Breakdown of Jeżdżę do szkoły tramwajem.
szkoła
school
do
to
jeździć
to drive, to go (by vehicle)
tramwaj
tram
Questions & Answers about Jeżdżę do szkoły tramwajem.
Why use jeżdżę instead of idę or jadę for 'I go'?
English uses 'go' for almost everything, but Polish is more specific. You cannot use idę because that means going on foot. You must use a vehicle verb. We use jeżdżę instead of jadę because jeżdżę implies a regular habit (like a daily commute to school), whereas jadę means you are on your way in a vehicle right now.
Why is school spelled szkoły instead of szkoła?
The preposition do (meaning 'to') always forces the following noun into the Genitive case. The dictionary form is szkoła, which is a feminine noun ending in -a. In the Genitive case, that -a changes to -y, making it szkoły.
There is no word for 'by' in this sentence. How do we know it means 'by tram'?
Polish does not use a separate preposition like 'by' for modes of transportation. Instead, it changes the ending of the noun to show the Instrumental case. Adding -em to the masculine noun tramwaj gives us tramwajem, which automatically translates to 'by tram' or 'using a tram'.
Where is the word for 'I' in this sentence?