Po zmroku wolę zostać w domu.

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Breakdown of Po zmroku wolę zostać w domu.

• zostać: to stay
• woleć: to prefer
• w: at

Questions & Answers about Po zmroku wolę zostać w domu.

What does po zmroku mean exactly, and what case is zmroku?

Po zmroku means after dark / after dusk.

The noun here is zmrok = dusk, twilight. After the preposition po in this time expression, Polish uses the locative case, so zmrok becomes zmroku.

This pattern is very common:

• po pracy = after work
• po obiedzie = after lunch
• po zmroku = after dark

So this is not a random form: it is the normal case required by po here.

Is po zmroku the same as wieczorem?

Not exactly.

• po zmroku means once it has become dark
• wieczorem means in the evening

So po zmroku is more specific. In summer, for example, evening can start before it is actually dark, so wieczorem and po zmroku are not always the same time.

If the speaker chooses po zmroku, they are specifically focusing on the fact that it is dark outside.

What is wolę? What verb does it come from?