Breakdown of Jej kolano było chore, ale lekarz powiedział, że wszystko będzie dobrze.
Questions & Answers about Jej kolano było chore, ale lekarz powiedział, że wszystko będzie dobrze.
Polish separates subject pronouns from possessive pronouns, just like English:
- ona = she (subject pronoun)
- ją = her (object form: I see her)
- jej = her (possessive: her knee)
In this sentence we need her knee, so we use the possessive form jej before the noun:
- jej kolano = her knee
- kolano jej = her knee (less neutral, more expressive / spoken; word order shifted)
Ona kolano or ją kolano are ungrammatical because ona / ją do not mean her in the possessive sense.
This is about grammatical gender agreement.
- kolano (knee) is neuter in Polish.
- Verbs in the past tense and adjectives agree with the grammatical gender of the subject.
So we need all the agreeing forms in neuter singular:
- past tense of być (to be), neuter: było
- adjective chory (sick), neuter: chore
So:
- kolano było chore ✅ (neuter–neuter–neuter)
- kolano był chory ❌ (był and chory are masculine)
Chory / chore literally means sick / ill, but with body parts it often means:
- sore, hurting, in bad condition.
So jej kolano było chore is naturally understood as:
- Her knee was sore / hurting / not in a healthy state.
Alternatives and nuances:
- jej kolano było zranione – her knee was injured / wounded (focus on an injury, cut, trauma)
- jej kolano ją bolało – her knee hurt (literally: the knee was causing her pain)
- jej kolano było obolałe – her knee was aching / very sore
So chore is a bit more general: not healthy, painful, problematic. Zranione is specifically injured.
Ale is the basic, neutral word for but.
- ..., ale ... = ..., but ...
You could say:
- Jej kolano było chore, jednak lekarz powiedział, że...
But the nuance changes:
- ale – simple contrast, very common, informal/neutral.
- jednak – more like however / nevertheless, a bit more formal or stylistically heavier.
In everyday speech and basic writing, ale is usually the best choice.
Two clues show the doctor is male here:
- The noun lekarz is grammatically masculine-personal.
- The verb powiedział is past tense, masculine singular.
For a female doctor you normally change both the noun and the verb:
- lekarka powiedziała, że... – the (female) doctor said that…
You might also see:
- pani doktor powiedziała, że... – literally Mrs/Ms Doctor said that…, informal but very common for addressing / referring to a female doctor.
So:
- lekarz powiedział → male doctor.
- lekarka powiedziała / pani doktor powiedziała → female doctor.
This is about aspect in Polish verbs:
- powiedzieć – perfective: to say once, as a completed act. Past: powiedział.
- mówić – imperfective: was saying / used to say / was talking. Past: mówił.
In this sentence, the doctor gave one piece of information (a single act), so the perfective powiedział fits:
- lekarz powiedział, że... – the doctor said (once) that… ✅
Mówił would suggest a process or repeated action:
- lekarz mówił, że wszystko będzie dobrze
– could be understood as the doctor kept saying / was saying that everything would be fine (repeated / ongoing).
So powiedział is the natural choice for a single, completed statement.
In Polish, reported speech of this type almost always requires że (= that).
- lekarz powiedział, że wszystko będzie dobrze – the doctor said (that) everything would be fine.
Dropping że here sounds wrong or at least very unnatural. Unlike in English, where that can often be omitted (He said (that) it’s fine), Polish strongly prefers że in this construction.
You can omit że only in certain special patterns or more informal, elliptical speech, but after “powiedzieć, że…” introducing a full clause, you should keep it.
The difference is:
- dobrze – adverb: well, fine, OK.
- dobre / dobry – adjective: good (neuter / masculine).
In the phrase wszystko będzie dobrze, we are not literally describing “everything” as a “good” object; we are saying things will turn out fine / okay – this is an idiomatic, fixed pattern:
- wszystko będzie dobrze = everything will be fine / okay.
Saying:
- wszystko będzie dobre literally = everything will be good.
This is more about quality of things (e.g., food, results), not about a reassuring “it’ll be okay”.
wszystko będzie dobrze is the natural reassuring phrase you use, just like English Everything will be okay.
Even though wszystko refers to “everything” (logically many things), grammatically it is:
- neuter singular pronoun.
So verbs with wszystko are in 3rd person singular:
- wszystko jest dobrze – everything is fine.
- wszystko będzie dobrze – everything will be fine.
- wszystko było źle – everything was bad.
There is no plural agreement with wszystko; it always behaves like a singular neuter word.
Yes, this is perfectly normal and logical.
The sentence describes two different times:
- jej kolano było chore – past state (her knee was in bad condition at that time).
- lekarz powiedział, że wszystko będzie dobrze – also past (the doctor said), but what he said refers to the future relative to that moment: it will be fine.
So the timeline is:
- Past: knee was sore → doctor said → he predicted / reassured about the future.
Polish freely mixes tenses like this as needed; the key is the time relationships, which here are clear and natural.
For the verb być (to be), the simple future is just:
- (ja) będę
- (ty) będziesz
- (on/ona/ono) będzie
- (my) będziemy
- (wy) będziecie
- (oni/one) będą
So:
- wszystko będzie dobrze – everything will be fine.
You do not add another jest or być after będzie.
You only add:
- an adjective: będzie miło – it will be nice
- or an adverb: będzie dobrze – it will be fine
- or a noun: to będzie problem – that will be a problem
Będzie jest / będzie być are ungrammatical here.
Wszystko itself is the subject, so no extra pronoun is needed:
- wszystko będzie dobrze – everything will be fine.
Saying ono będzie dobrze would be strange, because:
- ono = it (referring to a specific neuter noun; you’d need a clear neuter noun in context).
- wszystko already means everything, so adding ono would either:
- change the meaning to “it will be fine” (referring to some single thing), or
- sound redundant / incorrect.
You can say to będzie dobrze in some contexts, but it feels incomplete; usually it needs more context:
- Spokojnie, to będzie dobrze – Relax, it will be fine. (general “it”).
In the sentence you gave, wszystko będzie dobrze is the normal, idiomatic form.
Breakdown:
- Jej – possessive pronoun (her). This form does not change with the gender or case of the noun it modifies. It’s used before the noun, similar to English her in her knee, her car, her house.
- kolano – nominative singular neuter (knee). Subject of było chore.
- było – verb, past 3rd person singular neuter (no case).
- chore – nominative singular neuter adjective (sore / ill), agreeing with kolano.
- lekarz – nominative singular masculine (doctor), subject of powiedział.
- powiedział – verb, past 3rd person singular masculine (no case).
- wszystko – nominative singular neuter (everything), subject of będzie.
- będzie – verb, future 3rd person singular (no case).
- dobrze – adverb (well / fine), adverbs don’t take case.
So the key point: both kolano and wszystko are nominative subjects, and jej is just a possessive in front of kolano.