Lekarka dała mi dziś zwolnienie na dwa dni, więc szefowa powiedziała, żebym została w domu.

The doctor gave me two days of sick leave today, so the boss said that I should stay at home.

Breakdown of Lekarka dała mi dziś zwolnienie na dwa dni, więc szefowa powiedziała, żebym została w domu.

• na: for
• więc: so
• mi: me
• dziś: today

Questions & Answers about Lekarka dała mi dziś zwolnienie na dwa dni, więc szefowa powiedziała, żebym została w domu.

Why are lekarka, dała, szefowa, powiedziała, and została all feminine?

Because the sentence is talking about women, and Polish marks gender much more often than English does.

• lekarka = a female doctor
• dała = gave, with a feminine past-tense form
• szefowa = a female boss
• powiedziała = said, again feminine
• została = stayed / should stay, feminine because the speaker is female

So this sentence tells you two things:

1. the doctor is female
2. the boss is female
3. the person who got the sick note and was told to stay home is also female

If the speaker were male, you would get żebym został w domu instead of żebym została w domu.

What is the difference between lekarz and lekarka, and between szef and szefowa?

These are masculine and feminine noun pairs.

• lekarz = male doctor, or sometimes doctor in a general sense

• lekarka = female doctor

• szef = male boss, or sometimes boss in a general sense
• szefowa = female boss

In everyday Polish, if you know the person is a woman, using the feminine form is very common.

Why is it mi and not mnie?