Wczoraj nasza randka była krótka, ale bardzo miła.

Yesterday our date was short but very pleasant.

Breakdown of Wczoraj nasza randka była krótka, ale bardzo miła.

• być: to be
• bardzo: very
• ale: but
• wczoraj: yesterday
• krótki: short
• nasz: our
• randka: the date
• miły: pleasant

Questions & Answers about Wczoraj nasza randka była krótka, ale bardzo miła.

Why does the sentence start with Wczoraj? Could I also say Nasza randka wczoraj była krótka…?

In Polish, word order is fairly flexible, and Wczoraj nasza randka była krótka, ale bardzo miła is not the only possible order.

• Wczoraj nasza randka była krótka…
  – Puts emphasis on when it happened (yesterday). This is very natural.

• Nasza randka wczoraj była krótka…
  – Also correct. Emphasis shifts slightly onto our date, then adds yesterday as extra time information.

• Nasza randka była wczoraj krótka…
  – Grammatically possible, but sounds less natural. Polish usually keeps time adverbs near the beginning or end of the clause, not between the subject and its main description.

All of these are understandable, but the original order is the most typical and neutral: time adverb (wczoraj) first, then subject (nasza randka), then verb and complements.

Why is it nasza randka and not nasz randka or nasze randka?

In Polish, possessive adjectives (like nasz, wasz, mój) must agree with the noun in:

• gender (masculine / feminine / neuter),
• number (singular / plural),
• and case.

Randka is:

• singular
• feminine
• nominative (it is the subject of the sentence)

The correct form of nasz for a singular feminine nominative noun is nasza.

So:

• nasz – masculine singular nominative (e.g. nasz dom – our house)
• nasza – feminine singular nominative (e.g. nasza randka – our date)
• nasze – neuter singular nominative or non-masculine-personal plural (e.g. nasze dziecko, nasze książki)

Therefore nasza randka is the only correct choice here.

Why is it była and not był or było?

The verb być (to be) in the past tense must agree with the subject in gender and number.

The subject is randka:

• singular
• feminine

So the past tense of być must be:

• 3rd person singular feminine: była

Forms:

• był – masculine singular (e.g. film był krótki)
• była – feminine singular (e.g. randka była krótka)
• było – neuter singular (e.g. spotkanie było krótkie)
• byli / były – plural forms, depending on the gender group

So nasza randka była… is correct because randka is feminine.

Why is it krótka and not krótką?

This is a very important pattern in Polish.

Krótka in randka była krótka is a predicate adjective after the verb być. In this position, the adjective is in:

• nominative case
• agreeing with the subject (randka – feminine, singular)

So:

• randka była krótka – krótka is nominative feminine singular (matches randka).

The form krótką is accusative (or instrumental) feminine singular, used when the noun is a direct object, for example:

• Mieliśmy krótką randkę – We had a short date.

Here randkę is the direct object of mieliśmy, and krótką agrees with that.

Rule of thumb:

• After być (to be), adjectives usually take the nominative case:
  Randka była krótka.
• When describing a direct object, adjectives match its case (often accusative):
  Mieliśmy krótką randkę.

Why isn’t there another była in ale bardzo miła? Could I say …ale była bardzo miła?

In the sentence:

Wczoraj nasza randka była krótka, ale bardzo miła.

Polish omits the second była because it is already understood from the first part. This is very common when you join two similar parts of a sentence with ale (but), i (and), etc.

• Full, explicit version (also correct):
  Wczoraj nasza randka była krótka, ale była bardzo miła.

• Normal, more natural version:
  Wczoraj nasza randka była krótka, ale bardzo miła.

The verb była is simply “shared” by both adjectives krótka and miła:

• randka była krótka, ale (była) bardzo miła.

So:
Yes, you can say ale była bardzo miła, but native speakers usually drop the repeated była in this structure.

Why is there a comma before ale?

In Polish, coordinating conjunctions like:

• ale (but)
• i (and)
• lub (or)

often do take a comma when they join two clauses or two distinct parts that have their own verb, subject, or parallel structure.

Here we have:

• nasza randka była krótka
• (była) bardzo miła

These are two separate descriptions of the same subject, joined by ale. Polish punctuation rules require a comma before ale in such cases.

So:

• … była krótka, ale bardzo miła. – correct
  No comma would look wrong to native speakers.

What exactly does randka mean? Is it always romantic like date in English?

Randka is typically:

• a romantic date / going out with someone you’re interested in, often one-on-one.

Examples:

• Mamy dziś randkę. – We have a (romantic) date today.
• To była nasza pierwsza randka. – It was our first date.

It is not normally used for:

• business meetings
• friendly hangouts
• formal appointments

For those, Polish uses other words, e.g.:

• spotkanie – meeting (neutral, can be work/friends)
• umówione spotkanie / wizyta – an appointment

So in this sentence, nasza randka strongly suggests a romantic or at least “dating-type” meeting.

Why is it bardzo miła and not something like bardzo dobrze?

Miła is an adjective meaning “nice / pleasant / kind” and it agrees with randka:

• randka – feminine singular
• miła – feminine singular adjective

Bardzo is an adverb meaning very, and it modifies miła:

• bardzo miła – very nice / very pleasant

Dobrze is an adverb (“well”), not an adjective, so it can’t directly describe randka (a noun). You could say:

• Randka była dobra. – The date was good. (adjective dobra)

But:

• bardzo dobrze would fit with a verb, e.g.
  Randka się bardzo dobrze udała. – The date went very well.

In this sentence we need an adjective (miła) to describe the noun randka, and bardzo just intensifies it.

What part of speech is wczoraj? Does it change its form?

Wczoraj means yesterday and is:

• an adverb of time.

As an adverb, it:

• does not change for case, gender, or number.
• stays wczoraj in all contexts.

Examples:

• Wczoraj padał deszcz. – It rained yesterday.
• Byłem tam wczoraj. – I was there yesterday.
• Spotkamy się jutro, nie wczoraj. – We’ll meet tomorrow, not yesterday.

So you never decline wczoraj the way you decline nouns or adjectives.

How do you pronounce Wczoraj nasza randka była krótka, ale bardzo miła?

Here is a rough pronunciation guide using English-like approximations:

• Wczoraj – [VF-cho-rye]

  • wcz = like fch said quickly, close to vch
  • o = like o in not
  • raj = like rye

• nasza – [NAH-sha]

  • na = like nah
  • sz = like sh in ship
  • a = as in father

• randka – [RAHNT-ka]

  • ran = like run, but with a as in father
    • a clear n
  • dka = d
    • ka, pronounced together quickly

• była – [BIH-wa]

  • y = like the short i in bit, but a bit more central
  • ła = wa (Polish ł sounds like English w)

• krótka – [KROOT-ka]

  • ó = sounds like u in boot
  • tk = t
    • k quickly

• ale – [AH-leh]

  • both a and e are short, clear vowels

• bardzo – [BARD-zo]

  • rz = usually like the zh sound in measure
  • dz often sounds like dz in adze
  • together rdzo is a bit like rd-zo

• miła – [MEE-wa]

  • mi = like mee
  • ła = wa

Spoken smoothly, it’s roughly: VF-cho-rye NAH-sha RAHNT-ka BIH-wa KROOT-ka, AH-leh BARD-zo MEE-wa.