Czy możesz iść ze mną do apteki?

Czy is a question particle. It helps turn the sentence into a yes/no question.

• Możesz iść ze mną do apteki. = You can go with me to the pharmacy.
• Czy możesz iść ze mną do apteki? = Can you go with me to the pharmacy?

In everyday speech, Polish speakers often omit czy and just use intonation:

• Możesz iść ze mną do apteki?

That is still completely natural.

Możesz is the 2nd person singular form of the verb móc = to be able / can.

So:

• mogę = I can
• możesz = you can
• może = he/she/it can

In this sentence, możesz matches an informal singular you, so the sentence is speaking to one person in an informal way.

This is very normal in Polish.

• móc = can / to be able to
• iść = to go

After móc, the next verb usually stays in the infinitive:

• mogę iść = I can go
• możesz iść = you can go

So możesz iść literally means you can go.

Iść usually means to go on foot or more generally to go in a context where walking is understood.

• iść = to go, to walk
• jechać = to go by vehicle

So:

• Czy możesz iść ze mną do apteki? suggests going there on foot, or at least uses the default verb for this kind of nearby movement.
• If you wanted to emphasize travel by car, bus, etc., you might say:
  • Czy możesz jechać ze mną do apteki?

That said, learners should know that in real life iść can sometimes sound natural even when the exact mode of travel is not the main point, especially if the pharmacy is nearby.

The basic preposition is z = with.

But in some combinations, Polish uses ze instead of z to make pronunciation easier. That is what happens before mną.

So:

• z + mną becomes ze mną = with me

This is just a normal sound-based variant. You should learn ze mną as the standard phrase.

Other similar examples:

• ze szkoły = from school
• ze mną = with me

Mną is the instrumental case form of ja after the preposition z/ze meaning with.

Polish personal pronouns change form depending on grammar role and prepositions.

For ja:

• ja = I
• mnie / mnie = me
• mną = me (after certain structures, including z/ze = with)

So:

• ze mną = with me

You usually just memorize it as a fixed phrase.

Because the preposition do requires the genitive case.

The dictionary form is:

• apteka = pharmacy

But after do, it changes:

• do apteki = to the pharmacy

This is a very common pattern:

• do domu = to the house/home
• do sklepu = to the shop/store
• do szkoły = to school
• do apteki = to the pharmacy

So the ending changes because of case.

Apteka is best translated as pharmacy.

It is the place where you get medicine, prescriptions, and health-related products. It is not exactly the same as an American-style drugstore, which may sell many unrelated everyday items.

So in most learning contexts, pharmacy is the safest translation.

It is informal singular, because of możesz.

You would say this to:

• a friend
• a family member
• someone your age you know well
• a child

If you want the formal version for one person, use:

• Czy może Pan iść ze mną do apteki? — to a man
• Czy może Pani iść ze mną do apteki? — to a woman

If you want to address more than one person informally:

• Czy możecie iść ze mną do apteki?

Yes, Polish word order is fairly flexible.

The most neutral order here is:

• Czy możesz iść ze mną do apteki?

But other orders are possible, depending on emphasis:

• Czy ze mną możesz iść do apteki?
• Możesz iść ze mną do apteki?

These alternatives are grammatical, but the original version is the most natural and easiest for learners to use.

Yes, in natural English that is often the best translation.

Even though iść literally means to go, English often uses come with me in this situation. So depending on context, these are both good translations:

• Can you go with me to the pharmacy?
• Can you come with me to the pharmacy?

The Polish sentence itself is not making a special distinction between go and come the way English sometimes does.

A rough English-friendly guide would be:

chi moo-zhesh eesh ze mnong do ap-TEH-kee

A few important sounds:

• czy sounds roughly like chi, but with a harder Polish cz
• ż in możesz sounds like the s in measure
• iść is short and ends with a soft shch / sht-like sound depending on accent
• ą in mną is nasal; at the end of a word it often sounds somewhat like om/on

This is only an approximation, but it can help you get started.