Breakdown of Jestem chory i muszę iść do apteki.
być
to be
i
and
iść
to go
musieć
to have to
chory
sick
do
to
apteka
pharmacy
Questions & Answers about Jestem chory i muszę iść do apteki.
Why is it do apteki instead of do apteka?
The preposition do (to) always requires the noun that follows it to take the Genitive case. The base word for pharmacy is apteka. To make it Genitive, feminine nouns ending in -ka change to -ki, which gives us apteki.
Would a female speaker say Jestem chory exactly like this?
Why use iść (to go) here instead of chodzić?
Iść is used for a specific, one-time trip happening right now on foot (going in one direction). Because the speaker is currently sick and needs to make a single trip to the pharmacy, iść is the perfect fit. Chodzić would imply going there regularly or as a habit.
Why isn't the word ja (I) used before jestem and muszę?
In Polish, you usually drop the subject pronouns like ja (I) because the verb endings already tell you who is acting. The -em in jestem and the -ę in muszę clearly mean "I". You would only add ja to emphasize that I am the one who is sick, as opposed to someone else.
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