Kiedy nie mam apetytu, mama robi mi lekką kaszę z ziołami zamiast makaronu.

Kiedy means when. Here it introduces a time clause: Kiedy nie mam apetytu... = When I don’t have an appetite...

In this sentence, kiedy is being used in the sense of whenever/when. In everyday Polish, this is very natural.

You could also sometimes see gdy in similar sentences, but kiedy is more common in normal conversation.

Because after nie mam (I don’t have), Polish uses the genitive case instead of the accusative.

• basic noun: apetyt
• genitive singular: apetytu

So:

• Mam apetyt = I have an appetite
• Nie mam apetytu = I don’t have an appetite

This is a very important Polish pattern: after negated mieć, the object usually goes into the genitive.

Apetytu is genitive singular of apetyt.

This happens because of negation:

• mam apetyt
• nie mam apetytu

For English speakers, this can feel strange because English does not change the noun after don’t have, but Polish does.

Mi means to me / for me. It is the unstressed form of the pronoun mnie in the dative case.

So:

• mama robi mi kaszę = Mom makes me porridge/groats
• more literally: Mom makes porridge for me

In Polish, this indirect object is very natural and often used where English might simply say makes me...

Both can mean to me / me, but mi is the usual unstressed form, and mnie is used for emphasis, after some prepositions, or in positions where the fuller form sounds better.

Here, mi is the normal choice:

• Mama robi mi kaszę. = neutral, natural

If you said Mama robi mnie kaszę, that would be wrong, because mnie here would not fit the grammar.

A possible emphatic version could be:

• Mama robi mnie? — no, still wrong in this structure
• Mama robi kaszę mnie, nie tobie. — even this sounds awkward

So in this sentence, just use mi.

Because robić takes a direct object, and the direct object here is in the accusative case.

The base form is:

• lekka kasza = nominative

But after robić:

• robi lekką kaszę = accusative

Both the adjective and noun change because they must agree:

• lekka → lekką
• kasza → kaszę

This is a standard feminine singular accusative pattern.

Kaszę is accusative singular of kasza.

You use the accusative because it is the thing being made:

• Mama robi co? → kaszę

So:

• nominative: kasza
• accusative: kaszę

Since lekka describes kasza, it also changes to match:

• lekką kaszę

Because z meaning with requires the instrumental case.

• base form: zioła
• instrumental plural: ziołami

So:

• z ziołami = with herbs

Be careful: z can mean different things, and the case depends on the meaning.

• z = with → usually instrumental
• z = from/out of → usually genitive

Here it clearly means with herbs, so instrumental is used.

Because zamiast (instead of) takes the genitive case.

• base form: makaron
• genitive: makaronu

So:

• zamiast makaronu = instead of pasta

This is a very useful pattern to remember:

• zamiast chleba = instead of bread
• zamiast kawy = instead of coffee
• zamiast makaronu = instead of pasta

Robi is from the imperfective verb robić.

Here the imperfective is used because the sentence describes a habitual/repeated situation:

When I don’t have an appetite, Mom makes me...

That is not a single completed event; it is something that happens in such situations. Polish normally uses the imperfective for repeated or habitual actions.

A perfective verb would sound wrong here unless you changed the meaning and context.

Because in Polish, possessives like my, your, his, etc. are often omitted when they are obvious from context.

So:

• mama robi mi... already clearly means my mom in this context

Adding moja is possible, but it would sound more emphatic or contrastive:

• Moja mama robi mi kaszę, a twoja zamawia pizzę.

Without contrast or emphasis, just mama is more natural.

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

The neutral order here is:

Kiedy nie mam apetytu, mama robi mi lekką kaszę z ziołami zamiast makaronu.

But you could move parts around for emphasis, for example:

• Kiedy nie mam apetytu, mama robi mi ziołową lekką kaszę zamiast makaronu.
• Mama robi mi lekką kaszę z ziołami, kiedy nie mam apetytu.
• Zamiast makaronu mama robi mi lekką kaszę z ziołami, kiedy nie mam apetytu.

Not every rearrangement sounds equally natural, but many are grammatically possible.

Not exactly. Kasza is a broad Polish word for various kinds of groats/grains, such as buckwheat, millet, barley groats, and so on.

Depending on context, English translations may vary:

• groats
• porridge
• sometimes just the name of the grain

So lekka kasza z ziołami suggests a light grain-based dish, not necessarily the sweet breakfast porridge many English speakers first imagine.

Because Kiedy nie mam apetytu is a subordinate clause, and in Polish subordinate clauses are separated by a comma.

So the structure is:

• Kiedy nie mam apetytu,
• mama robi mi lekką kaszę...

Polish punctuation is stricter than English in this area. In English, commas with short clauses can sometimes feel optional to learners, but in Polish this comma is required.

In casual spoken Polish, jak nie mam apetytu can be heard and may mean when I don’t have an appetite. However, in standard, careful Polish, kiedy is the safer and more neutral choice here.

So for learners:

• kiedy nie mam apetytu = standard and recommended
• jak nie mam apetytu = colloquial in some contexts

If you are not sure, use kiedy.