Word
Jest ósma. Idę do pracy.
Meaning
It is eight o'clock. I am going to work.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Jest ósma. Idę do pracy.
Why does the sentence use ósma instead of the regular number osiem for eight?
In Polish, when telling time, you use ordinal numbers (like first, second, third) because you are essentially saying it is the eighth hour. The word for hour, godzina, is feminine, so the number takes the feminine ending -a to become ósma.
Why do we use idę here instead of another word for go, like jadę?
Idę specifically means you are going on foot right now. If you were driving or taking a bus to work, you would use jadę. Polish has different verbs for going depending on whether you are walking or using transportation.
Could I use chodzę instead of idę in this sentence?
Not if you mean you are going there right now. Idę means you are on your way at this exact moment. Chodzę is used for regular, repeated habits, like saying you go to work every day.
Why does the word for work change from praca to pracy?
The preposition do (meaning to) always requires the noun following it to be in the Genitive case. For the feminine noun praca, the ending -a changes to -y, making it do pracy.