Learn Hardcore Polish: Czasem czuję się samotny w nowym mieście, ale przytulam psa i jest mi lepiej. - Sometimes I feel lonely in the new city, but I hug the dog and feel better.

Czuję się samotny = I feel lonely (focus on your current feeling).
Jestem samotny = I am lonely (can sound more like a state or fact about you).

Both are possible, but:

Czuć się + adjective is the natural way to talk about temporary feelings:
- Czuję się zmęczony – I feel tired
- Czuję się chory – I feel ill

So czuję się samotny emphasizes the emotional experience, which fits well with “sometimes”.

Why is it samotny and not samotna or samotne?

Samotny is an adjective and must agree with the gender of the speaker (the subject ja = “I”, which is omitted in Polish).

A man would say: Czasem czuję się samotny…
A woman would say: Czasem czuję się samotna…

Neuter samotne would be used for neuter nouns (e.g. samotne dziecko – a lonely child), not for “I”.

What is the difference between samotny and sam?

Both can be translated as “alone”, but they’re different:

Samotny = lonely (emotional state, lacking company or closeness)
- Czuję się samotny – I feel lonely.
Sam = by myself / alone (physically on your own, without others)
- Mieszkam sam – I live alone / by myself.

So czuję się samotny suggests emotional loneliness, not just being physically on your own.

Why do we say w nowym mieście and not w nowe miasto?

Because after w meaning “in” (static location), Polish uses the locative case.

nowe miasto – nominative (dictionary form): “new city”
w nowym mieście – locative: “in the new city / in a new city”

Both words change to the locative:

nowe → nowym
miasto → mieście

So w + locative = w nowym mieście.

What case is mieście in, and why does miasto change like that?

Mieście is locative singular of miasto.

Pattern:

nominative: miasto (city)
locative: (w) mieście (in the city)

Locative is used mainly after certain prepositions of location, especially:

w (in) – w mieście – in the city
na (on/at) – na dworcu – at the station

So w nowym mieście is simply “in (the) new city” with the correct locative endings.

Why is it psa and not pies in przytulam psa?

Pies (dog) is in the nominative case. In przytulam psa, psa is in the accusative case as the direct object (“I hug the dog”).

For masculine animate nouns like pies:

nominative: pies – the dog (subject)
accusative: psa – the dog (object)

Examples:

Pies śpi. – The dog is sleeping.
Widzę psa. – I see the dog.
Przytulam psa. – I hug the dog.

What exactly does przytulam mean, and why not przytulić?

Przytulam is present tense, imperfective of przytulać – “I hug / I am hugging”.

przytulać (imperfective) – focuses on the action as ongoing or repeated:
- Często przytulam psa. – I often hug the dog.
przytulić (perfective) – one complete act, usually future or completed:
- Przytulę psa. – I will hug the dog (once, in a specific situation).

In this sentence, the speaker describes something they do in such situations in general, so the imperfective przytulam is the natural choice.

What does jest mi lepiej literally mean, and how does it work grammatically?

Literally: “is to-me better” → it is better for me / I feel better.

Structure:

jest – is
mi – to me (dative of ja)
lepiej – better (comparative of dobrze)

Polish often uses this pattern with feelings and sensations:

Jest mi zimno. – I am cold. (It is cold to me.)
Jest mi smutno. – I feel sad.
Jest mi lepiej. – I feel better.

You could also say Czuję się lepiej, but Jest mi lepiej is very idiomatic and common.

Why mi here and not mnie or ja in jest mi lepiej?

Mi is the unstressed (clitic) dative form of ja (“I / me”).

mi – usual, unstressed form, used in the middle of the sentence:
- Jest mi lepiej.
mnie – stressed form, used for emphasis or contrast:
- Jest lepiej mnie, nie tobie. – It’s better for me, not for you.

You would not say jest ja lepiej – that’s incorrect. After jest, with this structure, you need the dative (mi / mnie).

Can I change the word order, for example to Mi jest lepiej or Czuję się czasem samotny?

Yes, Polish word order is relatively flexible, but it changes the emphasis.

Jest mi lepiej. – neutral, most common.
Mi jest lepiej. – also correct; slightly stronger emphasis on mi (“I’m the one who feels better”).
Czasem czuję się samotny. – neutral: “Sometimes I feel lonely.”
Czuję się czasem samotny. – also correct; the adverb czasem is less prominent.

All of these are grammatical; the original order is the most neutral and natural.

Why is there no word for “a” or “the” in w nowym mieście or przytulam psa?

Polish does not use articles (“a”, “an”, “the”). The idea of definiteness or indefiniteness comes from context, sometimes from word order or from whether the noun is already known in the conversation.

So w nowym mieście can mean:

in a new city
in the new city

Similarly, przytulam psa can be:

I hug a dog
I hug the dog / my dog (often implied if it’s your own dog).

Context decides how you translate it into English.

Why is there no ja in Czasem czuję się samotny?

Polish usually drops subject pronouns (ja, ty, on, ona, etc.) because the verb ending already shows the person:

czuję = I feel
czujesz = you (sg.) feel
czuje = he/she/it feels

So Czasem czuję się samotny already clearly means “Sometimes I feel lonely”.

You can say Ja czasem czuję się samotny, but ja then adds emphasis, like:

Ja czasem czuję się samotny. – I sometimes feel lonely (maybe in contrast to others).