To be "supposed to"
You already know mieć means "to have". When followed by an infinitive, it means "to be supposed to" do something. To talk about unfulfilled expectations, use mieć in the past tense plus an infinitive.
| to be supposed to | mieć |
| I was supposed to call you back yesterday evening, but I completely forgot. | Miałem do ciebie oddzwonić wczoraj wieczorem, ale zupełnie zapomniałem. |
As always in the past tense, mieć must agree with the subject's gender and number.
| The boss was supposed to write back to the message, so it is probably a mistake that there is no answer. | Szefowa miała odpisać na wiadomość, więc to chyba pomyłka, że nie ma odpowiedzi. |
| The car was supposed to be ready today, but it broke down again. | Samochód miał być gotowy dzisiaj, ale znowu się zepsuł. |
Navigating awkward situations
When a task is forgotten or a promise is broken, you can use the phrase głupio mi to express that you "feel awkward" or "feel foolish".
| I feel awkward because I was supposed to help you clean the apartment yesterday. | Głupio mi, bo miałem ci wczoraj pomóc sprzątać mieszkanie. |
Pomyłka (mistake) and nieporozumienie (misunderstanding) are useful for smoothing things over.
| This is a huge misunderstanding, she was only supposed to talk to him. | To wielkie nieporozumienie, ona miała tylko z nim porozmawiać. |
You might also need to clarify your zamiar (intention).
| I didn't have such intentions. I was only supposed to fix your computer. | Nie miałem takich zamiarów. Miałem tylko naprawić twój komputer. |
Reminding others
To remind someone else of what they were supposed to do, use second-person past tense forms like miałeś, miałaś, or mieliście.
| You were supposed to remind me to buy gifts for the children! | Miałaś mi przypomnieć, żeby kupić prezenty dla dzieci! |
| You were supposed to call the client back yesterday morning, this is not professional. | Mieliście oddzwonić do klienta wczoraj rano, to nie jest profesjonalne. |
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