Learn Hardcore Polish: Las jest piękny. - The forest is beautiful.

las is masculine, singular, nominative
For a masculine singular noun in nominative, the basic adjective ending is -y (or -i after some consonants)

So:

piękny las – a beautiful forest (masculine singular)
piękna kobieta – a beautiful woman (feminine singular)
piękne miasto – a beautiful city (neuter singular)
piękne lasy – beautiful forests (plural, non-masculine-personal)

In Las jest piękny, the adjective piękny is in the masculine nominative singular form to match las.

Do las and piękny always have to agree in gender, number, and case?

Yes. In standard Polish grammar, attributive adjectives (and predicative adjectives with być = to be) must agree with the noun in:

Gender (masculine / feminine / neuter)
Number (singular / plural)
Case (nominative, accusative, etc.)

So you get patterns like:

Las jest piękny. – The forest is beautiful.
(masc. sing. nom. – las / piękny)
Widzę piękny las. – I see a beautiful forest.
(masc. sing. acc. – piękny las; here nom. and acc. look the same for inanimate masculine nouns)
W pięknym lesie. – In a beautiful forest.
(masc. sing. locative – pięknym lesie)

The endings of both the noun and adjective change together.

How would I say This forest is beautiful or It is a beautiful forest?

You have a few natural options:

Ten las jest piękny.
- Literally: This forest is beautiful.
- ten = this (masculine nominative singular)
  This is used when you mean a specific forest you’re pointing at or have just mentioned.
To jest piękny las.
- Literally: This is a beautiful forest. / It is a beautiful forest.
- to is a neutral demonstrative used in such “X is a Y” identification sentences.
To piękny las.
- More like: It’s a beautiful forest. (without jest, quite natural in speech)
  Used especially when you’re making a simple comment or first identifying something.

All three are correct; the nuance is mainly about pointing at something specific (with ten) versus identifying or describing what something is (with to).

Can I omit jest and just say Las piękny?

Normally, in modern standard Polish, you keep jest in such sentences:

Las jest piękny. – fully natural, standard.

Dropping jest:

Las piękny. – sounds poetic, archaic, or like a headline/slogan, not normal everyday speech.
You might see or hear similar patterns in:
- poetry
- old literature
- stylized language
- very short notes/headlines

Where omitting jest is common and neutral is in identification sentences with to:

To piękny las. – It’s a beautiful forest. (no jest, completely normal)
To mój dom. – This is my house.

How do I say The forests are beautiful?

You need plural forms of the noun, verb, and adjective:

Lasy są piękne.

Breakdown:

lasy – plural of las (forests)
są – 3rd person plural of być (are)
piękne – plural adjective form matching lasy

So:

Las jest piękny. – The forest is beautiful. (singular)
Lasy są piękne. – The forests are beautiful. (plural)

How do you pronounce Las jest piękny?

Approximate pronunciation (English-style):

Las – like lass (short a as in cat, but a bit tenser)
jest – roughly yest
- j sounds like English y in yes
piękny – roughly p-yenk-nih
- pię ≈ pyen (the ę is a nasal vowel, often sounding like en before k)
- k as in English
- ny – like ni in onion (a bit softer than English n)
- final y is a high vowel, between English i in sit and u in put

IPA (roughly):

Las – /las/
jest – /jɛst/
piękny – /ˈpjɛŋknɨ/

Whole sentence: /las jɛst ˈpjɛŋknɨ/

What is the function of the letter ę in piękny?

ę is a nasal vowel in Polish. It roughly corresponds to an “en” / “em”-type sound, depending on context.

In piękny:

spelled piękny
pronounced approximately “pyenk-nih”
before k, ę is usually realized as [ɛŋ] or [ɛn], so you hear something close to pienkny/pjenkny.

The spelling ę is stable even when the exact nasal quality changes. In other forms of related words, you may see or hear it differently:

piękna – /ˈpjɛŋkna/ – beautiful (feminine)
piękne – /ˈpjɛŋknɛ/ – beautiful (neuter / plural non-masc-personal)

So, ę tells you:

there is an e-like vowel
with nasalization, which often becomes similar to en/em in pronunciation.

Can I change the word order, like Piękny jest las? Does it change the meaning?

Polish word order is relatively flexible. These are all possible:

Las jest piękny.
– neutral, most common order: The forest is beautiful.
Piękny jest las.
– emphasizes piękny (beautiful). Implication: “It really is beautiful (this forest).”
Las piękny jest.
– also possible, but sounds a bit unusual/emphatic; more likely in poetry or stylized speech.

The basic meaning doesn’t change, but focus/emphasis does.
For learners, Las jest piękny is the safest, most natural version.

What’s the difference between piękny and ładny?

Both mean “beautiful / pretty / nice-looking”, but the nuance is slightly different:

piękny
- closer to beautiful, magnificent, splendid
- stronger, more “elevated” praise
- very natural for landscapes, nature, art, big impressions:
  - Piękny las. – A beautiful forest.
  - Piękny widok. – A beautiful view.
ładny
- closer to pretty, nice, good-looking
- more everyday, less strong
- often used for people, clothes, small things, children:
  - Ładna sukienka. – A pretty dress.
  - Ładny dom. – A nice house.

You can say Ładny las, but Piękny las feels more natural if you’re impressed by the forest.

Why is Las capitalized? Are common nouns usually capitalized in Polish?

Las is capitalized only because it is the first word of the sentence.

In Polish:

Only proper nouns (names of people, cities, countries, etc.) and the first word of a sentence are capitalized.
Common nouns like las (forest), dom (house), kot (cat) are not capitalized in the middle of a sentence.

So:

Las jest piękny. – The forest is beautiful. (start of sentence → capital L)
Ten las jest piękny. – This forest is beautiful. (here las is lowercase)

What verb form is jest, and what are the other basic forms of być (“to be”)?

jest is the 3rd person singular present tense of być (to be).

Present tense of być:

(ja) jestem – I am
(ty) jesteś – you are (singular, informal)
(on/ona/ono) jest – he/she/it is
(my) jesteśmy – we are
(wy) jesteście – you are (plural)
(oni/one) są – they are

So in Las jest piękny:

las corresponds to he/it
jest is the correct 3rd person singular form: The forest *is beautiful.*