Bez zwolnienia musiałabym iść do biura, chociaż od rana bardzo źle się czuję.

Bez always takes the genitive case, so zwolnienie becomes zwolnienia.

• zwolnienie = leave, exemption, sick note, medical leave
• bez zwolnienia = without a sick note / without leave

So this is a very common pattern:

• bez cukru = without sugar
• bez problemu = without a problem
• bez paszportu = without a passport

In this sentence, bez zwolnienia means something like if I didn’t have sick leave / a sick note.

Here zwolnienie most likely means a doctor’s note, sick leave, or medical exemption from work.

That is important because zwolnienie has several meanings in Polish depending on context, for example:

• dismissal/firing from a job
• release from something
• exemption
• sick note / sick leave

In this sentence, because it is about not feeling well and going to the office, the intended meaning is clearly sick leave / a medical note excusing absence from work.

Musiałabym is the conditional form of musieć (to have to / must), and it also shows that the speaker is female.

It breaks down like this:

• musiała- = past stem, feminine
• -bym = conditional particle meaning would

So:

• musiałabym = I would have to (said by a woman)
• musiałbym = I would have to (said by a man)

This is one of the first things English speakers notice in Polish: past and conditional forms often show the speaker’s gender.

Because the -bym ending marks the conditional mood.

Compare:

• musiałam = I had to (female speaker)
• musiałabym = I would have to (female speaker)

In this sentence, the idea is hypothetical: Without a sick note, I would have to go to the office...

So the Polish grammar matches that hypothetical meaning.

Polish usually drops the subject pronoun when it is clear from the verb form.

Here, musiałabym already means:

• first person singular = I
• conditional = would
• feminine speaker

So adding ja is usually unnecessary.

You could say Ja musiałabym..., but that would sound more emphatic, as if you were stressing I specifically.

Because do requires the genitive case when it means to / into / toward a place.

So:

• biuro = office
• do biura = to the office

This is a very common pattern:

• do domu = to home
• do sklepu = to the shop
• do szkoły = to school

So iść do biura literally means to go to the office.

Iść is the basic verb meaning to go (on foot, in one direction), and after modal verbs like musieć, Polish often uses the imperfective verb.

So:

• musiałabym iść do biura = I would have to go to the office

Using pójść is not impossible in some contexts, but iść is the more natural choice here with musiałabym, because the sentence focuses on the obligation itself, not on completing a one-time action.

For a learner, the safest takeaway is: after musieć, iść is very natural in sentences like this.

Chociaż means although / even though.

It introduces a subordinate clause:

• chociaż od rana bardzo źle się czuję
  = although I’ve been feeling very bad since morning

In Polish, clauses introduced by words like chociaż, że, bo, kiedy, jeśli are normally separated by a comma.

So the comma here is required.

Od rana literally means from the morning, but in natural English it is usually translated as:

• since morning
• since this morning
• all morning (depending on context)

It expresses a starting point in time that continues up to now.

Examples:

• Pracuję od rana. = I’ve been working since morning.
• Pada od rana. = It’s been raining since morning.

So here: od rana bardzo źle się czuję = I’ve been feeling very bad since this morning.

The verb is czuć się, which means to feel in the sense of to feel physically or emotionally.

So:

• czuję by itself can mean I feel or I sense
• czuję się means I feel / I am feeling about my condition

Examples:

• Czuję zimno. = I feel cold. / I feel the cold.
• Czuję się źle. = I feel bad.
• Czuję się dobrze. = I feel well.

In this sentence, się is part of the normal verb expression czuć się.

Polish word order is more flexible than English, but some orders sound more natural than others.

Bardzo źle się czuję is a very natural neutral order:

• bardzo = very
• źle = badly / unwell
• się czuję = I feel

Literally: very badly I feel

Other word orders are possible, but they may change emphasis:

• Bardzo źle się czuję = neutral
• Źle się bardzo czuję = possible, but less natural
• Czuję się bardzo źle = also very natural

So don’t assume there is only one correct order in Polish; often several are possible, with slight differences in focus.

Literally, źle means badly / poorly, but with czuć się it often means unwell.

So:

• Źle się czuję = I feel bad / I feel unwell
• Bardzo źle się czuję = I feel very bad / I feel very unwell

In natural English, I feel very unwell may sound more idiomatic in this context than I feel very badly.

A man would say:

Bez zwolnienia musiałbym iść do biura, chociaż od rana bardzo źle się czuję.

The only change is:

• musiałabym → musiałbym

Everything else stays the same.

It expresses a hypothetical situation.

The structure is basically:

• Bez zwolnienia = without a sick note / if I didn’t have a sick note
• musiałabym = I would have to

So the idea is: If I didn’t have sick leave, I would have to go to the office, although I feel very bad.

Polish often expresses this kind of condition without using an explicit if clause. The phrase bez zwolnienia is enough to create that meaning.