Learn Hardcore Polish: Jaka jest twoja wymarzona kariera w przyszłości?

Co asks what (thing) in general: Co to jest? – What is this?
Jaka (feminine form of jaki) asks about the type or character of something:
- Jaka jest twoja wymarzona kariera? – What is your dream career (what kind of career)?

So here we are asking about the kind of career, not identifying what thing something is. That’s why jaka is used instead of co.

Why is it jaka and not jaki or jakie?

Jaki / jaka / jakie agrees with the gender and number of the noun it describes.

kariera is a feminine noun.
Feminine singular form of jaki is jaka.

So you get:

jaki chłopak – what kind of boy (masculine)
jaka dziewczyna – what kind of girl (feminine)
jaka kariera – what kind of career (feminine)
jakie miasto – what kind of city (neuter)

Because kariera is feminine, you must say Jaka jest…, not Jaki or Jakie.

What does wymarzona literally mean, and why is it in that form?

Wymarzona comes from the verb marzyć (o czymś) – to dream (about something) and wymarzyć – to dream up / to imagine as a dream.

wymarzony / wymarzona / wymarzone is an adjective meaning “dreamed-of, ideal, dream”.

It changes form depending on the noun:

wymarzony dom – dream house (masculine)
wymarzona kariera – dream career (feminine)
wymarzone wakacje – dream holidays (neuter/plural)

Since kariera is feminine, the adjective must also be feminine: wymarzona kariera.

Literally: “dreamed-of career”.

Why is the possessive twoja used, and how does it change?

Twoja means “your” (informal, singular “you”) and, like jaka and wymarzona, it has to agree with the noun.

Base forms of “your” (informal, singular):

twój – masculine: twój brat – your brother
twoja – feminine: twoja kariera – your career
twoje – neuter: twoje dziecko – your child
twoi / twoje – plural (people/things)

Here kariera is feminine, so we must say twoja kariera.

In more formal speech you would use:

pańska wymarzona kariera (to a man)
pani wymarzona kariera (to a woman)

And you would adjust the rest of the sentence accordingly:

Jaka jest pana wymarzona kariera w przyszłości?
Jaka jest pani wymarzona kariera w przyszłości?

Why is kariera in the basic (nominative) form and not declined in some other case?

The structure [subject] + jest + [complement] takes the nominative case on both sides.

Here:

Jaka – nominative feminine (agrees with kariera)
(jest) – is
twoja wymarzona kariera – also nominative

So kariera stays in its dictionary form because:

It’s the thing we’re talking about (subject/complement of “is”), not an object of a preposition or verb that would require another case.

Compare:

Lubię swoją karierę. – I like my career. (karierę – accusative)
Jestem zadowolony ze swojej kariery. – I’m satisfied with my career. (kariery – genitive after zadowolony z)

In Jaka jest twoja wymarzona kariera…?, nominative is correct.

Can you drop jest and just say Jaka twoja wymarzona kariera w przyszłości??

In this sentence, dropping jest is not natural.

Polish can sometimes omit jest in very short, colloquial questions like:

Gdzie on (jest)? – Where is he?
Kto to (jest)? – Who is this?

But with a longer, descriptive phrase like twoja wymarzona kariera, removing jest makes the sentence sound incomplete or ungrammatical to a native speaker.

Here you really need jest:

Jaka jest twoja wymarzona kariera w przyszłości? – correct
Jaka twoja wymarzona kariera w przyszłości? – sounds wrong

Why is w przyszłości used? Doesn’t “dream career” already imply the future?

W przyszłości literally means “in the future”.

You’re right that wymarzona kariera already suggests something about your ideal future job / career path. Adding w przyszłości:

makes the time frame explicit,
emphasizes that we are talking specifically about future plans, not your current path.

You could also say:

Jaka jest twoja wymarzona kariera? – What is your dream career?

This is absolutely fine and more compact.
W przyszłości just adds extra emphasis that we’re looking ahead.

Is the word order fixed? Could I say Jaka jest twoja kariera wymarzona w przyszłości?

The word order in Polish is flexible, but not everything sounds natural.

For adjectives like wymarzona, the default and most natural position is before the noun:

twoja wymarzona kariera – normal and natural
twoja kariera wymarzona – grammatically possible, but in this sentence it sounds strange and very marked, like poetry or strong emphasis.

Similarly, w przyszłości is a time phrase and typically goes:

at the end: …kariera w przyszłości?, or
occasionally at the start: W przyszłości, jaka jest twoja wymarzona kariera?

Your example Jaka jest twoja kariera wymarzona w przyszłości? is technically understandable, but it’s not idiomatic and would sound off to most natives.

Is twoja informal? How would I ask this politely to a stranger or in a formal situation?

Yes, twoja is informal, used with friends, family, or people your own age (singular “you”).

For formal speech (addressing one person politely), you use Pan (to a man) or Pani (to a woman). The possessive becomes:

to a man: pana
to a woman: pani

Examples:

To a man: Jaka jest pana wymarzona kariera w przyszłości?
To a woman: Jaka jest pani wymarzona kariera w przyszłości?

Note: Pan/Pani is capitalized when you write to someone directly (Pana/Pani) in letters/emails, but in general grammar explanations you’ll mostly see lowercase.

Could I instead ask Jaką masz wymarzoną karierę w przyszłości? or Kim chcesz zostać w przyszłości??

You can, but they’re slightly different in grammar and nuance.

Jaką masz wymarzoną karierę w przyszłości?
- Literally: What dream career do you have in the future?
- jaką is accusative (object of masz – you have).
- Sounds a bit awkward because “having” a future career is a strange concept.
- More natural would be:
  - Jaką wymarzoną karierę chciałbyś/chciałabyś mieć w przyszłości?
    – What dream career would you like to have in the future?
Kim chcesz zostać w przyszłości?
- Literally: Who do you want to become in the future?
- Very natural, common way to ask about future profession.
- Focuses more on role/profession (teacher, doctor, etc.) than “career path”.

Jaka jest twoja wymarzona kariera w przyszłości? sounds a bit more abstract and “career-planning”-like than Kim chcesz zostać w przyszłości?, which is simpler and more child-friendly.

How do you pronounce wymarzona and przyszłości?

Approximate pronunciations (in English-like spelling):

wymarzona → vih-mah-ZHO-nah
- wy – like vih (short i)
- ma – mah
- rzo – rz is like French j in je, or English zh in measure → zho
- na – nah
- Stress on -zo-: wy-mar-ZO-na
przyszłości → pshihsh-WO-shchee
- prz → often like psh
- y (in przysz-) – short ih
- sz – sh
- przysz – pshihsh
- ło – like wo
- ści – like shchee (soft “shch”)
- Stress on -wo-: przysz-WO-ści

Polish always stresses the second-to-last syllable in standard words:
wy-mar-ZO-na, przysz-WO-ści.

Does kariera mean the same as English “career”? Are there any traps?

Kariera usually does mean career, especially in contexts like:

zrobić karierę – to make a career / become successful
kariera zawodowa – professional career

However, there are a couple of nuances:

kariera can sometimes carry a slight “ambitious, success-focused” flavor, especially in phrases like:
- robić karierę za wszelką cenę – make a career at any cost
For “course of studies / academic path” you might also see:
- ścieżka kariery, rozwój zawodowy, etc.

In your sentence, wymarzona kariera is understood just like English “dream career”, so it’s safe and natural.