: Zawsze ją widzę w parku.

You normally add ja only for emphasis or contrast, e.g. Ja ją zawsze widzę w parku, a ty nigdy (I always see her in the park, and you never do).

Why is it ją and not ona or jej here?

Because in this sentence her is a direct object of the verb widzę (I see):

• ją – accusative (direct object) form of ona (she).
• ona – nominative (subject) form, used when she is the one doing the action.
• jej – usually genitive/dative form (and also possessive: her as in her book).

So:

• Zawsze ją widzę w parku – I always see her (she is the object).
• Ona mnie zawsze widzi w parku – She always sees me in the park (she is the subject).

What case is ją, and what is the base form of this pronoun?

Ją is in the accusative case, used for direct objects.

• Base (dictionary) form: ona (she).
• Accusative singular (feminine): ją.

Very simplified pattern for ona:

• Nominative (subject): ona – Ona jest w parku (She is in the park).
• Accusative (direct object): ją – Widzę ją (I see her).

Can ją go in a different place in the sentence, or is the word order fixed?

Word order is flexible in Polish, especially for unstressed pronouns like ją. All of these are grammatical:

• Zawsze ją widzę w parku.
• Zawsze widzę ją w parku.
• Ją zawsze widzę w parku.
• Widzę ją zawsze w parku.

They all mean the same thing in basic terms, but the emphasis shifts slightly. The most typical, neutral-sounding variant is probably:

• Zawsze ją widzę w parku.
  or
• Zawsze widzę ją w parku.

Does changing the word order (e.g. Zawsze ją widzę w parku vs Ją zawsze widzę w parku) change the meaning?

The core meaning stays the same (“I always see her in the park”), but the focus or contrast changes.

Roughly:

• Zawsze ją widzę w parku. – neutral, focus on the whole situation.
• Ją zawsze widzę w parku. – more emphasis on her; suggests contrast, e.g. I always see *her (maybe not others) in the park*.
• Widzę ją zawsze w parku. – draws a bit more attention to zawsze (always).

In everyday speech, the difference is usually subtle and context-dependent.

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

Parku is in the locative case.

The preposition w (in) normally requires the locative when talking about location:

• w + locative → w parku (in the park)
• base form: park (nominative)
• locative singular: parku

So:

• Jestem w parku. – I am in the park.
• Zawsze ją widzę w parku. – I always see her in the park.

W park would be ungrammatical in this meaning of location.

Could I say na parku instead of w parku?

No, na parku is not correct in standard Polish.

• For park, the natural preposition is w: w parku (in the park / at the park).
• na (on/at) is used with many open or flat places (e.g. na dworcu – at the station, na stadionie – at the stadium), but not with park.

So to say “in/at the park”, use w parku, not na parku.

What tense and aspect is widzę, and how would I say this sentence in the past?

Widzę is:

• present tense
• imperfective aspect
• 1st person singular of widzieć (to see).

It covers both “I see her” (right now) and “I (usually) see her” (habitually), depending on context.

For the past, masculine vs feminine speaker matters:

• male speaker: Zawsze ją widziałem w parku.
• female speaker: Zawsze ją widziałam w parku.

For a more clearly habitual past (“I used to always see her”), Poles often prefer widywać:

• male: Zawsze ją widywałem w parku.
• female: Zawsze ją widywałam w parku.

How would I say “I never see her in the park”? Does the pronoun change?

You would say:

• Nigdy jej nie widzę w parku.

Two important changes:

1. zawsze (always) → nigdy (never)
2. ją → jej
   Under negation of a direct object, Polish usually uses the genitive instead of accusative, so ją (accusative) becomes jej (genitive).

You also get double negation, which is normal in Polish:

• Nigdy jej nie widzę w parku. – literally Never her not I-see in the park.

Can ją refer to a thing as well as a woman, or only to a female person?

Ją can refer to any feminine singular noun, not just a woman.

Examples:

• Widzę ją could mean:
  • I see her (a woman).
  • I see it (a feminine noun like książka – book, kawa – coffee, szkoła – school, etc.), depending on context.

So Zawsze ją widzę w parku could also mean “I always see it in the park,” if the listener already knows you’re talking about some feminine object (e.g. a statue, rzeźba).

How do you pronounce ją and widzę?

Approximate pronunciation for an English speaker:

• ją – roughly like “yohn”, but shorter, with a nasal vowel.
  • Polish ą is a nasal o-type sound, not -ow or -om.
• widzę – roughly “VEED-zeh”.
  • w = v.
  • dz
    • e together sound like English “dze” in “kids’”.
  • The ę at the end is usually just a slightly nasal e, very close to plain e.

So the whole sentence is approximately: “ZAWV-she yohn VEED-zeh f PARK-oo.”, with Polish pronunciation, of course.

Where is the stress in Zawsze ją widzę w parku?

Polish stress is almost always on the second-to-last syllable of each word (with a few predictable exceptions, which don’t apply here).

Syllable-by-syllable:

• ZAW-sze – stress on ZAW.
• ją – one syllable, so naturally stressed.
• WI-dzę – stress on WI.
• PAR-ku – stress on PAR.

So the main lexical stresses fall on: ZAW-sze ją WI-dzę w PAR-ku.