Po obiedzie dzieci biegają w parku.

After lunch the children run in the park.

Breakdown of Po obiedzie dzieci biegają w parku.

• w: in
• dziecko: the child
• obiad: the dinner
• biegać: to run
• park: the park
• po: on

Questions & Answers about Po obiedzie dzieci biegają w parku.

What does po mean here, and why is obiedzie in that form?

In this sentence, po means “after” in a time sense: po obiedzie = after lunch.

In Polish, when po means “after (some event in time)”, it normally takes the locative case.

• Nominative (dictionary form): obiad – “lunch / dinner”
• Locative singular: (po) obiedzie

So the preposition po forces obiad into the locative case → obiedzie.

Why is it obiedzie and not something like obiadzie or just obiad?

Two things are going on:

1. Case change
   You cannot say po obiad in standard Polish; po here must be followed by a locative form.
   So obiad has to change to the locative: obiedzie.

2. Spelling / sound change inside the word
   The stem obiad- changes to obiedz- before the ending -ie, giving obiedzie.
   This is a regular alternation in Polish (similar changes happen in other words, e.g. dziadek → o dziadku, świat → o świecie, etc.).

So po obiedzie is simply “after lunch” with the correct locative ending and a regular stem change.

Which word is the subject here, and what cases are the nouns in?

The sentence is:

Po obiedzie dzieci biegają w parku.

• dzieci – subject, nominative plural (“children”)
• obiedzie – locative singular after po (“after lunch”)
• parku – locative singular after w (“in the park”)

So structurally:

• Po obiedzie – time phrase (“after lunch”)
• dzieci – subject (“children”)
• biegają – verb (“run / are running”)
• w parku – place phrase (“in the park”)

Why is it dzieci for “children”? What is the singular form?

The singular is dziecko – “a child”.

The plural is dzieci – “children”. This is an irregular plural, not formed by a simple ending like -y or -i.

Some extra points:

• dziecko is neuter singular.
• dzieci behaves like a non‑masculine-personal plural in grammar (the same group as “women, animals, objects” rather than adult men).
• That’s why you’d say, for example:
  • Małe dzieci są zmęczone. – “Small children are tired.”
    (adjective and verb in non‑masculine-personal plural)

In this sentence, dzieci is just the normal plural subject: “children”.

Does biegają mean “run” or “are running”? Is it present simple or present continuous?

Polish doesn’t have a separate “-ing” tense like English. The form biegają can cover both:

• They run (habitually / regularly)
• They are running (right now)

Which meaning you get depends on context. With po obiedzie (“after lunch”), it very naturally suggests a habitual action:

• Po obiedzie dzieci biegają w parku.
  → “After lunch, the children (usually) run in the park.”

If the context is clearly “right now”, it would be understood as “are running” instead. The grammar form is the same.

Why is it biegają and not biegną?

Polish distinguishes between two main “run” verbs:

• biegać – to run (around), run in general, run repeatedly or habitually
  → 3rd person plural: biegają
• biec (often with perfective partner pobiec) – to run (in one direction, in a specific act)
  → 3rd person plural: biegną

So:

• Dzieci biegają w parku.
  Children are running around the park / they run there regularly.

• Dzieci biegną do parku.
  Children are running to the park (now, in one direction).

In your sentence, we’re talking about an activity they typically do after lunch, so the “general / repeated” verb biegać → biegają is the natural choice.

Why is it w parku and not do parku or na parku?

Different prepositions express different relationships:

• w parku – “in the park” (location, inside the space)
  → w

  • locative = being somewhere: w domu, w szkole, w parku

• do parku – “to the park” (movement towards)
  → do

  • genitive = going to a place: iść do parku

• na parku – almost never used in this sense; na with “park” is unusual in standard Polish for ordinary “in the park”.

So w parku is correct and natural for being/running in the park.
If you wanted to say “The children are running to the park”, you’d say:

• Dzieci biegną do parku.

Why does park change to parku?

Park is a masculine noun. In the locative singular, many masculine nouns end in -u:

• park → w parku – “in the park”
• las (forest) → w lesie, but:
• hotel → w hotelu
• dom → w domu

So here:

• Nominative: park
• Locative: w parku (“in the park”)

The change to parku is simply the regular locative ending -u required by the preposition w for location.

Can I change the word order, like Dzieci po obiedzie biegają w parku?

Yes. Polish word order is flexible, and several orders are possible. They remain grammatical but can slightly change the emphasis.

Some natural variants:

• Po obiedzie dzieci biegają w parku.
  Neutral: sets the time first (“After lunch…”).

• Dzieci po obiedzie biegają w parku.
  Slightly more focus on dzieci (“The children, after lunch, run in the park.”).

• W parku po obiedzie dzieci biegają.
  Brings w parku to the front, emphasizing the location (“In the park, after lunch, the children run.”).

All mean essentially the same thing; nuances of emphasis depend on context and intonation. The original order is a very typical one.

How would I say “After lunch, the children will run in the park” or “ran in the park”?

Using the same basic structure, change only the verb:

Future:

• Po obiedzie dzieci będą biegać w parku.
  “After lunch, the children will run (will be running) in the park.”

(będą = “will (they)”, biegać = infinitive)

Past:

• Po obiedzie dzieci biegały w parku. – if you’re thinking of them grammatically as non‑masculine-personal (common when speaking about mixed or young children).
• Po obiedzie dzieci biegali w parku. – sometimes used if you strongly imagine them as a group that includes boys and treat them as masculine-personal.

Colloquially you’ll hear both; many teachers will prefer biegały for dzieci in standard grammar.

How can I say “After this lunch” or “in this park”?

Add demonstrative adjectives/pronouns:

• Po tym obiedzie dzieci biegają w parku.
  “After this lunch, the children run in the park.”

• Po obiedzie dzieci biegają w tym parku.
  “After lunch, the children run in this park.”

You can also modify dzieci:

• Po obiedzie te dzieci biegają w parku.
  “After lunch, these children run in the park.”

How do you pronounce dzieci, obiedzie, and biegają?

Approximate English-like hints (not phonetic IPA):

• dzieci – roughly “JYEH-chee”

  • dź / dz / dzi / dzie are soft, like the j in “jeans” plus “ye”: d‑jyeh‑chee.

• obiedzie – roughly “oh-BYEH-jyeh”

  • bie is like “bye-eh” but smoother,
  • the dzie again like “jyeh”.

• biegają – roughly “bye-GAH-yong”

  • bie ≈ “bye-eh”,
  • stress on GA: bie-GA-ją,
  • the final -ą is a nasal vowel, somewhat like French on in bon.

Native Polish pronunciation will be smoother than these approximations, but this should get you close.

Why are there no words for “the” or “a” here?

Polish simply does not use articles (no equivalents of a/an/the as separate words in standard grammar).

So:

• dzieci can mean “children”, “the children”, or “some children”,
• park / w parku can mean “(the) park”.

The definiteness or indefiniteness is inferred from context, not from special words.
Here, Po obiedzie dzieci biegają w parku is most naturally translated as:

• “After lunch, the children run in the park.”
  but it could also be understood more vaguely as “children run in a/the park” depending on context.