Lekarz pyta, czy mam skierowanie do laboratorium.

Czy introduces an indirect yes/no question here, so the sentence means something like The doctor asks whether / if I have a referral to the laboratory.

Compare:

• Czy mam skierowanie? = Do I have a referral?
  
  • direct question
• Lekarz pyta, czy mam skierowanie. = The doctor asks if I have a referral.
  
  • indirect question embedded inside a larger sentence

So in this sentence, czy is best understood as if / whether.

In Polish, a comma is normally used before a subordinate clause, and czy mam skierowanie do laboratorium is a subordinate clause depending on Lekarz pyta.

So:

• Lekarz pyta, czy mam skierowanie...

This comma is standard and expected in Polish writing.

Polish often omits subject pronouns when the verb already makes the subject clear.

• mam = I have

The ending of the verb already tells you it is 1st person singular, so ja is unnecessary unless you want emphasis or contrast.

For example:

• Mam skierowanie. = I have a referral.
• Ja mam skierowanie, a on nie. = I have a referral, but he doesn’t.

In your sentence, plain mam sounds natural.

Mam is the 1st person singular present tense form of the verb mieć = to have.

Conjugation:

• mam = I have
• masz = you have
• ma = he/she/it has
• mamy = we have
• macie = you all have
• mają = they have

So czy mam skierowanie literally means whether I have a referral.

In this medical context, skierowanie means a referral or doctor’s referral: an official document sending you to a specialist, clinic, lab, or examination.

It is a neuter noun.

Examples:

• Mam skierowanie do specjalisty. = I have a referral to a specialist.
• Potrzebuję skierowania. = I need a referral.

In your sentence, it is the thing the doctor is asking about.

Here skierowanie is the direct object of mam = I have.

For many neuter nouns, the nominative and accusative are the same, so:

• nominative: skierowanie
• accusative: skierowanie

That is why the form does not change in this sentence.

The preposition do usually takes the genitive case and often means to, into, or to/toward a place or institution.

So:

• do laboratorium = to the laboratory

A useful thing to notice is that laboratorium is one of those nouns where the genitive singular looks the same as the basic form:

• nominative: laboratorium
• genitive: laboratorium

So even though a case change is required after do, the noun still looks the same.

Yes. Laboratorium is the standard Polish word for laboratory. In everyday medical situations, it often refers to the place where samples are tested or where lab work is done.

Depending on context, Polish speakers might also use shorter or more conversational expressions, but laboratorium is completely normal and correct.

Polish present tense can often correspond to either simple present or present continuous in English, depending on context.

So:

• Lekarz pyta can mean:
  • The doctor asks
  • The doctor is asking

In many learning contexts, both are acceptable translations. English chooses between them more strictly than Polish does.

Pyta comes from pytać = to ask.

Here it is:

• pyta = he/she asks or is asking

Because lekarz is grammatically masculine singular, pyta means the doctor asks.

A related verb is zapytać, which is the perfective partner and often refers to asking once or completing the act of asking.

Very roughly:

• pytać = to ask / to be asking
• zapytać = to ask once / to ask and complete the question

The given word order is natural:

• Lekarz pyta, czy mam skierowanie do laboratorium.

Polish word order is fairly flexible, but changes usually affect emphasis, not the core meaning.

For example, you might also hear:

• Lekarz pyta, czy do laboratorium mam skierowanie.

That sounds more marked and would emphasize do laboratorium more. The original sentence is the most neutral and natural choice for learners.

Polish has no articles, so it does not have separate words for a/an and the.

That means:

• lekarz can mean a doctor or the doctor
• laboratorium can mean a laboratory or the laboratory

The exact meaning comes from context. In this sentence, English naturally uses the doctor and the laboratory, but Polish does not need separate article words.

The direct question would be:

• Czy mam skierowanie do laboratorium? = Do I have a referral to the laboratory?

So the full sentence is built like this:

• direct question: Czy mam skierowanie do laboratorium?
• embedded after Lekarz pyta: Lekarz pyta, czy mam skierowanie do laboratorium.

That is a very common pattern in Polish.