Learn Hardcore Polish: Słychać muzykę w salonie. - You can hear music in the living room.

It is not “I hear” or “we hear” (that would be słyszę, słyszymy).
It’s more like English “(There is) music to be heard…”, “one can hear music…”, or simply “you can hear music…” in a general way.

Why is there no subject? Why don’t we say something like Ktoś słyszy muzykę w salonie?

Because słychać is used impersonally:

There is no grammatical subject in this construction.
The sentence focuses on the sound being audible, not on who is hearing it.

If you say:

Ktoś słyszy muzykę w salonie. – Someone hears music in the living room.

you are talking about a specific (though unknown) person.
With:

Słychać muzykę w salonie.

you’re talking about the situation: music is audible there, without mentioning any listener.

Why is it muzykę and not muzyka?

Muzykę is the accusative singular form of muzyka.

Nominative (dictionary form): muzyka
Accusative: muzykę

In this impersonal construction, słychać takes its “object” in the accusative:

Słychać muzykę. – Music can be heard.

So:

muzyka – used as a subject, e.g. Muzyka jest głośna. – The music is loud.
muzykę – used as an object, e.g. Słychać muzykę. – One can hear music.

What case is w salonie and why does it look like that?

W salonie uses the locative case after the preposition w (in).

Nominative: salon – living room
Locative: salonie

After w meaning “in”, you normally use the locative:

w salonie – in the living room
w kuchni – in the kitchen
w szkole – at school

So in the sentence:

Słychać muzykę w salonie.
w salonie answers the question: where? – in the living room.

Can I change the word order? For example: W salonie słychać muzykę or Muzykę słychać w salonie?

Yes, Polish word order is flexible, and all of these are grammatically correct:

Słychać muzykę w salonie. – neutral, common.
W salonie słychać muzykę. – emphasizes the place (in the living room).
Muzykę słychać w salonie. – emphasizes the music rather than something else.

The basic meaning stays the same: music is audible in the living room.
The differences are mostly about emphasis and context, not grammar.

What’s the difference between słychać and słuchać? They look almost the same.

They are quite different:

słychać – “to be audible / to be heard” (impersonal)
- Słychać muzykę. – Music can be heard. / You can hear music.
- Focus on the sound existing / being audible.
słuchać – “to listen (to something)” (active action, with a subject)
- Słucham muzyki. – I am listening to music.
- Oni słuchają muzyki. – They are listening to music.
- Focus on someone actively listening.

Case patterns also differ:

słychać + accusative:
Słychać muzykę.
słuchać + genitive:
Słucham muzyki.

Does słychać change with person (I/you/he etc.)? How do I say “I can hear music in the living room”?

Słychać itself does not change with person. It stays słychać in this impersonal construction.

To say “I can hear music in the living room” about yourself specifically, you normally use the personal verb słyszeć:

Słyszę muzykę w salonie. – I hear music in the living room.

Conjugation of słyszeć (present tense):

ja słyszę – I hear
ty słyszysz – you hear
on/ona/ono słyszy – he/she/it hears
my słyszymy – we hear
wy słyszycie – you (pl.) hear
oni/one słyszą – they hear

Use słychać when you want an impersonal, general statement; use słyszeć when you want to mention who hears.

How do you make this sentence past or future? Does słychać change?

Słychać itself stays the same; you add a form of być (“to be”) to mark time.

Present (original):
Słychać muzykę w salonie.
– Music can be heard in the living room.
Past:
Było słychać muzykę w salonie.
– Music could be heard in the living room. / There was music to be heard…
Future:
Będzie słychać muzykę w salonie.
– Music will be heard in the living room. / You will be able to hear music…

So the time is shown by było / będzie, not by changing słychać.

How do you negate this sentence? Do we still use muzykę?

The negation is:

Nie słychać muzyki w salonie.
– You can’t hear music in the living room. / Music cannot be heard in the living room.

Two important changes:

Add nie before słychać:
- nie słychać
The object usually changes from accusative to genitive under negation:
- affirmative: Słychać muzykę. (accusative – muzykę)
- negative: Nie słychać muzyki. (genitive – muzyki)

This “accusative → genitive” switch under negation is very common in Polish.

What’s the difference between Słychać muzykę w salonie and Słychać muzykę z salonu?

The preposition changes the nuance:

Słychać muzykę w salonie.
- Literally: Music can be heard in the living room.
- Focus on where the listener is: in the living room you can hear music.
- Implies: if you are in the living room, you hear music there.
Słychać muzykę z salonu.
- Literally: Music can be heard from the living room.
- Focus on the source of the sound: the music is coming from the living room.
- Implies: you may be in another place (e.g. in the hallway), but the sound comes from the living room.

So:

w salonie – in the living room (location of hearing)
z salonu – from the living room (source of sound)

Could I say Muzyka jest słyszana w salonie instead? It looks closer to English “The music is heard”.

You could say:

Muzyka jest słyszana w salonie.

but in everyday Polish it sounds unnatural and overly formal. It feels like technical or bureaucratic language, not normal speech.

The natural ways are:

Słychać muzykę w salonie.
Or, if you really want “the music” as subject:
Muzyka jest słyszalna w salonie. – The music is audible in the living room. (still a bit formal)

For normal, colloquial Polish, Słychać muzykę w salonie is by far the most typical.

Can I add something like jakąś to say “some music”? For example: Słychać jakąś muzykę w salonie?

Yes:

Słychać jakąś muzykę w salonie.

is perfectly correct and common.
Nuance:

Słychać muzykę w salonie. – You can hear music in the living room. (neutral)
Słychać jakąś muzykę w salonie. – You can hear some (kind of) music in the living room.
– Suggests you don’t know exactly what kind / whose music it is, or you’re not specifying.

Jakąś adds a sense of indefiniteness / vagueness, similar to English “some”.

Are there other common impersonal expressions like Słychać muzykę w salonie?

Yes, Polish often uses similar impersonal constructions with sense verbs and impressions. Some common patterns:

Widać gwiazdy na niebie. – You can see stars in the sky. / Stars can be seen…
Czuć dym w pokoju. – You can smell smoke in the room. / Smoke can be smelled…
Pachnie kawą w kuchni. – It smells of coffee in the kitchen.
Słychać śmiech dzieci na podwórku. – You can hear children’s laughter in the yard.

All of these work similarly to:

Słychać muzykę w salonie. – focusing on what is perceived, not on who perceives it.