Po pracy odkładam okulary do szuflady.

Because the preposition po here means after, and in this time expression it requires the locative case.

• dictionary form: praca = work
• locative singular: pracy

So:

• po pracy = after work

This is a very common pattern in Polish:

• po obiedzie = after dinner
• po szkole = after school
• po zajęciach = after classes

Because after the preposition do meaning to / into, Polish uses the genitive case.

• dictionary form: szuflada = drawer
• genitive singular: szuflady

So:

• do szuflady = into the drawer

This is the normal pattern with movement toward the inside of something:

• do domu = into/to the house, home
• do torby = into the bag
• do pudełka = into the box

Yes — okulary is grammatically plural in Polish. It works like glasses in English.

So even if you mean one physical object, Polish treats it as a plural noun:

• okulary = glasses
• te okulary = these glasses
• mam okulary = I have glasses

In this sentence, okulary is the direct object of odkładam. It is in the accusative, but for inanimate plural nouns, the accusative often looks the same as the nominative, so you still see okulary.

Odkładam means something like:

• I put away
• I set aside
• I put back

In this sentence, it suggests putting the glasses in their usual place after work.

It comes from the verb odkładać (imperfective).

This verb is often used when you return something somewhere or put it aside for later:

• Odkładam książkę na półkę. = I put the book back on the shelf.
• Odkładam to na jutro. = I’m postponing that until tomorrow.

So here odkładam okulary do szuflady feels natural as I put my glasses away in the drawer.

Yes, odkładam is 1st person singular present tense: I put away / I am putting away.

But in Polish, the present tense of an imperfective verb often expresses a habit or repeated action, not only something happening right this second.

So this sentence most naturally means:

• After work, I put my glasses away in the drawer.
• in other words, that’s what I usually do

If you wanted a one-time completed action, Polish would often use the perfective verb instead:

• Po pracy odłożę okulary do szuflady. = After work, I’ll put the glasses in the drawer.

The perfective partner is usually odłożyć.

So:

• odkładać = imperfective
• odłożyć = perfective

Compare:

• Po pracy odkładam okulary do szuflady.
  = After work, I put my glasses away in the drawer. / I usually do that.

• Po pracy odłożę okulary do szuflady.
  = After work, I will put my glasses away in the drawer.

Very roughly:

• imperfective = ongoing, repeated, habitual, or process-focused
• perfective = completed whole action

Polish often leaves out possessive words like my, your, his, etc. when they are obvious from context.

So:

• odkładam okulary can naturally mean I put away my glasses

Just as in English you might say I washed my hands, Polish can often omit the possessive if it is clear whose thing it is.

If you wanted to emphasize it, you could say:

• Po pracy odkładam swoje okulary do szuflady.

But in many everyday situations, that sounds less natural unless you really want to stress my own glasses.

This word order is very natural because it starts with the time expression:

• Po pracy = after work

Then comes the verb:

• odkładam = I put away

Then the object and destination:

• okulary do szuflady = glasses into the drawer

Polish word order is more flexible than English because case endings show the grammatical roles. So other word orders are possible, for example:

• Odkładam okulary do szuflady po pracy.
• Okulary odkładam do szuflady po pracy.

But the original version sounds smooth and neutral. Starting with Po pracy gives the sentence a clear when? frame.

Because do szuflady expresses movement into the drawer, while w szufladzie expresses location inside the drawer.

Compare:

• odkładam okulary do szuflady = I put the glasses into the drawer
• okulary są w szufladzie = the glasses are in the drawer

So:

• do + genitive = direction / movement toward the inside
• w + locative = location inside

This is a very important distinction in Polish.

Yes, but the meaning may change slightly.

Some possibilities:

• wkładam okulary do szuflady = I put the glasses into the drawer
  This focuses more on the physical action of placing them inside.

• chowam okulary do szuflady = I put the glasses away / hide/store them in the drawer
  This suggests storing them away.

• kładę okulary do szuflady is less natural here
  kłaść usually means to lay/put, but do szuflady often sounds better with wkładać, chować, or odkładać, depending on the intended nuance.

So odkładam is a good choice if you mean I put them away / back where they belong.

A simple pronunciation guide:

• Po pracy odkładam okulary do szuflady
• roughly: poh PRA-tsih ot-KWA-dam oh-koo-LA-ri doh shoo-FLA-dih

A few helpful sound notes:

• pracy: c sounds like ts
• odkładam: ł sounds like English w
• okulary: stress on la
• sz sounds like English sh
• szuflady: szu- sounds like shoo

In Polish, stress is usually on the second-to-last syllable:

• pracy
• odkładam
• okulary
• szuflady

In normal usage, po pracy means after work, usually in the everyday sense of after I’m done with work / after my working day.

It is a broad, natural time expression, just like English after work.

So this sentence suggests a routine:

• when work is over, I put my glasses away in the drawer

If you wanted to be more specific, Polish could also say things like:

• po skończeniu pracy = after finishing work
• kiedy wracam z pracy = when I come back from work

But po pracy is the simplest and most idiomatic here.