Dzisiaj gotuję kurczaka z ryżem.

In Polish, the verb ending usually already tells you who the subject is.
Gotuję means I am cooking / I cook, so ja is not necessary.

• gotuję = I cook / I am cooking
• gotujesz = you cook
• gotuje = he/she/it cooks

You can add ja for emphasis, for example if you want to contrast:

• Ja gotuję, a ty sprzątasz. = I’m cooking, and you’re cleaning.

So in a neutral sentence, Dzisiaj gotuję kurczaka z ryżem. sounds natural without ja.

Because it is the direct object of the verb gotować. In Polish, direct objects often take the accusative case.

Here:

• dictionary form: kurczak = chicken
• in the sentence: kurczaka = accusative singular

This happens because kurczak is a masculine animate noun, and masculine animate nouns usually change in the accusative.

Compare:

• Mam psa. = I have a dog.
• Widzę kota. = I see a cat.
• Gotuję kurczaka. = I’m cooking chicken.

So kurczaka is not a different word, just the correct case form.

Because the preposition z meaning with requires the instrumental case.

So:

• dictionary form: ryż = rice
• after z: ryżem

This is a very common pattern:

• z ryżem = with rice
• z mamą = with mom
• z herbatą = with tea

So the structure is:

• z + instrumental

That is why ryż changes to ryżem.

Grammatically, gotuję is present tense. It comes from the imperfective verb gotować.

Depending on context, it can mean:

• I am cooking
• I cook
• sometimes, with a time expression like dzisiaj, something like I’m cooking today

In this sentence, Dzisiaj makes it feel like a current plan or today’s activity:

• Dzisiaj gotuję kurczaka z ryżem. = Today I’m cooking chicken with rice.

So it is still present tense in Polish, even if English might phrase it as a present continuous.

Yes, Polish word order is fairly flexible. Putting Dzisiaj at the beginning emphasizes today.

This sentence could also appear as:

• Gotuję dzisiaj kurczaka z ryżem.
• Kurczaka z ryżem gotuję dzisiaj.

But the most neutral and natural version is usually:

• Dzisiaj gotuję kurczaka z ryżem.

So the beginning position often highlights the time expression, but other orders are possible depending on emphasis.

They both mean today.

• dzisiaj = full form
• dziś = shorter form

In most situations, they are interchangeable:

• Dzisiaj gotuję kurczaka z ryżem.
• Dziś gotuję kurczaka z ryżem.

The shorter form dziś can sound a little more compact or slightly more formal/stylish in some contexts, but both are very common.

Usually it means with rice in a general sense, and context decides the exact interpretation.

It could mean:

• chicken served with rice
• chicken cooked together with rice
• a chicken dish that includes rice

If you want to be more specific, Polish can say that too. For example:

• kurczak podawany z ryżem = chicken served with rice
• kurczak z ryżem = chicken with rice

So z ryżem is a broad, natural expression, just like with rice in English.

The verb here is gotować, which is imperfective.

Polish aspect matters a lot:

• gotować = imperfective, focusing on the process, repetition, or general activity
• ugotować = perfective, focusing on completing the cooking

So:

• Dzisiaj gotuję kurczaka z ryżem. = Today I’m cooking chicken with rice.
• Dzisiaj ugotuję kurczaka z ryżem. = Today I will cook / I’ll cook chicken with rice.

The imperfective verb is natural here because the sentence describes the activity itself, not the completed result.

Polish does not have articles like English a, an, and the.

So kurczaka can mean, depending on context:

• a chicken
• the chicken
• simply chicken

Polish relies on context much more than English does for definiteness.
That is completely normal, and you do not need to insert an article when translating into Polish.

A rough English-friendly guide is:

• Dzisiaj ≈ jee-shy
• gotuję ≈ go-TOO-yeh
• kurczaka ≈ koor-CHA-ka
• z ryżem ≈ z RIH-zhem

A few useful notes:

• dz in Dzisiaj is a single sound combination.
• rz in ryżem sounds like the s in measure for most speakers.
• ż also has that same kind of sound.
• ę in gotuję is often pronounced very lightly in normal speech, especially before j.

A more careful pronunciation approximation of the full sentence is:

JEE-shy go-TOO-yeh koor-CHA-ka z RIH-zhem

Usually, with Dzisiaj, it sounds like a specific action happening today, not a general habit.

So the natural reading is:

• Today I’m cooking chicken with rice.

If you wanted a habitual meaning, you would usually use a broader time expression, for example:

• Często gotuję kurczaka z ryżem. = I often cook chicken with rice.
• Zwykle gotuję kurczaka z ryżem. = I usually cook chicken with rice.

So while the verb form itself can express general or ongoing action, Dzisiaj strongly pushes the sentence toward a specific event today.