Breakdown of W przyszłym roku ta para planuje małe wesele tylko dla rodziny.
Questions & Answers about W przyszłym roku ta para planuje małe wesele tylko dla rodziny.
In Polish, the preposition w meaning in + a time expression like “in 2025”, “in the next year” usually takes the locative case.
- rok (year), nominative: rok
- locative (used after w here): roku
The adjective przyszły (next, coming) also has to be in the locative masculine:
- nominative: przyszły rok – next year
- locative: w przyszłym roku – in the next year
So the pattern is:
- przyszły rok – “next year” (as a subject or object)
- w przyszłym roku – “in (the) next year” (after w)
Saying ✗ w przyszły rok is ungrammatical, because w here requires the locative, not the nominative/accusative form.
All three can translate to “next year”, but they sound slightly different:
w przyszłym roku – literally in the coming year
- Very common, neutral.
w następnym roku – literally in the following year
- Also common; stylistically very similar to w przyszłym roku.
za rok – literally in a year (from now)
- Focuses more on the time interval (one year from now), not on the calendar label “next year”.
- Often used when you count from now:
- Za rok ta para planuje małe wesele tylko dla rodziny.
In a year, this couple is planning a small wedding only for family.
- Za rok ta para planuje małe wesele tylko dla rodziny.
In most everyday situations, w przyszłym roku and za rok are interchangeable, but za rok feels a bit more like “one year from now”, while w przyszłym roku feels more like “in the calendar year that is next”.
Para (couple, pair) is grammatically singular feminine, even though it refers to two people.
- ta para – this couple (singular)
- Verb: (ona) planuje – she/it plans
Polish verb agreement is based on grammatical form, not on how many people are inside the group. So you say:
- Ta para planuje małe wesele. – This couple is planning a small wedding.
Using the plural verb here:
- ✗ Ta para planują małe wesele.
is considered incorrect in standard Polish (though you might hear forms like this in informal speech).
In English you say “They are planning to have a small wedding.” In Polish, planować can directly take a noun as its object:
- planować coś – to plan something
- planować wakacje – to plan a holiday
- planować remont – to plan a renovation
- planować wesele – to plan a wedding (party)
So małe wesele is the direct object of planuje:
- Ta para planuje małe wesele.
Literally: This couple is planning a small wedding (reception).
If you really wanted to use mieć, you could say something like:
- Ta para planuje mieć małe wesele. – This couple is planning to have a small wedding.
but this sounds less natural than simply planuje małe wesele.
Because it agrees with wesele, which is a neuter noun.
- wesele – neuter (singular)
Adjectives must match the noun in gender, number, and case. For a neuter noun in nominative/accusative singular, the adjective usually ends in -e:
- małe dziecko – small child (neuter)
- nowe mieszkanie – new flat (neuter)
- małe wesele – small wedding (reception) (neuter)
Compare with other genders:
- masculine: mały dom – small house
- feminine: mała książka – small book
- neuter: małe wesele – small wedding (reception)
So małe is the correct neuter form to match wesele.
They are related but not the same:
ślub – the wedding ceremony itself
- the formal act of getting married (civil or church)
- e.g. cywilny ślub, ślub kościelny
wesele – the celebration/party after the ceremony
- reception, with food, dancing, etc.
In Polish everyday speech, people often say wesele when in English you might just say “wedding”, because the party is such a central part of the event. In this sentence:
- małe wesele tylko dla rodziny
implies a small reception/party only for family, not necessarily a tiny ceremony.
If you want to mention the ceremony specifically, you’d say, for example:
- wziąć ślub – to get married (to take a wedding)
- organizować wesele – to organize the wedding reception
Because the preposition dla (for) always takes the genitive case.
- rodzina – family, nominative singular
- genitive singular: rodziny
So you must say:
- dla rodziny – for (the) family
Using the nominative:
- ✗ dla rodzina
is ungrammatical. Some more examples of dla + genitive:
- dla mamy – for (my) mum
- dla dzieci – for (the) children
- dla przyjaciela – for (a) friend
In dla rodziny it is genitive singular and means “(for) the family” (in context: their close family).
The forms are:
singular:
- nominative: rodzina – a/the family
- genitive: rodziny – of the family / for the family (after dla)
plural:
- nominative: rodziny – (the) families
- genitive: rodzin – of (the) families / for (the) families (after dla)
So:
- tylko dla rodziny – only for (the) family
- tylko dla rodzin – only for families (plural)
Tylko means only/just, and its position changes what is being limited.
Original:
- W przyszłym roku ta para planuje małe wesele tylko dla rodziny.
→ The wedding is only for family (no friends, no colleagues).
Other possibilities:
Ta para planuje tylko małe wesele dla rodziny.
→ They only plan a small wedding for family (and nothing more – e.g. no big party, no extra events).Ta para planuje małe tylko wesele dla rodziny.
→ This sounds unnatural; you wouldn’t normally put tylko between małe and wesele here.Ta para tylko planuje małe wesele dla rodziny.
→ Slightly odd; could mean “All they do is plan a small wedding for family” (they don’t actually get married / don’t do anything else). Very context‑dependent.
The most natural two options for the intended meaning are:
- małe wesele tylko dla rodziny – the guest list is limited (only family).
- tylko małe wesele dla rodziny – the type/scale of the event is limited (only a small family wedding, nothing bigger).
Yes. Polish word order is quite flexible. All of these are grammatically correct, with slightly different emphasis:
W przyszłym roku ta para planuje małe wesele tylko dla rodziny.
- Neutral, with emphasis on when (next year).
Ta para w przyszłym roku planuje małe wesele tylko dla rodziny.
- Slight emphasis on this couple; the time phrase is more embedded.
Ta para planuje w przyszłym roku małe wesele tylko dla rodziny.
- Very natural; many speakers might say it this way in conversation.
Ta para planuje małe wesele tylko dla rodziny w przyszłym roku.
- Still correct, but putting w przyszłym roku at the end can give it extra weight or sound more “afterthought‑ish”.
In practice, 1–3 are the most typical. The meaning (who, what, when, for whom) stays the same; you’re mostly changing focus.
Polish distinguishes imperfective and perfective aspects.
- planować (imperfective) – to plan (ongoing, habitual, general)
- zaplanuje / zaplanować (perfective) – to plan and finish planning
In the sentence:
- Ta para planuje małe wesele…
the idea is that right now they have this plan / are in the process of planning / generally intend to have such a wedding. That’s an imperfective situation.
If you used a perfective verb, the meaning would change:
Ta para zaplanowała małe wesele tylko dla rodziny.
– This couple has planned (finished planning) a small wedding only for family.Ta para zaplanuje małe wesele tylko dla rodziny.
– This couple will (at some point) plan and complete the planning of a small wedding only for family.
So planuje is used because we’re talking about their current plan/intention, not about completing the act of planning.
Przyszłym is the locative singular form of the adjective przyszły (next, coming), used with masculine/neuter nouns.
- base form: przyszły – next (masc)
- locative: przyszłym → after w: w przyszłym roku
Rough pronunciation guide (in English-like sounds):
- w przyszłym ≈ f pshysh-wym
- w at the start often sounds like f before p: [f]
- prz → something like psh (actually [pʂ])
- ysz → like ish but with a harder, darker “sh” ([ɨʂ])
- łym → wym, with a dark ł (like English w)
Rough syllable breakdown: przysz-łym.
It looks scary on the page, but with practice w przyszłym roku becomes a very common chunk you can say almost as one unit.