Po południu idę do magazynu, bo brakuje nam kopert i taśmy.

In the afternoon I am going to the storage room, because we are out of envelopes and tape.

Breakdown of Po południu idę do magazynu, bo brakuje nam kopert i taśmy.

• ja: I
• iść: to go
• i: and
• do: to

Questions & Answers about Po południu idę do magazynu, bo brakuje nam kopert i taśmy.

Why is it po południu for in the afternoon?

This is a fixed time expression in Polish.

• po południu means in the afternoon
• grammatically, po is followed here by the locative form of południe
• literally, it comes from the idea of after noon

So:

• rano = in the morning
• wieczorem = in the evening
• po południu = in the afternoon

You should learn po południu as one whole expression.

Why is it idę and not chodzę?

Polish makes an important distinction with verbs of motion.

• idę = I am going / I’m going now / I’m going in one specific direction
• chodzę = I go regularly / I walk around / I go habitually

In this sentence, the speaker is talking about one planned trip to the warehouse, so idę is the natural choice.

Compare:

• Codziennie chodzę do magazynu. = I go to the warehouse every day.
• Dziś idę do magazynu. = Today I’m going to the warehouse.

Why can idę refer to the future if it is a present-tense form?