Breakdown of On będzie później czekać na pociąg.
być
to be
on
he / it (m)
na
on, at / to (motion toward) / for (a meal) / for (waiting for)
pociąg
train
później
later
czekać
to wait
Questions & Answers about On będzie później czekać na pociąg.
Why are there two verbs, będzie and czekać, to say "will be waiting"?
This is the Polish imperfective future tense, which describes an ongoing action in the future. You form it by combining the future form of the verb "to be" (będzie for "he/she/it") with the dictionary form (the infinitive) of the main verb, which is czekać in this sentence.
Is there another way to form this future tense without using the infinitive czekać?
Why is później (later) placed between the two verbs?
Polish word order is quite flexible. It is very natural and common to place adverbs like później between the helper verb (będzie) and the main verb (czekać). However, saying On będzie czekać na pociąg później would also be perfectly correct.
Why do we use na (on) here instead of a word for "for"?
In Polish, the verb czekać (to wait) always pairs with the preposition na. So while in English you wait "for" a train, in Polish you must literally say you are waiting "on" a train (czekać na pociąg). This is a set phrase you just have to memorize.
Since pociąg is the object being waited for, why didn't its ending change?
You are right to look for a case change! The preposition na paired with czekać requires the accusative case. However, pociąg (train) is an inanimate masculine noun. For these non-living masculine nouns, the accusative form looks exactly the same as the basic dictionary form.
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