Schowaj proszę telefon do torby.

Schowaj is the imperative form, used to tell someone to do something: hide / put away / tuck away.

It comes from the verb schować, which is a perfective verb. Perfective verbs usually focus on a completed action, so schowaj suggests:

• do it now
• do it once
• make sure the phone ends up put away

So this is not just a general instruction like be putting it away. It is more like Put the phone away.

In Polish, subject pronouns are often left out because the verb form already shows who is meant.

• schowaj = you (singular, informal), put away / hide

So ty is unnecessary here.
You could say Ty schowaj telefon do torby, but that would sound more marked, often with extra emphasis, like You put the phone in the bag.

Proszę is often used to make a command sound more polite or softer, similar to please.

In Polish, proszę is flexible in position. These are all possible:

• Schowaj proszę telefon do torby.
• Proszę schowaj telefon do torby.
• Schowaj telefon do torby, proszę.

They all mean roughly the same thing, though the rhythm and emphasis may differ slightly.

A very common polite structure is also:

• Proszę schować telefon do torby.

That version sounds a bit more neutral and polite in many situations.

Because telefon is the direct object here, it is in the accusative case. But for many inanimate masculine nouns in Polish, the accusative singular looks exactly like the nominative singular.

So:

• nominative: telefon
• accusative: telefon

That is why the word does not change in this sentence.

Compare with a masculine animate noun, where the accusative often changes:

• widzę psa = I see the dog
• nominative: pies
• accusative: psa

But with telefon, there is no visible change.

The preposition do requires the genitive case.

The basic form is:

• torba = bag

After do, it becomes:

• do torby = into the bag / to the bag

So the change from torba to torby is caused by the case required by do.

Here, do torby means into the bag.

That is a very important idea: do often expresses movement toward the inside of something.

So:

• Schowaj telefon do torby = Put the phone into the bag

It is about the phone ending up inside the bag.

Because Polish distinguishes clearly between:

• movement into something
• location inside something

So:

• do torby = into the bag → movement
• w torbie = in the bag → location

Compare:

• Schowaj telefon do torby. = Put the phone into the bag.
• Telefon jest w torbie. = The phone is in the bag.

Using w torbie in the original sentence would sound wrong, because the sentence is about putting the phone somewhere, not describing where it already is.

It is informal singular, directed at one person you would address as ty.

That is because schowaj is the imperative for you (singular, informal).

If you wanted other versions:

• informal plural: Schowajcie proszę telefon do torby.
• more formal/polite: Proszę schować telefon do torby.
• another formal option: Niech pan/pani schowa telefon do torby.

So the original sentence is something you would say to a friend, child, family member, classmate, etc., not usually in a very formal situation.

This is mainly about aspect.

• schować = perfective
• chować = imperfective

In commands, the perfective form is often used when you want someone to complete one whole action:

• Schowaj telefon do torby. = Put the phone away into the bag.

The imperfective chowaj would usually suggest something more like:

• a repeated action
• a process
• sometimes an urgent instruction depending on context

For a normal one-time instruction, schowaj is the natural choice.

Yes. Polish word order is more flexible than English word order, because the cases help show the roles of words.

Possible versions include:

• Schowaj proszę telefon do torby.
• Proszę schowaj telefon do torby.
• Telefon schowaj proszę do torby.
• Schowaj telefon do torby, proszę.

But the most natural order depends on what you want to emphasize.

For example:

• Telefon schowaj... puts more focus on the phone
• do torby at the end is natural because it gives the destination last

So yes, word order can change, but some orders sound more natural than others.

Not always. Schować can mean:

• hide
• put away
• put somewhere safe
• tuck away

In this sentence, with telefon do torby, the most natural English idea is put the phone in the bag / put the phone away in the bag, not necessarily hide in a secretive sense.

So the exact translation depends on context.

Yes. By itself, schowaj telefon do torby is a plain command. Adding proszę softens it and makes it more polite:

• Schowaj telefon do torby. = direct command
• Schowaj proszę telefon do torby. = Please put the phone in the bag

Still, because it uses the informal imperative schowaj, it is polite but not formal. It sounds like a normal polite request to someone you know well enough to use ty with.

No. Polish has no articles like a/an or the.

So:

• telefon can mean a phone or the phone
• torba can mean a bag or the bag

Context tells you which one is meant.

In this sentence, English might naturally say:

• Put the phone in the bag
• or Put your phone in your bag

Polish leaves that unstated unless there is a reason to specify it more clearly.