Learn Hardcore Polish: Ten rodzinny zwyczaj pomaga nam rozmawiać o tygodniu i planach. - This family custom helps us talk about the week and our plans.

ten rodzinny zwyczaj – sounds neutral, like simply “this family custom.”
ten zwyczaj rodzinny – puts a bit more emphasis on zwyczaj, and rodzinny feels slightly more like an added comment (“this custom, which is family‑related”). It’s still fine, just less default.

For a learner, it’s safest to stick to:

ten + adjective + noun: ten rodzinny zwyczaj.

What exactly does rodzinny mean, and how is it different from just saying rodzina (family)?

rodzina is a noun: family
e.g. moja rodzina – my family
rodzinny is an adjective: family, familial, family‑related
e.g. rodzinny zwyczaj – a family custom

So:

rodzinny zwyczaj = a custom belonging to / practiced by the family
You cannot say rodzina zwyczaj; you need the adjective form rodzinny to describe the noun zwyczaj.

English often uses the noun family directly before another noun (family dinner), but in Polish, this is normally done with an adjective, not a bare noun:

family dinner → rodzinny obiad, not rodzina obiad

What does pomaga nam literally mean, and why is nam used instead of nas?

pomaga = helps (3rd person singular of pomagać – to help)
nam = to us (dative case of my – we)

So pomaga nam literally means:

“helps to us” → “helps us”

Why nam and not nas?

Polish pronouns change form by case:

nas – accusative or genitive (direct object, “us” after many verbs or prepositions)
nam – dative (“to us,” “for us”)

The verb pomagać (to help) uses the dative:

komu? czemu? (to whom? to what?) → nam

Examples:

On nam pomaga. – He helps us.
On pomaga nas – incorrect.

Why is the verb after pomaga nam in the infinitive rozmawiać and not conjugated, like rozmawiamy?

pomagać + infinitive is a standard structure in Polish:

pomagać komuś + [infinitive]
→ to help someone (to) do something

So:

Ten rodzinny zwyczaj pomaga nam rozmawiać…
= This family custom helps us (to) talk…

If you said:

…pomaga nam rozmawiamy – this is incorrect, because Polish does not use the finite (conjugated) verb form after pomaga in this structure.

Compare:

Lubię czytać. – I like to read.
Musimy pracować. – We have to work.
Similarly:
Pomaga nam rozmawiać. – It helps us talk.

Why is it rozmawiać o tygodniu i planach, and not just rozmawiać tydzień i plany?

In Polish, rozmawiać (to talk, to converse) almost always takes the preposition o when you say what you are talking about:

rozmawiać o czymś – to talk about something

This o then requires the locative case for the nouns:

tydzień (week) → o tygodniu
plany (plans) → o planach

So:

rozmawiać o tygodniu i planach
= talk about the week and (our) plans

Saying rozmawiać tydzień i plany would be ungrammatical; without o and without the locative endings, it doesn’t express “about.”

What grammatical case are tygodniu and planach, and why do they look this way?

Both tygodniu and planach are in the locative case:

The preposition o (meaning “about” in this context) requires locative:
- o kim? o czym? – about whom? about what?

Changes:

tydzień (week – nominative singular)
→ o tygodniu (about the week – locative singular)
plany (plans – nominative plural)
→ o planach (about (the) plans – locative plural)

So the endings -u in tygodniu and -ach in planach signal the locative case, triggered by o.

Why is it o tygodniu i planach, but the English meaning is “about the week and (our) plans”? Where is “the” and “our”?

Polish normally does not use articles (a, an, the) and also often omits possessive pronouns (my, our, his) when the meaning is clear from context.

There is no separate word for “the” here; tygodniu just means “week” in the locative, and context tells us we mean “the week” (usually the coming or past week you’re discussing).
There is no explicit “our” before planach. Polish often leaves it out when it’s obvious whose plans are meant (the family’s own plans in this case).

So:

o tygodniu i planach literally: about (the) week and (the) plans
In natural English: about the week and our plans.

The “the” and “our” are added in translation to make natural English, but they’re not separate words in Polish.

Why is tygodniu singular but planach is plural? Could you say o tygodniach i planach?

As written:

o tygodniu – about the week (one specific week, typically the current or upcoming week)
o planach – about (the) plans (usually several plans)

This matches a natural phrase like “talk about the week and (our) plans.”

You can say:

o tygodniach i planach – about weeks and plans

That would mean something more general or abstract, like talking about weeks in general (different weeks) and plans in general, not one specific week. The original sentence is more concrete and practical: one week (usually this week) and the various plans for it.

Could you replace rozmawiać with mówić here? What’s the difference?

Both rozmawiać and mówić can relate to “talking,” but they’re used differently:

rozmawiać – to have a conversation, to talk with someone
(two‑way, interactive)
- rozmawiać z kimś o czymś – talk with someone about something
mówić – to speak, say, talk (more general, can be one‑way)
- mówić o czymś – speak/talk about something

In this context:

Ten rodzinny zwyczaj pomaga nam rozmawiać o tygodniu i planach.
emphasizes family conversation – everyone talking with each other.

You could say:

…pomaga nam mówić o tygodniu i planach,
but it slightly shifts the feel toward “helps us to speak about…” without the same strong emphasis on two‑way discussion. Rozmawiać is the more natural, “family‑chat” verb here.

Is the word order Ten rodzinny zwyczaj pomaga nam rozmawiać o tygodniu i planach fixed, or can it change?

Polish word order is flexible, though some orders sound more neutral and natural.

The given sentence is the neutral, most typical order:

Ten rodzinny zwyczaj pomaga nam rozmawiać o tygodniu i planach.

You could, for example, move nam:

Ten rodzinny zwyczaj pomaga rozmawiać nam o tygodniu i planach.
(still understandable, but less natural; it puts a bit of focus on nam.)

Or you could slightly rearrange the prepositional phrase:

…rozmawiać o planach i tygodniu.
(also correct, just reverses the order of the two nouns.)

For a learner, the safest and most natural choice is the original order:

Ten rodzinny zwyczaj pomaga nam rozmawiać o tygodniu i planach.