Sprzątanie kuchni po obiedzie jest ważne.

to be

Breakdown of Sprzątanie kuchni po obiedzie jest ważne.

• kuchnia: the kitchen
• obiad: the dinner (main meal)
• ważny: important

Questions & Answers about Sprzątanie kuchni po obiedzie jest ważne.

What exactly is sprzątanie here — a verb or a noun?

In this sentence, sprzątanie is a verbal noun, not a finite verb.

It comes from the verb sprzątać (to clean / to tidy up) and means cleaning or the act of cleaning.

So:

• sprzątać = to clean
• sprzątanie = cleaning

In Sprzątanie kuchni po obiedzie jest ważne, the whole phrase sprzątanie kuchni po obiedzie acts like the subject of the sentence: Cleaning the kitchen after dinner is important.

Why is it kuchni and not kuchnia?

Because kuchni is the genitive singular form of kuchnia (kitchen).

After verbal nouns like sprzątanie, Polish often uses the thing being affected in the genitive:

• sprzątanie kuchni = cleaning of the kitchen
• not sprzątanie kuchnia

This is very common in Polish with nouns formed from verbs.

Compare:

• czytanie książki = reading a book
• mycie samochodu = washing a car
• sprzątanie kuchni = cleaning the kitchen

So even though English says cleaning the kitchen, Polish uses a structure closer to cleaning of the kitchen.

Why is it po obiedzie? What case is obiedzie?