Breakdown of W marcu mam wizytę u okulisty.
mieć
to have
w
in / on (a day)
marzec
March
wizyta
the appointment / the visit
u
at, at the place of
okulista
eye doctor
Questions & Answers about W marcu mam wizytę u okulisty.
Why is the ending -y used in u okulisty if the eye doctor is a man?
The preposition u (meaning "at someone's place/business") always requires the Genitive case. The noun okulista (eye doctor) is masculine, but because its dictionary form ends in -a, it follows the feminine pattern when changing endings. Therefore, its Genitive form takes the feminine ending -y, becoming okulisty.
Does u okulisty mean "with the eye doctor" or "at the eye doctor's clinic"?
It means "at the eye doctor's clinic" (or simply "at the eye doctor's"). The preposition u + Genitive expresses being at someone's physical place, home, or business. If you meant you were doing something together with the doctor as a companion, you would use z + Instrumental case instead.
The dictionary word for March is marzec. Why does it become marcu instead of marzecu?
When changing marzec to the Locative case to say "in March" (w marcu), the letter -e- drops out of the root word. This is a very common Polish spelling rule called the "fleeting e"—you might remember this from earlier lessons where pies (dog) changes to psa.
Why is it wizytę and not just wizyta?
The word wizyta (appointment/visit) is the direct object of the verb mam (I have) in this sentence. Because you are taking action on the appointment by "having" it, it takes the Accusative case. For feminine nouns ending in -a, the Accusative ending is -ę.
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