Kiedy mam bandaż na nadgarstku, trudno mi kroić kapustę i ananasa.

In this sentence, kiedy introduces a time clause: when I have a bandage on my wrist.

Depending on context, kiedy can mean:

• when = at the time that
• whenever = every time that

Here, the sense is often closer to whenever or when(ever):

• Kiedy mam bandaż na nadgarstku, trudno mi kroić...
• When/Whenever I have a bandage on my wrist, it’s hard for me to cut...

Polish often uses kiedy in this broad way without needing a separate word for whenever.

Because Polish normally uses mieć (to have) for physical states like wearing or having something on your body in many everyday situations.

So:

• mam bandaż na nadgarstku = I have a bandage on my wrist

This is very natural Polish. It does not necessarily focus on possession in the English sense; it just describes your current situation.

You could also hear other expressions in different contexts, but mam bandaż na nadgarstku is simple and idiomatic.

Na nadgarstku means on the wrist.

Here, na is used with the locative case because it expresses location:

• na nadgarstku = on the wrist

The base noun is:

• nadgarstek = wrist

Its locative singular is:

• nadgarstku

So:

• na + locative for location
• na nadgarstku = on the wrist

This is a very common pattern in Polish:

• na stole = on the table
• na ręce = on the hand/arm
• na nadgarstku = on the wrist

Because mieć usually takes the accusative, and for some masculine nouns the accusative singular looks the same as the nominative.

Here:

• bandaż is masculine
• nominative singular: bandaż
• accusative singular: bandaż

So in:

• mam bandaż the word is in the accusative, even though the form does not change.

That is very common in Polish with many masculine inanimate nouns.

Trudno mi literally means something like it is difficult for me.

This is a very common Polish structure:

• trudno mi = it’s hard for me
• łatwo mi = it’s easy for me
• dobrze mi = I feel good / it is good for me
• zimno mi = I am cold

The word mi is the dative form of ja (I / me), and it marks the person experiencing the difficulty.

So:

• trudno mi kroić kapustę i ananasa = it is hard for me to cut cabbage and pineapple

Polish often uses this kind of impersonal structure where English might simply say I find it hard to...

Kroić is the imperfective verb, meaning to cut / to be cutting / to cut in general.

Here the sentence describes a general difficulty:

• It’s hard for me to cut cabbage and pineapple

Because the focus is on the activity itself, kroić is the natural choice.

Compare:

• kroić = to cut, cutting, the process
• pokroić = to cut up, to finish cutting, a completed action

If you said trudno mi pokroić kapustę i ananasa, it would sound more like:

• it’s hard for me to manage to cut up the cabbage and the pineapple completely

So kroić is better for a general statement about ability or difficulty.

Because both words are direct objects of kroić, so they must be in the accusative case.

Their dictionary forms are:

• kapusta = cabbage
• ananas = pineapple

In the accusative:

• kapusta → kapustę
• ananas → ananasa

So:

• kroić kapustę i ananasa = to cut cabbage and pineapple

They look different because they belong to different noun types:

• kapusta is feminine, so its accusative singular changes to -ę
• ananas is masculine, and its accusative singular here is ananasa

Because in this sentence ananas is in the accusative singular, and the expected form is ananasa.

This can feel surprising to English speakers because many masculine inanimate Polish nouns have accusative = nominative. But some nouns, including many food items in actual usage, often take -a in the accusative singular.

So:

• nominative: ananas
• accusative: ananasa

That is why:

• kroić ananasa = to cut a pineapple / pineapple

This is a good form to learn as a chunk.

Polish often does not mark the a / the distinction the way English does, because Polish has no articles.

So kapustę could mean:

• cabbage
• a cabbage
• the cabbage

The exact meaning depends on context.

In a sentence like this, English often uses the general mass-noun idea:

• it’s hard for me to cut cabbage and pineapple

But in another context, it could just as easily refer to specific items.

Because Polish commonly uses an infinitive after expressions like trudno mi, łatwo mi, przyjemnie mi, and so on.

Pattern:

• trudno mi + infinitive
• łatwo mi + infinitive

Examples:

• Trudno mi mówić po polsku. = It’s hard for me to speak Polish.
• Łatwo mi to zrozumieć. = It’s easy for me to understand it.

So:

• trudno mi kroić kapustę i ananasa is a completely standard structure.

Yes. Polish word order is more flexible than English word order, because case endings show grammatical roles.

The given sentence is natural:

• Kiedy mam bandaż na nadgarstku, trudno mi kroić kapustę i ananasa.

But other orders are possible for emphasis, for example:

• Trudno mi kroić kapustę i ananasa, kiedy mam bandaż na nadgarstku.
• Kiedy mam bandaż na nadgarstku, kapustę i ananasa trudno mi kroić.

These alternatives may sound more marked or emphasize different parts, but they are still understandable.

The original version is a good neutral choice.

Usually mi is the normal unstressed form here:

• trudno mi

You could use mnie for emphasis:

• trudno mnie... would be wrong here
• mnie trudno kroić... or trudno jest mnie kroić... would mean something else entirely

So in this sentence, keep:

• trudno mi

That is the standard idiomatic form.

Yes: it is a very useful Polish pattern to memorize as a chunk.

The structure is:

• trudno mi + infinitive = it’s hard for me to + verb

Examples:

• Trudno mi pisać. = It’s hard for me to write.
• Trudno mi otwierać słoiki. = It’s hard for me to open jars.
• Trudno mi kroić kapustę i ananasa. = It’s hard for me to cut cabbage and pineapple.

If you learn this as one pattern, many similar sentences become easy to build.