Learn Hardcore Polish: Schody w sąsiednim budynku są niskie i szerokie. - The stairs in the neighboring building are low and wide.

Schody (‘stairs’) is a plurale tantum in Polish – it only exists in the plural. There is no singular schód. If you want to talk about a single step, you use stopień; for a single flight of stairs you say klatka schodowa.

What case is w sąsiednim budynku, and why do sąsiednim and budynku look different from sąsiedni budynek?

The preposition w (‘in’) here governs the locative case.

Budynek (building) → locative singular budynku
sąsiedni (neighbouring) → locative singular masculine sąsiednim
Adjectives in Polish must agree with their nouns in gender, number and case.

Why do the adjectives niskie and szerokie both end in -e?

Schody is treated as a plural inanimate noun. In the nominative plural (for non–masculine-personal nouns), adjectives always take the ending -e. Examples: wysokie okna, zielone drzewa, niskie i szerokie schody.

Why doesn’t Polish use articles like a, an, or the in this sentence?

Polish has no definite or indefinite articles. Context or additional words (e.g. ten, jakiś) carry notions of definiteness or indefiniteness. Here you simply state Schody w sąsiednim budynku są niskie i szerokie without any article.

Can I swap the order of the two adjectives, e.g. szerokie i niskie schody?

Yes. Polish adjective order is fairly flexible. Swapping them doesn’t change the core meaning, though native speakers may prefer one order to highlight a particular feature first.

Is the placement of w sąsiednim budynku fixed? Could it go at the end?

Polish word order is quite free. You can say:
• Schody w sąsiednim budynku są niskie i szerokie (neutral)
• Schody są niskie i szerokie w sąsiednim budynku (puts location last)
Both sentences mean the same, though the first is stylistically more common.

How do you pronounce ą in sąsiednim and sz in szerokie?

• ą is a nasal vowel similar to the French on in bon, so są- sounds like “son-”.
• sz is a voiceless retroflex fricative [ʂ], like English sh in ship.
All together, sąsiednim ≈ “son-shyed-neem” and szerokie ≈ “sher-oh-kyeh.”

What are the base (dictionary) forms of niskie and szerokie?

They come from the masculine singular nominative adjectives:
• niski – low
• szeroki – wide
In other genders, numbers or cases they will take different endings (e.g. feminine niska, neuter niskie, genitive plural niskich, etc.).