W kuchni moja ciocia stawia duży garnek na kuchence.

In the kitchen my aunt puts a big pot on the stove.

Breakdown of W kuchni moja ciocia stawia duży garnek na kuchence.

• mój: my
• duży: big
• w: in
• na: on
• kuchnia: the kitchen
• ciocia: the aunt
• stawiać: to put
• garnek: the pot
• kuchenka: the stove

Questions & Answers about W kuchni moja ciocia stawia duży garnek na kuchence.

In W kuchni moja ciocia stawia duży garnek na kuchence, which words are in which grammatical case, and why?

• W kuchni – kuchni is locative singular (from kuchnia).

  • The preposition w (in) uses the locative to say where something is happening.

• moja ciocia – ciocia is nominative singular.

  • Nominative is used for the subject of the sentence (the one doing the action).
  • moja is a possessive adjective agreeing with ciocia: feminine singular nominative.

• duży garnek – garnek is accusative singular masculine inanimate.

  • Accusative is used for the direct object (the thing affected by the action).
  • For masculine inanimate nouns, nominative and accusative look the same, so garnek stays garnek.
  • duży agrees with garnek (masculine singular accusative, same form as nominative here).

• na kuchence – kuchence is locative singular (from kuchenka).

  • The preposition na (on) uses locative when describing location (where something is).

So the pattern is:

• w / na
  • locative for places where something is,
• subject in nominative (moja ciocia),
• direct object in accusative (duży garnek).

Why is it w kuchni but na kuchence? Do w and na mean different things?

Yes:

• w usually means “in / inside” an enclosed space:

  • w kuchni – in the kitchen (inside the room)
  • w domu – in the house
  • w szafie – in the wardrobe

• na usually means “on” (on a surface) or “at” certain kinds of places:

  • na kuchence – on the stove
  • na stole – on the table
  • na biurku – on the desk

So:

• kuchnia = a room → you are in it → w kuchni
• kuchenka = a stove / cooker, a surface you put things on → na kuchence

There are many idiomatic uses of na with places (na ulicy, na dworcu, na lotnisku), but for a typical room you use w.

What is the difference between kuchnia and kuchenka?

• kuchnia

  • Primary meaning: kitchen (the room).
  • Other meanings: cuisine (Italian, Polish, etc.), and sometimes “stove” in older or dialectal usage, but for modern learners it’s safest to think: room.

• kuchenka

  • A stove / cooker – the appliance you cook on (gas, electric, ceramic, induction).
  • Diminutive-like form, but in practice it’s the normal everyday word for a domestic stove.

So in this sentence:

• w kuchni – in the kitchen (room)
• na kuchence – on the stove (appliance)

Why is it moja ciocia, not moją ciocię?

Because moja ciocia is the subject of the sentence.

• ciocia in the nominative singular is ciocia.
• With a feminine noun in nominative, the possessive is moja.

If ciocia were the object, you would see the accusative form:

• Widzę moją ciocię. – I see my aunt.
  
  • moją ciocię = accusative (direct object)

In Moja ciocia stawia duży garnek, moja ciocia is the one performing the action, so it must be nominative.

Why is it duży garnek and not duża garnek?

Because garnek is masculine, and adjectives in Polish must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun.

• garnek – masculine singular noun
• Masculine form of the adjective duży is duży (nom. / acc. sg. inanimate)
• Feminine would be duża (for nouns like kawa, torebka)
• Neuter would be duże (for okno, krzesło)

So you get:

• duży garnek – a big pot (masculine)
• duża miska – a big bowl (feminine)
• duże okno – a big window (neuter)

Why does Polish say duży garnek without anything like “a” or “the”? How do articles work here?

Polish has no articles (a / an / the) at all.

• duży garnek can mean:
  • a big pot
  • the big pot
  • sometimes just big pot in a generic or recipe-like sense

Which one is meant depends entirely on context, not on a word in the sentence.

In your sentence, if the context is a specific situation, you’d naturally translate it as:

• My aunt is putting a big pot on the stove
  or
• My aunt is putting the big pot on the stove

Both are valid English renderings of the same Polish phrase duży garnek.

Why does the sentence start with W kuchni? Could I also say Moja ciocia w kuchni stawia duży garnek na kuchence or Moja ciocia stawia w kuchni duży garnek na kuchence?

Yes, Polish word order is quite flexible, and all of these are possible:

• W kuchni moja ciocia stawia duży garnek na kuchence.
  – Neutral, but slightly emphasizes location (“In the kitchen, my aunt is putting…”).

• Moja ciocia w kuchni stawia duży garnek na kuchence.
  – Starts by emphasizing who (my aunt), then specifies where.

• Moja ciocia stawia w kuchni duży garnek na kuchence.
  – Emphasis on my aunt and the action, with in the kitchen inserted in the middle.

Polish usually keeps:

• subject and verb close together,
• prepositional phrases like w kuchni and na kuchence can move around to change focus or style, but the meaning stays essentially the same.

What is the difference between stawia, stawiać, and postawić?

• stawiać – infinitive, imperfective aspect

  • “to be putting / to put (regularly, habitually, or in progress)”

• stawia – 3rd person singular, present tense of stawiać

  • on / ona stawia – he / she puts, is putting

• postawić – infinitive, perfective aspect

  • “to put / to set” with focus on completion of a single act

Aspect difference:

• Moja ciocia stawia duży garnek na kuchence.
  – Either “My aunt is putting a big pot on the stove” (right now)
  or “My aunt (usually) puts a big pot on the stove” (habit).

• Moja ciocia postawiła duży garnek na kuchence.
  – “My aunt put / has put a big pot on the stove” – one completed action in the past.

Imperfective (stawiać) is used for ongoing, repeated, or process-focused actions;
perfective (postawić) for a single completed action.

How is stawia different from kładzie? Both look like “puts” in English.

Both can be translated as “puts”, but there is a nuance:

• stawiać / postawić – usually for putting something so that it stands upright:

  • stawiać szklankę na stole – to put a glass on the table (upright)
  • stawiać wazon na półce – to put a vase on a shelf

• kłaść / położyć – usually for putting something so that it lies:

  • kłaść książkę na biurku – to put / lay a book on the desk
  • położyć talerz na stole – to put a plate on the table

In your sentence, garnek (a pot) is treated like something that stands on its base, so stawia is natural:

• Moja ciocia stawia duży garnek na kuchence.

With a flat object like a book, kłaść / położyć would sound more natural.

Why is it na kuchence (locative) and not na kuchenkę (accusative)? Isn’t there movement “onto” the stove?

With na, both accusative and locative can appear, and there is a traditional rule:

• na + accusative – direction / movement onto something
  
  • Kładę książkę na stół. – I’m putting the book onto the table.
• na + locative – location (where something is)
  
  • Książka leży na stole. – The book is lying on the table.

In real, everyday Polish, speakers very often use na + locative even with verbs like stawiać / kłaść, focusing on the resulting location, not the path:

• Stawiam kubek na stole.
• Kładę telefon na biurku.

Your sentence, stawia duży garnek na kuchence, fits this everyday pattern: the focus is that the pot ends up on the stove.

You could hear na kuchenkę (accusative) in very careful or prescriptive speech to highlight the movement onto the stove, but na kuchence is completely natural and very common.

What is the difference between stawia garnek na kuchence and garnek stoi na kuchence?

• stawia garnek na kuchence

  • Verb: stawiać – to put / to set (transitive, someone does it)
  • Emphasizes the action of placing the pot.
  • Needs a subject: Moja ciocia stawia…

• garnek stoi na kuchence

  • Verb: stać – to stand (intransitive, describes a state)
  • Describes the resulting position: the pot is standing on the stove.
  • Subject is the pot itself.

So:

• Moja ciocia stawia duży garnek na kuchence. – My aunt is putting a big pot on the stove.
• Duży garnek stoi na kuchence. – The big pot is (standing) on the stove.

Can I omit moja and just say W kuchni ciocia stawia duży garnek na kuchence?

Yes, and it will very often still mean “my aunt” in context.

In Polish, close family members are frequently mentioned without the possessive, especially in conversation:

• Idę do mamy. – I’m going to (my) mum.
• Byłam u babci. – I was at (my) grandma’s.
• Ciocia dzwoniła. – (My) aunt called.

So:

• W kuchni ciocia stawia duży garnek na kuchence.
  – In many contexts will be understood as “In the kitchen, (my) aunt is putting a big pot on the stove.”

You use moja ciocia when:

• you need to stress that it’s your aunt (not someone else’s), or
• the context doesn’t already make it obvious whose aunt you’re talking about.

Does stawia mean “puts” (habitually) or “is putting” (right now)? How do I know?

Polish present tense of an imperfective verb like stawiać covers both:

• habitual / repeated action:

  • Moja ciocia zawsze stawia duży garnek na kuchence.
    – My aunt always puts a big pot on the stove.

• action happening right now:

  • Teraz moja ciocia stawia duży garnek na kuchence.
    – Right now my aunt is putting a big pot on the stove.

Without extra words like zawsze (always) or teraz (now), context and intonation decide whether you should translate stawia as puts or is putting in English. The Polish form remains the same.