Kupujemy żywność.

Because Polish often drops subject pronouns when they are not needed. The verb form kupujemy already tells you the subject is we.

• kupuję = I buy / I am buying
• kupujesz = you buy / you are buying
• kupujemy = we buy / we are buying

You can say My kupujemy żywność, but that sounds more emphatic, like we are buying the food, not someone else.

Kupujemy is the 1st person plural present tense form of the verb kupować, which means to buy in the imperfective aspect.

Its basic pattern is:

• kupować = infinitive
• kupujemy = we buy / we are buying

So the ending -my is the part that signals we.

It can mean either one, depending on context.

Polish very often uses the same present-tense form for both:

• a habitual meaning: we buy food
• a current ongoing meaning: we are buying food

So if someone says this while standing in a shop, it probably means we are buying food. If they are talking about their regular activities, it could mean we buy food.

Both can relate to food, but they are not exactly the same.

• żywność = food as a category, food products, provisions; often a bit more formal or broad
• jedzenie = food in a more everyday sense, something to eat

So Kupujemy żywność can sound a bit like We are buying food products / groceries / food supplies, while Kupujemy jedzenie sounds more everyday: We’re buying food.

It is in the accusative, because it is the direct object of the verb kupujemy.

We are buying what?
→ żywność

A useful detail: the noun żywność has the same form in nominative and accusative singular, so it does not visibly change here.

For example:

• nominative: żywność
• accusative: żywność
• genitive: żywności

Because not all Polish nouns change visibly in every case.

Żywność is a feminine noun ending in -ość, and for this type of noun, the nominative singular and accusative singular are often identical.

So even though the case has changed grammatically, the word still looks the same:

• Żywność jest ważna. = nominative
• Kupujemy żywność. = accusative

It is singular.

Even though English learners may think of groceries as plural, żywność works more like the English mass noun food. It refers to food in a general, collective sense.

If you specifically want to talk about groceries, Polish often uses other expressions depending on context, such as:

• zakupy spożywcze
• produkty spożywcze

The verb kupujemy comes from kupować, which is imperfective.

That matters because in Polish:

• imperfective verbs can express an ongoing, repeated, or general action
• perfective verbs usually do not have a true present meaning

The perfective partner is kupić. Its present-looking forms actually refer to the future:

• kupujemy = we buy / we are buying
• kupimy = we will buy

So Kupujemy żywność is present, while Kupimy żywność is future.

Yes. Polish word order is more flexible than English word order.

The neutral order here is:

• Kupujemy żywność.

But you could also say:

• Żywność kupujemy.

That version puts more emphasis on żywność, as if contrasting it with something else.

So the original sentence is the most neutral and natural choice in many contexts.

Because Polish has no articles.

English needs words like a, an, and the, but Polish usually does not mark that directly. Whether żywność means food, the food, or some food depends on context.

If Polish speakers want to be more specific, they can use other tools, such as:

• demonstratives like ta żywność = this food
• context
• word order
• sometimes aspect

A rough English-friendly pronunciation is:

• Kupujemy ≈ koo-poo-YEH-mih
• żywność ≈ ZHIV-noshch

A few sound notes:

• ku sounds like koo
• y in Polish is not the same as English ee; it is a more central vowel
• ż sounds like the s in measure
• ś/ść are soft sounds; the end of żywność is softer than a plain English sh

The stress is normally on the second-to-last syllable:

• ku-pu-JE-my
• ŻYW-ność