Breakdown of Miałem do ciebie oddzwonić wczoraj wieczorem, ale zupełnie zapomniałem.
ty
you (singular)
ale
but
do
to
wczoraj
yesterday
zapomnieć
to forget
wieczór
evening (noun)
mieć
to be supposed to
oddzwonić
to call back
zupełnie
completely
Questions & Answers about Miałem do ciebie oddzwonić wczoraj wieczorem, ale zupełnie zapomniałem.
Why does miałem mean "I was supposed to" here, instead of just "I had"?
When the verb mieć (to have) is used in the past tense and followed by an infinitive (here, oddzwonić), it takes on a special meaning. It expresses a past obligation, intention, or plan. It translates perfectly to "was supposed to" or "meant to", and it almost always implies that the action didn't actually happen.
How does the prefix in oddzwonić change the meaning of the verb?
The base verb dzwonić means "to call" (on the phone). The prefix od- is frequently used to show a reversal or return of an action. Therefore, oddzwonić specifically means "to call back".
Why do we use the long pronoun ciebie instead of the short form cię?
In Polish, you must always use the long, stressed forms of pronouns when they come directly after a preposition. Because we are using the preposition do (to), we are forced to use ciebie instead of the shorter cię.
Why does the word for evening end in -em (wieczorem)?
To say "in the morning", "in the evening", or "at night", Polish puts the noun into the instrumental case. The basic noun is wieczór (evening), but adding the instrumental ending to make it wieczorem turns it into an adverb meaning "in the evening".
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