Dzisiaj odkładam pieniądze.

In Polish, the verb usually already tells you who the subject is.
Odkładam means I put aside / I am putting aside, so ja is not necessary.

You can add ja if you want emphasis, for example:

• Ja odkładam pieniądze. = I’m the one saving money.

But in a neutral sentence, leaving the pronoun out is the most natural choice.

Dzisiaj means today.

Yes, you can also say dziś, which also means today. They are very close in meaning, and in many situations they are interchangeable.

• Dzisiaj odkładam pieniądze.
• Dziś odkładam pieniądze.

Both are natural.
Dziś is shorter and often feels a bit more compact in everyday speech, while dzisiaj is also very common and neutral.

The dictionary form is odkładać, which is an imperfective verb.

So:

• odkładać = to put aside, to set aside, to save up

Odkładam is the 1st person singular present tense form:

• ja odkładam = I put aside / I’m putting aside

This verb can be used both literally and financially. In this sentence, it means setting money aside.

Polish present tense often covers both the simple present and the present continuous in English.

So odkładam can mean:

• I put aside
• I am putting aside

The exact English translation depends on context.

In this sentence, English speakers would often translate it as:

• Today I’m putting money aside or
• Today I’m saving money

because dzisiaj suggests what is happening today.

They are similar, but not identical.

• odkładać pieniądze = to put money aside, to set money aside
• oszczędzać pieniądze = to save money

Odkładać often focuses on the idea of physically or mentally setting some money aside for later.
Oszczędzać is broader and can mean managing money carefully, spending less, or saving in general.

So:

• Dzisiaj odkładam pieniądze. = Today I’m putting money aside.
• Oszczędzam pieniądze. = I’m saving money.

In many contexts they overlap, but odkładać can feel a bit more concrete.

In Polish, money is very often expressed with the plural form pieniądze.

• pieniądze = money

There is a singular form, pieniądz, but it usually does not work like English money in everyday use. It more often means an old coin, a unit of money, or appears in more specific contexts.

So for normal everyday Polish, you usually say:

• mam pieniądze = I have money
• odkładam pieniądze = I’m saving money

Even though English uses a singular mass noun, Polish commonly uses this plural form.

Here pieniądze is in the accusative plural, because it is the direct object of the verb odkładam.

You are doing the action to the money:

• odkładam co? → pieniądze

For this noun, the accusative plural looks the same as the nominative plural:

• nominative: pieniądze
• accusative: pieniądze

So the form does not change here, even though the case function does.

Yes. Polish word order is more flexible than English word order, because endings and verb forms carry a lot of grammatical information.

The neutral order here is:

• Dzisiaj odkładam pieniądze.

But you could also say:

• Odkładam dzisiaj pieniądze.
• Pieniądze odkładam dzisiaj.
• Dzisiaj pieniądze odkładam.

These are all possible, but they sound different in emphasis.

For example:

• Dzisiaj odkładam pieniądze. = neutral, natural
• Pieniądze odkładam dzisiaj. = emphasis on money
• Odkładam dzisiaj pieniądze. = emphasis slightly more on the action

For learners, the original version is the safest and most natural.

No, it does not have to be. It is at the beginning because that is a very natural place for a time expression in Polish.

Compare:

• Dzisiaj odkładam pieniądze.
• Odkładam pieniądze dzisiaj.

Both are grammatical, but the first one sounds more neutral and flowing in many contexts.

Putting dzisiaj first is a common way to set the time frame right away.

Yes, odkładać is imperfective.

That means it can describe:

• an ongoing action
• a repeated action
• a general process

Its perfective partner is usually odłożyć.

Compare:

• odkładam pieniądze = I’m putting money aside / I save money
• odłożę pieniądze = I will put the money aside / I will set the money aside

A rough contrast:

• odkładać = process, habit, ongoing action
• odłożyć = completed result

So if you want to talk about the action as completed, Polish often uses the perfective verb.

It can mean either, depending on context.

Because odkładam is imperfective present, it may describe:

• what you are doing today right now
• what you are doing today as a plan or activity
• a repeated behavior

For example, it could mean:

• today, instead of spending, I’m setting money aside
• today is one of the days when I’m saving
• today I’m starting to save money

Without more context, Polish leaves that a bit open, just like many present-tense forms do.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

• Dzisiaj ≈ דזשि-shai / ji-shai
• odkładam ≈ ot-KWA-dam
• pieniądze ≈ pye-NYON-dze

A few useful points:

• dzi sounds roughly like a soft j sound
• ą is a nasal vowel; before some consonants it may sound a bit like on
• Polish stress usually falls on the second-to-last syllable

So the main stress is:

• dziSIAJ
• odKŁAdam
• pieNIĄdze

You do not need to pronounce it perfectly at first; getting the rhythm and main consonants right is the important part.

Yes, absolutely. That is a natural sentence too.

• Dzisiaj odkładam pieniądze. = Today I’m putting money aside.
• Dzisiaj oszczędzam pieniądze. = Today I’m saving money.

The second one is a bit more directly equivalent to English save money, while the first one emphasizes setting money aside.

So both are correct, but they are not always identical in nuance.