Spodziewałam się krótkiej rozmowy, a dostałam długiego maila z nowym planem.

The ending -am in these past-tense forms shows that the speaker is female.

• Spodziewałam się = I was expecting / I expected
• Dostałam = I got / I received

If a man were speaking, the sentence would be:

Spodziewałem się krótkiej rozmowy, a dostałem długiego maila z nowym planem.

So this sentence tells us not only the action, but also the speaker’s gender.

Polish often drops subject pronouns when they are already clear from the verb ending.

So instead of saying Ja spodziewałam się..., Polish normally just says:

Spodziewałam się...

The verb already tells you that the subject is I, and in this case also that the speaker is female.

Using ja would only be necessary for emphasis, for example:

Ja spodziewałam się krótkiej rozmowy, a nie długiego maila.

That would mean something like I was expecting a short conversation, not a long email.

Because the verb is spodziewać się. It is a fixed verb pattern, and it normally includes się.

So you learn it as:

spodziewać się = to expect

Not:

spodziewać by itself in this meaning.

Many Polish verbs work this way and need się as part of their normal form. Even though się is often called reflexive, in many cases it is just part of how the verb is built and translated.

Because spodziewać się takes the genitive case, not the accusative.

The basic form is:

• krótka rozmowa = a short conversation

But after spodziewać się, it changes to genitive:

• krótkiej rozmowy = of a short conversation

So:

• Spodziewam się krótkiej rozmowy = I am expecting a short conversation

This is something you have to memorize with the verb:

• spodziewać się + genitive

It is genitive singular.

Here is the change:

• nominative: krótka rozmowa
• genitive: krótkiej rozmowy

Both words change:

• krótka → krótkiej
• rozmowa → rozmowy

That is because adjectives in Polish must agree with the noun in case, number, and gender.

This is a very common learner question.

After dostać, the direct object is in the accusative:

• dostać coś = to get/receive something

The noun mail is masculine. In everyday Polish, many masculine inanimate nouns, especially colloquial or borrowed ones, often use an accusative form ending in -a:

• maila
• SMS-a
• papierosa

So dostałam długiego maila is very natural in spoken and informal written Polish.

You may also encounter dostałam długi mail, especially in more careful or conservative usage. But maila is extremely common in modern everyday Polish.

Mail is very common in everyday Polish. It is informal but completely normal.

You might also see:

• e-mail
• email
• wiadomość mailowa

In casual speech, mail is probably the most common choice. So this sentence sounds natural.

In this sentence, a introduces a contrast:

Spodziewałam się krótkiej rozmowy, a dostałam długiego maila...

Here a means something like:

• but
• whereas
• and instead

It often sounds a bit smoother and less dramatic than ale.

Very roughly:

• a = contrast between two facts
• ale = stronger but

So this sentence is naturally contrasting expectation and reality.

Because in Polish, when a joins two clauses like this, it is normally preceded by a comma.

The sentence has two parts:

• Spodziewałam się krótkiej rozmowy
• a dostałam długiego maila z nowym planem

That comma is standard Polish punctuation.

Because z can take different cases depending on its meaning.

Here z means with, so it takes the instrumental:

• z nowym planem = with a new plan

But when z means from / out of, it takes the genitive:

• z domu = from the house
• z nowego planu would mean something different, like from the new plan

So in this sentence, z nowym planem is correct because the email came with a new plan.

It is instrumental singular.

Basic form:

• nowy plan = a new plan

After z meaning with, it becomes:

• z nowym planem

Again, both words change:

• nowy → nowym
• plan → planem

Because the two actions are viewed differently.

• spodziewałam się describes a state or ongoing expectation
• dostałam describes a completed event: the email arrived / was received

This is very natural in Polish:

• expectation in progress or as background → imperfective
• one finished result → perfective

So the sentence presents a contrast between what the speaker was expecting and what actually happened.

Yes.

• dostałam = everyday, neutral, common
• otrzymałam = more formal, more written, more official

So:

Spodziewałam się krótkiej rozmowy, a otrzymałam długiego maila z nowym planem.

This is understandable, but it sounds more formal and a little less conversational.

In ordinary speech, dostałam is the more natural choice.

Yes, Polish word order is flexible, although the original version sounds very natural and neutral.

Original:

Spodziewałam się krótkiej rozmowy, a dostałam długiego maila z nowym planem.

You could also say:

Krótkiej rozmowy się spodziewałam, a dostałam długiego maila z nowym planem.

This puts extra focus on krótkiej rozmowy.

Or:

Dostałam długiego maila z nowym planem, a spodziewałam się krótkiej rozmowy.

This changes the emphasis by presenting the surprising result first.

So yes, the order can change, but the original is probably the most straightforward version for normal use.

Yes, it sounds natural.

It has:

• normal omission of the subject I
• a very common verb pattern: spodziewać się + genitive
• natural contrast with a
• everyday vocabulary like mail
• correct case after z: z nowym planem

The only thing worth noting is that maila is everyday modern usage. Some speakers might prefer a more formal version such as e-mail or occasionally długi mail instead of długiego maila, but the sentence as given is fully natural and understandable.