Tydzień temu zakochałam się w tym mieście.

A week ago I fell in love with this city.

Breakdown of Tydzień temu zakochałam się w tym mieście.

• w: in
• ten: this
• miasto: the city
• tydzień: the week
• zakochać się: to fall in love
• temu: ago

Questions & Answers about Tydzień temu zakochałam się w tym mieście.

What does tydzień temu literally mean, and why does it translate as a week ago?

Tydzień means week.
Temu here means ago.

So tydzień temu is literally a week ago (or one week ago), not to this week. The word temu is a special adverb-like word used after expressions of time to mean ago, for example:

• rok temu – a year ago
• dwa dni temu – two days ago
• chwilę temu – a moment ago

The structure is always [time expression] + temu.

Why is there no word for I in the sentence? How do we know it means I fell in love?

Polish usually drops subject pronouns (like I, you, he, she) because the verb ending already tells you who the subject is.

The form zakochałam clearly marks 1st person singular past, feminine. Because of that, a separate ja (I) is normally unnecessary.

You could say Ja tydzień temu zakochałam się w tym mieście, but ja is only used for emphasis, for example: Ja zakochałam się w tym mieście, nie on – I fell in love with this city, not him.

Why is it zakochałam and not zakochałem? What does the -łam ending mean?

Both zakochałam and zakochałem are 1st person singular past tense, but they differ by gender:

• zakochałam – said by a female speaker
• zakochałem – said by a male speaker

Polish past tense forms agree with the gender of the speaker (in 1st person singular). So:

• A woman: Tydzień temu zakochałam się w tym mieście.
• A man: Tydzień temu zakochałem się w tym mieście.

What does the się in zakochałam się do? Why is it needed?

Zakochać się is a reflexive verb, meaning to fall in love. The little word się is the reflexive particle and is an essential part of the verb; without it, the verb zakochać by itself isn’t normally used.

So you should treat zakochać się as one unit in the dictionary.

Typical patterns:

• zakochać się w kimś / w czymś – to fall in love with someone / something
  
  • zakochałam się w tym mieście – I (fem.) fell in love with this city
  • zakochałem się w tobie – I (masc.) fell in love with you

Can the position of się change? Could I say się zakochałam?

Yes, się is a clitic and its position is somewhat flexible, but there are rules.

In neutral speech, with a simple sentence like this, the most natural order is:

• Tydzień temu zakochałam się w tym mieście.

You can sometimes move it after the first stressed element of the clause, so forms like Ja się zakochałam are also possible in other contexts, especially for emphasis.

However, zakochałam się is the most standard and neutral placement here. You generally cannot leave się out; it is part of the verb.

What is the difference between zakochać się, kochać, and być zakochanym?

They all relate to love, but in different ways:

• zakochać się – to fall in love (a change of state, something that happens at a moment or over a short time)

  • Zakochałam się w tym mieście. – I fell in love with this city.

• kochać – to love (a lasting state or feeling)

  • Kocham to miasto. – I love this city.

• być zakochanym (w kimś / w czymś) – to be in love (with someone / something)

  • Jestem zakochana w tym mieście. (female speaker) – I am in love with this city.
  • Jestem zakochany w tym mieście. (male speaker)

In your sentence, zakochałam się focuses on the moment you started feeling that way, not just the ongoing state.

Why is it w tym mieście and not w to miasto?

Because of two things: the meaning and the case.

1. Meaning (static vs motion):

   • w
     • locative = in somewhere (no movement)
       
       • w tym mieście – in this city
   • w
     • accusative is used with verbs of movement into something (less common than do for cities, but exists in some uses).

2. Case:

   • tym is locative singular of ten / to (this).
   • mieście is locative singular of miasto (city).

With zakochać się w kimś / w czymś, the preposition w always takes the locative, so the correct form is w tym mieście, not w to miasto.

How do we get from miasto to mieście? What case is mieście?

Mieście is the locative singular form of miasto.

Basic forms:

• Nominative (dictionary form): miasto – a city
• Locative: mieście – in the city

The locative is almost always used after certain prepositions, like w (in) and o (about), when they have a static or specific meaning:

• w mieście – in the city
• w tym mieście – in this city
• o mieście – about the city

What is the function of tym in w tym mieście? How is it different from to miasto?

Tym is the locative (and also instrumental) form of the demonstrative pronoun ten / ta / to (this).

• Nominative: to miasto – this city
• Locative: w tym mieście – in this city

So tym agrees in case, number, and gender with mieście:

• tym – demonstrative, locative singular, neuter
• mieście – noun, locative singular, neuter

You cannot say w to miasto here, because w requires the locative in this meaning, not the nominative or accusative.

Is tydzień temu the same as tydzień wcześniej? Can I use them interchangeably?

They are related but not identical.

• tydzień temu – a week ago (counting back from now)

  • Tydzień temu zakochałam się w tym mieście. – A week ago, I fell in love with this city.

• tydzień wcześniej – a week earlier (counting back from some other past reference point, not necessarily now)

  • Byłam w Krakowie w maju. Tydzień wcześniej byłam w Warszawie.
    I was in Kraków in May. A week earlier I was in Warsaw.

In your sentence, you are talking relative to now, so tydzień temu is the natural choice.

Can I say jeden tydzień temu instead of tydzień temu?

In practice, no. Polish almost always uses just the bare noun with temu:

• tydzień temu – a week ago
• rok temu – a year ago

Saying jeden tydzień temu is grammatically possible but sounds unnatural and overly literal, like one week ago said with unnecessary emphasis. You would normally only add jeden for special emphasis or in very specific contexts, and even then it’s rare.

How flexible is the word order here? Could I say Zakochałam się tydzień temu w tym mieście?

Polish word order is relatively flexible, and several variants are possible. All of these are grammatically correct:

• Tydzień temu zakochałam się w tym mieście.
• Zakochałam się tydzień temu w tym mieście.
• Zakochałam się w tym mieście tydzień temu.

The differences are mainly about information structure and emphasis:

• Starting with Tydzień temu highlights when it happened.
• Starting with Zakochałam się highlights the event / emotion.

For a neutral, narrative sentence, your original word order is very natural.