polski · A1 · vocabulary · 4 minutes
Drinks and ordering
Order a drink politely and use container phrases with genitive.
Understand the choice
A natural order combines poproszę with a drink or serving. Feminine direct objects change -a to -ę, while wody/soku names what fills a bottle or glass.
Core rule: Poproszę takes an accusative requested item; a container is followed by genitive contents.
Notice it in context
Poproszę herbatę i szklankę wody.
I’ll have tea and a glass of water.
Herbatę and szklankę are feminine accusative; wody is genitive content.
Ona pije kawę z mlekiem.
She drinks coffee with milk.
Kawę is accusative; z mlekiem instrumental.
Kupujemy butelkę soku i dwa piwa.
We buy a bottle of juice and two beers.
Butelkę is object; soku is genitive content; dwa piwa uses 2–4 plural.
What to remember
- Poproszę is a conventional future/perfective polite request.
- Szklanka is a drinking glass; kieliszek is a small stemmed glass.
Common trap: Do not order with proszę herbata; use poproszę herbatę or proszę herbatę.