Breakdown of W niedzielę mamy przyjęcie urodzinowe.
Questions & Answers about W niedzielę mamy przyjęcie urodzinowe.
In Polish, nouns change their form depending on the grammatical case.
- Niedziela is the basic (dictionary) form – nominative case (subject form).
- In w niedzielę, niedzielę is in the accusative case, which is used here because:
- w + accusative is used to express “on (a day)” in time expressions.
So:
- niedziela – nominative (e.g. Niedziela jest wolna. – Sunday is free.)
- w niedzielę – accusative (e.g. W niedzielę mamy przyjęcie. – On Sunday we have a party.)
You can’t say w niedziela; the noun must be in the correct case after the preposition w in this meaning.
Both are grammatically correct, but they mean different things and are used in different contexts:
w niedzielę – accusative; used for time:
- W niedzielę mamy przyjęcie. = We have a party on Sunday.
w niedzieli – locative; used for location inside something, usually abstract or very specific contexts (and sounds poetic or unusual here):
- szukać sensu w niedzieli = to look for meaning in Sunday (very stylized).
For everyday “on Sunday” in the sense of when something happens, you must say w niedzielę, not w niedzieli.
Polish often uses the present tense to talk about planned or scheduled future events, similar to English:
- English: We have a birthday party on Sunday (meaning: it will happen on Sunday).
- Polish: W niedzielę mamy przyjęcie urodzinowe.
Here mamy is present tense, but in context (with w niedzielę) it clearly refers to the future arrangement.
You could also say:
- W niedzielę będziemy mieć przyjęcie urodzinowe.
This is a more explicitly future form, but in everyday speech mamy is very natural and common for fixed plans.
Yes, you can say:
- Mamy przyjęcie urodzinowe w niedzielę.
The meaning is essentially the same: We have a birthday party on Sunday.
Differences are very slight and mostly about focus:
- W niedzielę mamy przyjęcie urodzinowe.
Emphasis a bit more on when: “On Sunday, (what happens?) we have a birthday party.” - Mamy przyjęcie urodzinowe w niedzielę.
Emphasis a bit more on what we have, then you add when at the end.
Both versions are completely natural.
In Polish, personal pronouns (ja, ty, my, wy, etc.) are often omitted if the verb ending already shows the person.
- mamy already tells you it’s we (first person plural).
- ja mam – I have
- ty masz – you have
- on/ona ma – he/she has
- my mamy – we have
- wy macie – you (pl.) have
- oni/one mają – they have
So:
- My mamy przyjęcie urodzinowe. – We have a birthday party.
- Mamy przyjęcie urodzinowe. – same meaning; my is usually dropped unless you want to stress we (not someone else).
In your sentence, omitting my is normal and natural.
Both can be translated as party, but they have different typical uses and connotations:
przyjęcie
- Often a bit more formal or family/social event style.
- Used for things like birthday parties, wedding receptions, official receptions.
- przyjęcie urodzinowe = birthday party (often with family, maybe more organized).
impreza
- More colloquial, often suggesting a party in the sense of having fun, going out, clubbing, drinking, etc.
- impreza urodzinowa is also possible and quite common, but sounds more like a fun / social party with friends.
In your sentence, przyjęcie urodzinowe is a neutral, slightly on the “organized event” side. It could be for kids, adults, family, etc.
Both are possible, but they’re structured differently:
przyjęcie urodzinowe
- urodzinowe is an adjective: “birthday (adj.)”.
- Literally: a birthday party.
przyjęcie urodzin
- urodzin is a noun in the genitive plural: “of birthday(s)”.
- Literally: a party of (someone’s) birthday.
In practice:
- przyjęcie urodzinowe is more common and sounds more natural in modern Polish.
- przyjęcie urodzin is correct but sounds more formal or old-fashioned in everyday speech.
So the sentence uses the more typical adjective version.
Yes.
- przyjęcie – neuter noun, singular, nominative case.
- The adjective urodzinowe must match it:
- neuter
- singular
- nominative
Adjective endings for neuter singular nominative are typically -e:
- dobre przyjęcie (a good party)
- duże przyjęcie (a big party)
- urodzinowe przyjęcie (a birthday party)
In your sentence, przyjęcie urodzinowe appears as the complement of mamy, which normally takes the accusative. For neuter singular, nominative and accusative look the same in form, so you see przyjęcie urodzinowe either way.
Niedzielę is in the accusative case (singular, feminine).
With days of the week, Polish uses:
- w + accusative = “on (that day)”
- w niedzielę – on Sunday
- w poniedziałek – on Monday
- w środę – on Wednesday
So for time expressions like “on Sunday”, “on Monday”, the accusative is standard:
- W niedzielę mamy przyjęcie.
- W piątek idę do kina. – I’m going to the cinema on Friday.
That is why niedziela changes to niedzielę after w in this meaning.
You can say Na niedzielę mamy przyjęcie urodzinowe, but the nuance changes:
W niedzielę mamy przyjęcie urodzinowe.
- Neutral way to say: We have a birthday party on Sunday.
Na niedzielę mamy przyjęcie urodzinowe.
- More like: For Sunday we have a birthday party (planned / fixed).
- It sounds like you’re talking about your schedule or plan, e.g. “For Sunday we have a birthday party, for Saturday we have something else.”
So:
- For a simple “on Sunday (when?)” → use w niedzielę.
- na niedzielę focuses more on allocation / planning for that day.
Common options:
W tę niedzielę mamy przyjęcie urodzinowe.
- Literally: “In this Sunday we have a birthday party.”
- Explicitly points to this upcoming Sunday.
W niedzielę mamy przyjęcie urodzinowe. (with context)
- In conversation, if you’re talking about the coming days, this will usually be understood as this Sunday.
If you really want to stress this as opposed to last or next, w tę niedzielę is the clearest.
Approximate phonetic transcription (English-friendly):
- W – [v] (like v in very; often links to the next word)
niedzielę – [nyeh-DJYEL-eh]
- nie – “nyeh”
- dź – close to English “j” in jeans
- e – like “e” in met
- final ę – nasal “eh”; in casual speech often just [e]
mamy – [MAH-mih]
- both a like “u” in fun but a bit more open
przyjęcie – roughly [pshih-YEN-chyeh]
- przy – like “pshih” (p + sh + short i)
- ję – “yen” (with light nasal; often close to plain “en”)
- cie – “chyeh” (soft “ch” with y-sound)
urodzinowe – [oo-ro-dzee-NO-veh]
- u – “oo” as in food
- ro – “ro” as in rock
- dzi – like “jee” in jeep but softer
- no – “no”
- we – “veh” (w = v, e = “e” in met)
Spoken smoothly, it sounds like one connected phrase: [v nyeh-DJYEL-eh MAH-mih pshih-YEN-chyeh oo-ro-dzee-NO-veh].
Word order in Polish is flexible, because grammatical roles are mostly shown by endings, not by position.
You can say:
- W niedzielę mamy przyjęcie urodzinowe. – most neutral.
- W niedzielę przyjęcie urodzinowe mamy.
- Przyjęcie urodzinowe mamy w niedzielę.
- Mamy w niedzielę przyjęcie urodzinowe.
They all are grammatically correct; the differences are about emphasis and style:
- Putting mamy earlier is more neutral: W niedzielę mamy…
- Putting przyjęcie urodzinowe closer to the start can stress the event more.
For a learner, W niedzielę mamy przyjęcie urodzinowe or Mamy przyjęcie urodzinowe w niedzielę are the safest, most natural-sounding choices.