Learn Hardcore Polish: Wieczorem rozbijemy namiot na łące obok lasu. - In the evening we will pitch a tent in the meadow next to the forest.

Wieczorem is the instrumental form of wieczór (evening), and in Polish the instrumental is very often used to express “when?” for parts of the day.

So:

wieczór – evening (nominative, dictionary form)
wieczorem – in the evening (instrumental, used adverbially)

Common time expressions that work the same way:

latem – in (the) summer (from lato)
zimą – in (the) winter (from zima)
nocą – at night (from noc)

You can say wieczorem on its own; you don’t need w here.
W wieczór is not natural in modern Polish in this meaning.

How is the future formed in rozbijemy? Why not będziemy rozbijać?

Polish has two ways to form the future, depending on aspect.

Perfective verb (completed action) → simple future
- infinitive: rozbić (to pitch / set up a tent; literally “to break, smash” but with namiot it means “pitch a tent”)
- 1st person plural future: rozbijemy = we will pitch (once, as a completed action)
Imperfective verb (ongoing / repeated action) → compound future with będę
- infinitive: rozbijać (to be pitching; process, repeated, or habitual)
- będziemy rozbijać = we will be pitching / will be in the process of pitching / will pitch (repeatedly)

In this sentence the focus is on one completed action in the future (we’ll get the tent pitched at some point in the evening), so the perfective rozbijemy is natural.

You could say będziemy rozbijać namiot, but that suggests more the process (e.g. “we’ll be busy pitching the tent in the evening”), rather than the simple fact that it will get done.

Does rozbić namiot also mean “to break the tent”? How do I know it means “pitch a tent”?

Yes, rozbić is polysemous:

rozbić szklankę – to break a glass
rozbić samochód – to crash a car
rozbić obóz / namiot – to set up camp / pitch a tent

You know the meaning from collocations (which words usually go together).
With namiot, the conventional meaning is “pitch a tent”.

In practice:

rozbić namiot = pitch/set up a tent
zniszczyć namiot / połamać namiot = destroy/break the tent

So context + usual combinations tell you which meaning of rozbić is intended.

Why is there no word for we in the sentence? Where is the subject?

The subject we is built into the verb ending in Polish.

rozbiję – I will pitch
rozbijesz – you (sg.) will pitch
rozbije – he/she/it will pitch
rozbijemy – we will pitch
rozbijecie – you (pl.) will pitch
rozbiją – they will pitch

Because the ending -emy already tells you it’s we, the pronoun my is usually omitted:

Rozbijemy namiot – We will pitch the tent.

You can say My rozbijemy namiot for emphasis (for example, contrasting with someone else: My rozbijemy, a wy zrobicie kolację – We will pitch it, and you will make dinner), but it’s not required.

Why is namiot not changed? What case is it in?

Namiot is the direct object of the verb rozbijemy, so it’s in the accusative case.

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

nominative: namiot (a/the tent)
accusative: namiot (direct object)

So even though the form doesn’t change, it’s functioning here as accusative:

(My) rozbijemy namiot – We will pitch a tent / the tent.

Why is it na łące and not na łąkę or w łące?

The preposition na can take locative or accusative, depending on whether it’s location or movement onto something.

na
- locative → where? (location)
  - na łące – on the meadow / in the meadow
  - na stole – on the table
na
- accusative → where to? (movement/direction)
  - na łąkę – onto the meadow / to the meadow
  - na stół – onto the table

Your sentence is about location (where the tent will be), not movement to the meadow, so we use locative:

na łące = in/on the meadow (already there)

If you wanted to emphasize movement, you could say, for example:

Pójdziemy na łąkę i tam rozbijemy namiot. – We’ll go to the meadow and pitch the tent there.

As for w łące – that sounds like inside the meadow in a strange way (like “inside the grass”); natural Polish is na łące for being “in a meadow”.

What form is łące exactly?

Łące is:

the locative singular of łąka (meadow).

Key forms:

nominative: łąka (the base form)
locative: (na) łące, (w) łące

Because na here expresses location, it requires the locative, which is why you see łące instead of łąka or łąkę.

Why is it obok lasu and not obok las or obok lasem?

The preposition obok (next to, beside, by) always takes the genitive case.

nominative: las – forest
genitive: lasu – of the forest

So:

obok lasu – next to the forest / by the forest

Other prepositions that take the genitive:

blisko domu – near the house
koło sklepu – by / near the shop
z okazji święta – on the occasion of the holiday

Obok lasu is therefore “beside the forest”, correctly using lasu (genitive).

Can I change the word order? For example: Rozbijemy wieczorem namiot na łące obok lasu?

Yes. Polish word order is relatively flexible; you can move elements around for emphasis or style.

All of these are grammatically correct and mean essentially the same thing:

Wieczorem rozbijemy namiot na łące obok lasu.
Rozbijemy wieczorem namiot na łące obok lasu.
Rozbijemy namiot wieczorem na łące obok lasu.

Differences are mostly about what you highlight:

Starting with Wieczorem puts emphasis on when.
Starting with Rozbijemy namiot focuses first on what will happen.

In neutral speech, the original version (time expression at the beginning) is very natural.

Why isn’t there any word for a or the (as in “a tent”, “the meadow”, “the forest”)?

Polish has no articles like English a / an / the. Nouns appear without them, and context tells you whether the meaning is more like a or the.

So:

rozbijemy namiot can be understood as:
- we’ll pitch a tent (introducing a tent not mentioned before), or
- we’ll pitch the tent (if both speakers know which tent is meant).

Similarly:

na łące obok lasu could be:
- in a meadow next to a forest, or
- in the meadow next to the forest (if it’s clear which ones).

Polish speakers don’t feel a “gap” here; definiteness is inferred from context.

How do I pronounce łące and wieczorem?

Approximate pronunciation (in a simple English-friendly way):

łące: roughly [WON-tseh]
- ł – like English w in water
- ą – a nasal o, between on and om, often close to ą
  - weak n (especially before c)
- c – like ts in cats
- e – like e in bet
wieczorem: roughly [vye-CHO-rem]
- w – like English v
- ie – like ye in yes
- cz – like ch in church
- o – like o in lot (British) or aw in law
- r – rolled or tapped r
- em – like em in them

Polish pronunciation is quite consistent once you know the sound–letter rules; the main new things here are ł, ą, and cz.

Could I use other verbs instead of rozbić with namiot? Are there synonyms?

Yes, there are other verbs you can use with namiot, but they’re not always perfect synonyms:

rozbić namiot – the most standard phrase: to pitch a tent.
rozłożyć namiot – to unfold / set up a tent (focus on unfolding part).
postawić namiot – to put up / erect a tent.
ustawić namiot – to set up a tent (more neutral, “position” something).

In everyday speech, rozbić namiot is the most typical collocation when talking about camping.
So Wieczorem rozbijemy namiot sounds completely natural and idiomatic.

What exactly does wieczorem modify – the verb, or the whole sentence?

Wieczorem is an adverbial time expression; it modifies the verb phrase and effectively answers the question “When will we pitch the tent?”.

Co zrobimy? – Rozbijemy namiot. (What will we do? – We’ll pitch a tent.)
Kiedy rozbijemy namiot? – Wieczorem. (When will we pitch it? – In the evening.)

Placed at the beginning, Wieczorem sets the time frame for the whole action described in the sentence.