Ten mężczyzna chciał wypłacić gotówkę, ale najpierw musiał sprawdzić saldo na koncie.

Ten literally means this. It is the masculine singular nominative form of the demonstrative this.

So ten mężczyzna is literally this man.

A native English speaker often notices that in translations, ten can sometimes feel a bit like the, but it is not a regular article. Polish has no articles like a/an/the. If you just said mężczyzna, that would mean man or the man / a man, depending on context. Adding ten makes the noun more specific: this man, that particular man, or sometimes simply a more clearly identified the man in translation.

This is a very common question. Mężczyzna is grammatically masculine, even though it ends in -a, which often looks feminine to learners.

Polish has a small group of masculine nouns referring to male people that decline a bit like feminine -a nouns. So:

• ten mężczyzna = this man
• not ta mężczyzna

You can also see its masculinity from verb agreement:

• mężczyzna chciał
• not mężczyzna chciała

So the ending may look feminine, but the word is definitely masculine.

Chciał is the past tense, 3rd person singular, masculine form of chcieć (to want).

Because the subject is ten mężczyzna, the verb has to match a masculine singular subject:

• on chciał = he wanted
• ona chciała = she wanted

So Ten mężczyzna chciał... means This man wanted...

One important thing for English speakers: in Polish past tense, verbs often show gender:

• chciał = masculine
• chciała = feminine

This is about aspect, which is very important in Polish.

• wypłacić = perfective: to withdraw once, successfully, as a completed action
• wypłacać = imperfective: to be withdrawing, to withdraw repeatedly, or in a general/ongoing sense

In this sentence, the man wanted to carry out one complete withdrawal of cash, so wypłacić is the natural choice.

So:

• chciał wypłacić gotówkę = he wanted to withdraw cash (one completed withdrawal)

If you used wypłacać, it would sound more like an ongoing or habitual action, which does not fit as well here.

Because gotówka is the direct object of wypłacić, it has to be in the accusative case.

The dictionary form is:

• gotówka = cash

But in the accusative singular, feminine nouns ending in -a usually change to -ę:

• gotówka → gotówkę

So:

• wypłacić gotówkę = to withdraw cash

This is a very common pattern in Polish:

• kawa → kawę
• książka → książkę
• gotówka → gotówkę

Because in Polish, ale (but) normally introduces a new clause, and it is preceded by a comma.

So:

• ..., ale ... = ..., but ...

This is standard Polish punctuation. In that respect, it works a lot like English.

Because the subject is already clear from the context. Polish often omits subject pronouns when they are not needed.

Here, the sentence starts with:

• Ten mężczyzna chciał...

Then the next clause continues with the same person:

• ale najpierw musiał...

You could say ale on najpierw musiał..., but that would usually add emphasis, and in a neutral sentence it is unnecessary.

So Polish often sounds more natural than English by leaving out pronouns when the subject is obvious.

Musiał is the past tense, 3rd person singular, masculine form of musieć (to have to / must).

Again, it agrees with ten mężczyzna:

• on musiał = he had to
• ona musiała = she had to

So:

• najpierw musiał sprawdzić = first he had to check

Just like chciał, this verb shows the subject’s gender in the past tense.

This is another aspect question.

• sprawdzić = perfective: to check and finish checking
• sprawdzać = imperfective: to check, be checking, check repeatedly, or in a general sense

In this sentence, the meaning is that he needed to perform one complete check of the balance before doing something else. That is why sprawdzić is the better choice.

So:

• musiał sprawdzić saldo = he had to check the balance once, completely

If you said musiał sprawdzać, it would suggest repeated checking or a more ongoing process.

Saldo means balance, especially in a financial or accounting context.

In this sentence:

• saldo na koncie = the balance in the account

A learner should know that saldo sounds a bit more financial/technical than some everyday alternatives. In everyday speech, people also very often say:

• stan konta = account balance / state of the account

Both are understandable, but saldo is perfectly correct here.

Because here it is a singular neuter noun used as a direct object, and for many neuter nouns the nominative and accusative singular are the same.

So:

• nominative: saldo
• accusative: saldo

That is why you get:

• sprawdzić saldo

This does not mean the word never changes. In other cases it can decline, for example:

• salda = genitive singular

But in this sentence, saldo is the correct form.

Because na koncie uses na with the locative case to mean location or state: on/in the account.

• konto = account
• koncie = locative singular of konto

So:

• na koncie = in the account / on the account

By contrast:

• na konto uses the accusative and usually expresses direction or destination, for example:
  • wpłacić pieniądze na konto = to deposit money into an account

So in your sentence, the balance is already there and he is checking it, so na koncie is correct.

This is just one of those prepositional patterns you have to learn as a set expression.

In Polish, with bank accounts, na koncie is the normal idiomatic phrase for in/on the account:

• mam pieniądze na koncie = I have money in my account
• sprawdzić saldo na koncie = check the balance in the account

For an English speaker, na may look surprising because it often means on, but with konto this is the natural Polish usage.

So the best approach is to learn:

• na koncie = the standard phrase

No. A very common alternative is:

• sprawdzić stan konta

That often sounds especially natural in everyday Polish.

So you may hear both:

• sprawdzić saldo na koncie
• sprawdzić stan konta

The first one is more explicitly about the balance. The second is a very common everyday way to say check the account balance or check the state of the account.

Both are good, but stan konta is probably the phrase many learners will hear very often in real life.