My zawsze oglądamy ten sam film w weekend.

We always watch the same movie on the weekend.

Breakdown of My zawsze oglądamy ten sam film w weekend.

• zawsze: always
• w: on
• my: we
• oglądać: to watch
• film: the movie
• weekend: the weekend
• ten sam: same

Questions & Answers about My zawsze oglądamy ten sam film w weekend.

Why does the sentence start with My? I thought Polish often drops the subject pronoun.

In Polish you normally can drop the subject pronoun, because the verb ending already shows the person:

• Oglądamy = we watch (1st person plural)

So:

• My zawsze oglądamy ten sam film w weekend.
• Zawsze oglądamy ten sam film w weekend.

Both are grammatically correct and mean the same in neutral context.

Using My usually:

• adds emphasis on we (as opposed to someone else),
• or appears in contrast: My zawsze oglądamy ten sam film, a oni oglądają coś innego.
  We always watch the same film, and they watch something else.

In a neutral, everyday sentence, a native speaker might actually prefer:
Zawsze oglądamy ten sam film w weekend.

Why is zawsze (always) placed after My and before oglądamy? Can it go in other positions?

The given order is:

• My zawsze oglądamy ten sam film w weekend.

This is very natural. Other common options:

• Zawsze oglądamy ten sam film w weekend.
• W weekend zawsze oglądamy ten sam film.

All three are correct. The differences are mainly in emphasis and rhythm, not in basic meaning:

• Starting with Zawsze stresses the frequency: Always we do this.
• Starting with W weekend stresses the time: On weekends we do this.
• Keeping My stresses the subject: We (not others) always do this.

Putting zawsze in the middle of the verb phrase, like:

• Oglądamy zawsze ten sam film w weekend.

is also possible, but a bit less neutral and sounds more stylistic or emphatic.

What exactly does the verb form oglądamy tell me? Why not oglądać?

Oglądać is the infinitive: to watch.

Oglądamy is:

• verb: oglądać
• tense: present
• person: 1st person plural (we)
• aspect: imperfective (ongoing, repeated, habitual action)

So oglądamy = we watch / we are watching / we do watch.

Polish does not use the infinitive in a simple sentence like English might do in some constructions. You must use a fully conjugated form:

• My oglądamy film.
  We watch a film / We are watching a film.

The present tense with zawsze naturally gives a habitual meaning: we always watch…

Why is oglądamy imperfective? When would I use the perfective form obejrzeć?

Oglądać (imperfective) focuses on:

• a process,
• a repeated action,
• or something habitual.

So zawsze oglądamy ten sam film = we regularly do this.

Obejrzeć (perfective) focuses on:

• a single, completed action.

Examples:

• W sobotę obejrzymy ten sam film.
  On Saturday we will (once, completely) watch the same film.

• Już obejrzeliśmy ten film.
  We have already watched this film (finished).

For habits (always, often, usually), you almost always use the imperfective:

• Zawsze oglądamy ten sam film w weekend.

Why is it ten sam film and not sam ten film? What does sam actually mean here?

In ten sam film, the structure is:

• ten – demonstrative: this / that
• sam – same
• film – film / movie

So ten sam film = the same film (the very same one), with ten pointing to a specific known film.

Word order:

• ten sam film is the standard way to say the same film.
• sam ten film would not mean the same film; sam in that position usually means alone, by itself (different meaning).

Compare:

• Ten sam chłopak. – The same boy.
• Sam ten chłopak. – That boy alone / that boy by himself.

So for the same X, you want ten sam X, ta sama X, to samo X, etc.

What grammatical case is film in, and why?

Film here is in the accusative case, because it is the direct object of the verb oglądamy.

• Verb: oglądać kogo? co? → this question pair asks for accusative.
• Answer: oglądamy film → film is accusative.

For masculine inanimate nouns like film, the nominative and accusative forms are the same:

• Nominative: film jest ciekawy – the film is interesting
• Accusative: oglądam film – I watch a film

Why does ten sam film look like this? Do ten and sam change with gender and number?

Yes, both ten and sam agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.

In your sentence: ten sam film:

• film – masculine singular
• ten – masculine singular form of this / that
• sam – masculine singular form of same

Other examples:

• Feminine:
  • ta sama książka – the same book
• Neuter:
  • to samo pytanie – the same question
• Plural (masculine personal):
  • ci sami chłopcy – the same boys
• Plural (non‑masculine‑personal):
  • te same książki – the same books

In this sentence, everything is in the accusative, but for masculine inanimate, nominative and accusative look the same: ten sam film.

Why is it w weekend and not w weekendzie? Which one is correct?

The preposition w can take:

• locative (where?) – w domu = in the house
• accusative (time or motion into) – w weekend = on/over the weekend

In modern Polish:

• w weekend (accusative) is very common and fully correct for time:
  Zawsze oglądamy ten sam film w weekend.
  We always watch the same film on the weekend.

• w weekendzie (locative) is also used by some speakers, but many style guides and teachers recommend w weekend in this time expression.

So for learning purposes, it is safest to treat w weekend as the standard option when you mean during the weekend.

Does w weekend mean every weekend in general, or just one specific weekend?

On its own, w weekend is a bit ambiguous:

• It can mean on the weekend (in general, as a habit):

  • With zawsze, the habitual reading is natural:
    Zawsze oglądamy ten sam film w weekend.
    → We always watch the same film on (the) weekends.

• It can also refer to one upcoming or past weekend, depending on context:

  • W weekend oglądaliśmy ten sam film.
    This weekend we watched the same film.

If you want to be very clear about every weekend as a repeated situation, you can say:

• W każdy weekend oglądamy ten sam film.
  Every weekend we watch the same film.

Here w każdy weekend removes the ambiguity.

Why isn’t there an article like “the” or “a” before film in Polish?

Polish has no articles like English a / an / the.

Specificity is expressed using:

• context,
• demonstratives (ten, ta, to),
• pronouns, word order, etc.

In your sentence:

• ten sam film already carries the idea of the same film, and ten plays a role similar to this / that / the in English.

If you just said:

• Zawsze oglądamy film w weekend.

that would more likely mean we always watch a film (some film) on the weekend, not necessarily the same one.

Is the present tense oglądamy really used for a habitual action like this, instead of some special form?

Yes. In Polish, the present tense of an imperfective verb is used both for:

1. Actions happening now:

   • Teraz oglądamy film.
     We are watching a film now.

2. Habits and repeated actions:

   • Zawsze oglądamy ten sam film w weekend.
     We always watch the same film on the weekend.

The adverb zawsze (always) and the context (weekend) make the habitual meaning clear, so no special verb form is needed.

Can the word order in the whole sentence be changed, and will it still be correct?

Yes, Polish allows fairly flexible word order. All of these are grammatically correct, with slightly different emphasis:

1. My zawsze oglądamy ten sam film w weekend.
   – neutral, with a bit of emphasis on we.

2. Zawsze oglądamy ten sam film w weekend.
   – neutral, common; emphasis on always.

3. W weekend zawsze oglądamy ten sam film.
   – emphasis on on the weekend.

4. Ten sam film zawsze oglądamy w weekend.
   – emphasizes that same film.

The core grammar (verb forms, cases, agreements) does not change; only focus and style shift with word order.