Questions & Answers about Ta sala jest cicha.
Ta is a feminine demonstrative pronoun meaning this (for feminine nouns).
Polish has three basic forms of this in the singular, depending on grammatical gender:
- ten – for masculine nouns
- ten pokój – this room
- ta – for feminine nouns
- ta sala – this hall / this room
- to – for neuter nouns
- to okno – this window
Because sala is a feminine noun, you must use ta.
To sala is ungrammatical; it would clash with the noun’s gender.
Adjectives in Polish agree with the noun in:
- gender
- number
- case
Sala is:
- singular
- feminine
- nominative case (it’s the subject)
The base form of the adjective is cichy (quiet). In the singular nominative:
- masculine: cichy (e.g. cichy pokój)
- feminine: cicha (e.g. cicha sala)
- neuter: ciche (e.g. ciche miejsce)
So with sala (feminine), the adjective must be cicha.
Ta sala jest cichy is wrong because cichy is masculine, not feminine.
Sala usually means a larger room with a specific function, e.g.:
- sala lekcyjna – classroom
- sala gimnastyczna – gym / sports hall
- sala koncertowa – concert hall
- sala wykładowa – lecture hall
For an ordinary room in a house or flat, Polish most often uses pokój:
- pokój dzienny – living room
- mały pokój – small room
So:
- Ta sala jest cicha. – This hall (e.g., classroom, lecture hall) is quiet.
- Ten pokój jest cichy. – This room (in a flat/house) is quiet.
Context will often tell you whether sala is best translated as hall, classroom, or room.
Yes, Sala jest cicha is perfectly grammatical and natural.
The difference is subtle:
- Ta sala jest cicha. – This (particular) hall is quiet. You’re pointing it out or contrasting it with others.
- Sala jest cicha. – The hall is quiet. More general, referring to a known hall from the context, without strongly pointing to “this one here.”
In many real situations, context decides whether English would use this or the, and Polish can use ta or just the bare noun similarly.
In standard modern Polish, when you say that a subject is something using an adjective, you normally must use the verb jest:
- Ta sala jest cicha. – This hall is quiet.
- Pokój jest duży. – The room is big.
A sentence like Ta sala cicha would sound:
- incomplete or wrong in everyday speech, or
- occasionally poetic / stylized, but not neutral.
Polish can sometimes omit jest in very specific patterns (mainly with nouns, e.g. On lekarz in colloquial speech), but not in a normal sentence with an adjective like this.
In Ta sala jest cicha, ta sala is in the nominative case (it is the subject).
Basic singular forms of sala (feminine) are:
- Nominative (kto? co?): ta sala – this hall
- Genitive (kogo? czego?): tej sali – of this hall
- Dative (komu? czemu?): tej sali – to/for this hall
- Accusative (kogo? co?): tę salę – this hall (as object)
- Instrumental (z kim? z czym?): tą salą / tą salą – with this hall
- Locative (o kim? o czym?): tej sali – in/about this hall
Example:
- W tej sali jest cicho. – It is quiet in this hall. (locative)
Here tej sali is no longer nominative; ta sala had to change its form.
You need plural forms of both the demonstrative and the adjective:
- Te sale są ciche. – These halls are quiet.
Breakdown:
- te – plural demonstrative for non‑masculine‑personal nouns (halls, rooms, tables, etc.)
- sale – plural nominative of sala
- są – 3rd person plural of być (to be)
- ciche – plural nominative adjective form matching sale (feminine plural / “non‑masculine‑personal” plural)
Singular vs plural:
- Ta sala jest cicha. – This hall is quiet.
- Te sale są ciche. – These halls are quiet.
Both can often be translated as “It is quiet in this hall”, but they focus on different things:
Ta sala jest cicha.
- Literally: This hall is quiet.
- Structure: noun (sala) + verb (jest) + adjective (cicha).
- Focus is more on describing the hall as a characteristic: it’s a quiet hall (maybe in general).
W tej sali jest cicho.
- Literally: In this hall, it is quiet.
- Structure: prepositional phrase (w tej sali) + verb (jest) + adverb (cicho).
- Focus is on the current situation in that place: the sound level right now is quiet.
In practice:
- If you mean “this hall is normally / generally a quiet one”, use Ta sala jest cicha.
- If you’re talking about what it’s like at this moment in there, W tej sali jest cicho. is the more natural choice.
All relate to quietness, but they function and feel different:
cichy / cicha / ciche – adjective; means quiet, low in volume
- cicha sala – a quiet hall (not much noise)
cicho – adverb; means quietly, or it is quiet (as a description of the state)
- W tej sali jest cicho. – It is quiet in this hall.
spokojny / spokojna / spokojne – adjective; means calm, peaceful, not necessarily only in terms of sound
- spokojna sala – a calm, peaceful hall (maybe quiet, but also relaxed, not tense)
So:
- Ta sala jest cicha. – Focus on low noise level.
- Ta sala jest spokojna. – Could suggest a calm atmosphere: people aren’t agitated, maybe they behave well, it’s not chaotic. Noise is part of that, but not the only aspect.
Polish word order is more flexible than English, so several variants are possible:
- Ta sala jest cicha. – neutral, the most typical.
- Sala ta jest cicha. – slightly more formal/literary; the ta goes after the noun.
- Cicha jest ta sala. – possible, but this strongly emphasizes cicha (quiet). It can sound poetic or contrastive, like:
- Cicha jest ta sala, ale tamta jest głośna.
– This hall is quiet, but that one is loud.
- Cicha jest ta sala, ale tamta jest głośna.
For everyday, neutral speech, Ta sala jest cicha. is the best choice.
Approximate pronunciation (IPA and rough English hints):
- ta – /ta/ – like tah
- sala – /ˈsala/ – sa as in salsa, la as in lava; stress on sa: SA-la
- jest – /jɛst/ – sounds like yest (like “yes” with a final /t/)
- cicha – /ˈt͡ɕixa/
- ci – /t͡ɕi/, a soft “tch” + “ee” sound, similar to “chee” but smoother and more fronted
- ch – /x/, like the ch in German Bach or Scottish loch
- stress on ci: CHI-cha (with that soft Polish “ch” at the end)
Full phrase: [TA SA-la yest CHEE-kha], with SA and CHI stressed.
You add bardzo (very) before the adjective:
- Ta sala jest bardzo cicha. – This hall is very quiet.
Word order:
- subject: Ta sala
- verb: jest
- degree adverb: bardzo
- adjective: cicha
You don’t say ~jest cicha bardzo in neutral speech; bardzo normally comes before the adjective it modifies.
The verb być (to be) conjugates according to the subject.
Here the subject is ta sala – 3rd person singular. So you use jest.
Some forms of być (present tense):
- ja jestem – I am
- ty jesteś – you (sg.) are
- on / ona / ono jest – he / she / it is
- my jesteśmy – we are
- wy jesteście – you (pl.) are
- oni / one są – they are
So:
- Ta sala jest cicha. – This hall is quiet.
- Te sale są ciche. – These halls are quiet. (plural → są)
Sala is always feminine in Polish. Noun gender is a fixed property and does not change.
That means:
- You always use ta (this), ta sala – this hall.
- Adjectives describing it in the nominative singular will always take feminine forms:
- duża sala – big hall
- jasna sala – bright hall
- cicha sala – quiet hall
Even in other cases, the forms still reflect that it’s feminine:
tej sali, tę salę, tą salą, etc.