Questions & Answers about Dzieci śpią cicho w pokoju.
- Dzieci – noun (subject), nominative plural: children
- śpią – verb, 3rd person plural, present tense of spać: (they) sleep / are sleeping
- cicho – adverb: quietly
- w – preposition: in
- pokoju – noun, locative singular of pokój: room
Dziecko means a child (singular, neuter).
Dzieci means children (plural).
The sentence talks about more than one child, so the plural form Dzieci is required. Grammatically, dzieci is a non‑masculine personal plural noun, which affects verb agreement in some tenses (for example: Dzieci spały, not Dzieci spali in the past).
Śpią is:
- verb: spać (to sleep)
- person: 3rd person
- number: plural
- tense: present
- aspect: imperfective
So it means they sleep / they are sleeping. We know they refers to Dzieci, so: The children are sleeping or Children sleep (depending on context).
You would use the singular forms:
- Dziecko śpi cicho w pokoju. – The child is sleeping quietly in the room.
Changes:
- Dzieci → Dziecko (plural → singular)
- śpią → śpi (3rd person plural → 3rd person singular)
- cicho and w pokoju stay the same.
Yes, that is possible and natural in Polish if the subject is clear from context.
Polish often drops subject pronouns and even nouns when they are understood.
Śpią cicho w pokoju would mean (They) are sleeping quietly in the room, but without context your listener wouldn’t know who they are.
Because cicho is an adverb (quietly), and it describes how they sleep.
- cichy – adjective (masculine) – quiet
- cicha – adjective (feminine)
- ciche – adjective (neuter / some plural forms)
- cicho – adverb – quietly
In English we use quietly after sleep; in Polish we also need the adverb: śpią cicho (they sleep quietly), not an adjective.
The preposition w (in) normally requires the locative case when it means inside a place.
- pokój – nominative (dictionary form): room
- w pokoju – locative: in the room
So:
- w
- pokój (nominative) – incorrect in this meaning
- w pokoju (locative) – correct: in the room
It can mean both. Polish has no articles (a / an / the), so w pokoju is neutral:
- in the room – when a specific room is known from context
- in a room – when the room is not specific
Context or additional words (like tym pokoju – this room) decide how you translate it into English.
Yes. Polish word order is fairly flexible. Some natural variants are:
- Dzieci śpią cicho w pokoju. (neutral)
- Dzieci cicho śpią w pokoju. (slight emphasis on quietly)
- W pokoju dzieci śpią cicho. (emphasis on in the room vs. somewhere else)
- Cicho śpią dzieci w pokoju. (stronger focus on quietly)
All keep the same core meaning, but the emphasis shifts. The basic, most neutral version is the original one.
Past tense (non‑masculine personal plural):
- Dzieci spały cicho w pokoju. – The children slept / were sleeping quietly in the room.
Note:
- śpią → spały (3rd person plural, non‑masculine personal)
- Not spali, because dzieci is grammatically non‑masculine personal.
Both can mean quietly, but:
cicho – more neutral: quietly, in a quiet way
- Dzieci śpią cicho. – The children are sleeping quietly.
po cichu – often suggests secretly / on the sly / very quietly, with an extra nuance of not being noticed:
- Dzieci rozmawiają po cichu. – The children are talking quietly / in secret.
In your sentence, cicho is the natural choice.
Rough guide using English-like hints:
- Dzieci – roughly JYE-chee
- dź / dzie is like dj / j in jewel, but softer
- śpią – roughly shpyong
- ś like soft sh
- ą is a nasal vowel, a bit like on in French bon, but short
- cicho – roughly CHEE-ho
- ch like h in house, but deeper in the throat
- w – like English v before a consonant
- pokoju – roughly po-KOY-oo
- stress always on the second-to-last syllable: poKOju
Slowly: Dzieci – śpią – cicho – w – pokoju.