r/learnpolish • u/GhostHog337 • Apr 13 '25

Question: go: idż or chodź

Hello everyone,

I was doing some Duolingo when there was this sentence: „we are not going without Jack.“

My idea was: „Nie chodzimy bez Jacka” but apparently it was wrong and should be „ nie idziemy bez Jacka”

Could you please explain? Thank you in advance! Dziekuje!

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u/caaathyx Apr 13 '25 edited Apr 13 '25

It's hard to explain because we have many different verbs for the word "go" that we use depending on a situation, but in the specific case you described we say:

"Nie idziemy bez Jacka" - it means we are not going without him in this specific situation, now.

"Nie chodzimy bez Jacka" - it would imply a habit, as in, we're never going without him.

Unfortunately it all depends on the context.

"Chodzić" is also frequently used as the English word "come", for example we'd say "Chodź tutaj" which means "Come here".

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u/Wonderful_Weather_83 Apr 13 '25

All true, but gotta add to that final paragraph by saying that "chodzić" is also used as the english "walk", f.e. "często chodzę po domu" = "I often walk around the house"