Learn Hardcore Polish: Chcę lepiej wykorzystać balkon i postawić tam mały stolik do pracy. - I want to make better use of the balcony and put a small table there for work.

chcę = I want
- direct, neutral, commonly used about your own plans, goals, intentions
- not rude in Polish if the context is personal (“I want to use my balcony better”)
chciałbym = I would like
- more polite/soft, a bit more hypothetical
- often used in requests to other people:
  - Chciałbym kawę. – I’d like a coffee.
  - Chciałbym porozmawiać. – I’d like to talk.

In this sentence you’re just stating your own plan, so chcę is perfectly natural.
You could say:

Chciałbym lepiej wykorzystać balkon…

That sounds a bit more like a wish or a dream (“I’d like to…”), slightly less like a firm decision.

2. Why are wykorzystać and postawić in the infinitive form?

In Polish, after verbs of wanting, liking or planning, you normally use the infinitive:

chcę
- infinitive
lubię
- infinitive
planuję
- infinitive

So:

Chcę lepiej wykorzystać balkon – I want to make better use of the balcony
(chcę) postawić tam mały stolik – (I want) to put a small table there

Because the subject ja (“I”) is the same for both actions, you only say chcę once and then coordinate both infinitives with i:

Chcę [lepiej wykorzystać balkon] i [postawić tam mały stolik].

If you repeat chcę, it’s still correct, just heavier:

Chcę lepiej wykorzystać balkon i chcę postawić tam mały stolik.
(grammatical, but not necessary)

3. Why is it lepiej wykorzystać balkon, not wykorzystać lepiej balkon?

Both lepiej wykorzystać balkon and wykorzystać balkon lepiej are grammatically possible, but:

The most natural, neutral place for adverbs like lepiej (better) is right before the verb:
- chcę lepiej wykorzystać
- muszę poważnie porozmawiać (I must talk seriously)
wykorzystać balkon lepiej sounds less natural and has a slight emphasis on lepiej at the end, as if contrasting:
- “use the balcony better (rather than in some worse way)”

So for everyday speech, lepiej wykorzystać balkon is the standard, idiomatic order.

4. Why is it lepiej and not something like bardziej dobrze?

Polish doesn’t form “more + adverb” the way English does.
Instead, most adverbs have their own comparative form:

dobrze (well) → lepiej (better)
źle (badly) → gorzej (worse)
szybko (quickly) → szybciej (more quickly)

So:

lepiej already means “better / in a better way”.
bardziej dobrze is incorrect or at least very unnatural.

In this sentence, lepiej wykorzystać literally is “to use better / in a better way”.

5. What exactly does wykorzystać mean here? Why not użyć or korzystać z?

Nuances:

wykorzystać (coś)
- to make (full / better) use of something
- to exploit, to take advantage of
- often about using the potential of something
- lepiej wykorzystać balkon = to use the balcony better / make better use of the balcony (so it doesn’t go to waste)
użyć (czegoś)
- to use something once, in a technical sense:
  - użyć noża – to use a knife
  - użyć kremu – to use cream
korzystać z (czegoś)
- to make use of / benefit from, more continuous:
  - korzystać z internetu – to use the internet
  - korzystać z balkonu – to make use of the balcony (in general)

Chcę lepiej wykorzystać balkon suggests:
“I want to use the balcony’s potential better, arrange it better, so it serves a better purpose.”
That’s stronger and more purposeful than just “use” (użyć) or “make use of” (korzystać z).

6. Is wykorzystać perfective or imperfective, and why is that used with chcę?

Wykorzystać is perfective.

Imperfective partner: wykorzystywać – to be using / to use (in a repeated or ongoing way)
Perfective: wykorzystać – to (successfully) use / make use of (focus on the result)

With chcę, you can use either perfective or imperfective, depending on what you mean:

Chcę wykorzystywać balkon.
- I want to be (regularly) using the balcony.
- Focus on an ongoing habit.
Chcę lepiej wykorzystać balkon.
- I want to (successfully) make better use of the balcony.
- Focus on achieving a result: rearranging, redesigning, etc.

In your sentence, the idea is to achieve a better setup, not just to “use it more often”, so the perfective wykorzystać fits well.

7. What case is balkon in, and why does it look the same as the dictionary form?

Balkon is in the accusative singular (because it’s the direct object of wykorzystać).

For masculine inanimate nouns, the accusative singular looks the same as the nominative:

Nominative: balkon – (the) balcony
Accusative: widzę balkon – I see the balcony
Genitive: nie ma balkonu – there is no balcony

So in wykorzystać balkon, it stays balkon.
It’s the same pattern as:

kupić samochód (to buy a car) – samochód (acc.)
malować pokój (to paint a room) – pokój (acc.)

8. What’s the difference between postawić, ustawić, and położyć here?

All are placement verbs, but with different nuances:

postawić (coś)
- literally “to stand something up” (put it in an upright position, usually on its legs/base)
- used for objects that normally stand: tables, cups, bottles, furniture
- postawić stolik – to put a (small) table somewhere (standing on its legs)
ustawić (coś)
- to set, arrange, position
- focuses more on proper placement or arrangement
- ustawić meble na balkonie – to arrange the furniture on the balcony
położyć (coś)
- to lay/put something in a lying position
- położyć książkę na stole – to lay a book on the table

For a table, which stands on legs, postawić stolik is the natural choice.
Ustawić stolik is also possible and would feel a bit more like “set it up / position it nicely”.

9. Why is tam before mały stolik? Could I say postawić mały stolik tam?

Both orders are grammatical:

postawić tam mały stolik
postawić mały stolik tam

The differences are in rhythm and emphasis:

postawić tam mały stolik (in your sentence)
- very natural, neutral flow
- tam quickly tells you where, then mały stolik specifies what
postawić mały stolik tam
- slightly more emphasis on tam, as if contrasting with another place:
  - “put a small table there (not somewhere else)”

In everyday speech, postawić tam mały stolik is probably the most common, default-sounding order here.

10. What’s happening grammatically in mały stolik?

Mały stolik = “small table/little table”.

Grammar points:

stolik
- masculine, inanimate noun
- a diminutive of stół (table), implying smaller / lighter, often a coffee table or small work table
mały
- adjective, masculine singular, nominative/accusative
- it agrees with stolik in:
  - gender: masculine
  - number: singular
  - case: here, accusative

Because stolik is masculine inanimate, its accusative form = nominative:

Nominative: mały stolik stoi na balkonie. – a small table stands on the balcony.
Accusative: postawić mały stolik. – to put a small table.

That’s why both words look like dictionary forms.

11. Why is it stolik do pracy and not something like stolik na pracę?

The phrase do + genitive is a very common way in Polish to express purpose (“for doing X”):

stolik do pracy – a table for work / for working
buty do biegania – shoes for running
kubek do kawy – a mug for coffee
maszyna do pisania – a typewriter (machine for writing)

So:

do pracy
- pracy is genitive singular of praca (work)
- literally “for work”, meaning “intended for working”

Na pracę would mean “for work” in a different sense (e.g. money na pracę – for work/project), and stolik na pracę is not idiomatic.

You also don’t say stolik do pracowania; Polish usually uses noun + do + noun for this kind of purpose, not “-ing”/verbal nouns.

12. Do I need a comma before i in this sentence?

No comma is needed here.

Polish usually does not use a comma before i when it connects:

two verbs with the same subject:
- Chcę lepiej wykorzystać balkon i postawić tam mały stolik.
or two similar parts of a sentence:
- Kupiłem chleb i mleko.

You use a comma before i mainly when it joins whole clauses that have their own subjects or when there is a special stylistic or logical reason. Here it’s simply connecting two infinitive phrases with the same chcę, so no comma.