Learn Hardcore Polish: Dzieci często naciskają kolorowy przycisk w windzie. - Children often press the colorful button in the elevator.

The verb naciskać (to press) takes a direct object – what is being pressed? → kolorowy przycisk.
Przycisk is masculine inanimate, and for masculine inanimate nouns, nominative singular = accusative singular.
- Nominative: kolorowy przycisk (the colorful button – as subject)
- Accusative: kolorowy przycisk (press the colorful button – as object)

So even though the form looks like nominative, here it is functioning as accusative.

Why is it w windzie and not w winda or w windę?

The preposition w (in) usually requires locative case when it describes being inside something (location, not movement).

The noun is winda (elevator), feminine.
Feminine locative singular of winda is windzie.
Pattern: w
- (static location) → locative:
  - w domu (in the house)
  - w szkole (at school)
  - w windzie (in the elevator)

W winda is ungrammatical, and w windę would use accusative, which is used with w for movement into something (e.g. wchodzą w windę – they are entering the elevator), not for location.

What is special about dzieci as a subject? Which case is it, and why does the verb look plural?

Dzieci is the nominative plural form of dziecko (child).

Singular: dziecko (neuter)
Plural: dzieci (this is an irregular plural form)

As the subject of the sentence, dzieci must be in the nominative case.

The verb form naciskają is 3rd person plural, agreeing with the plural subject:

oni/one naciskają (they press)
dzieci naciskają (children press)

Even though dzieci doesn’t end in a typical masculine plural ending like -y / -i, it is grammatically plural, so the verb is plural.

How is the verb naciskają formed, and what does its form tell us?

Naciskają is:

present tense
3rd person plural
imperfective aspect
from the verb naciskać (to press repeatedly, to be pressing)

Conjugation of naciskać in present tense:

ja naciskam
ty naciskasz
on/ona/ono naciska
my naciskamy
wy naciskacie
oni/one naciskają

Here, dzieci naciskają = they (children) press / are pressing / tend to press. The form matches a habitual or repeated action, which fits with często (often).

Why is często placed after dzieci and before naciskają? Can it go in other positions?

Często is an adverb meaning often. Its neutral and very common position is before the verb:

Dzieci często naciskają kolorowy przycisk w windzie.

Other possible word orders:

Często dzieci naciskają kolorowy przycisk w windzie.
– Emphasis on often (Often, children press…)
Dzieci naciskają często kolorowy przycisk w windzie.
– Also possible; can sound a bit more marked or stylistic.

Placing często right before the verb is the most typical and natural in everyday speech. Putting it at the very end (…w windzie często) is possible but can sound less natural or shift emphasis strangely.

What is the difference between naciskać and nacisnąć?

This is an aspect difference:

naciskać – imperfective
- focuses on process, repetition, or habit
- used for “often/usually/while pressing”
- e.g. Dzieci często naciskają przycisk. (Children often press the button.)
nacisnąć – perfective
- focuses on a single, completed act
- used for “to press once / to have pressed”
- e.g. Dzieci nacisnęły przycisk. (The children pressed / have pressed the button – one completed event.)

Because the sentence talks about a habitual action with często, naciskają (imperfective) is the correct choice.

Why is it kolorowy przycisk, but w windzie comes from kolorowa winda?

This is about gender and adjective agreement.

przycisk (button) is masculine inanimate
- nominative singular: kolorowy przycisk
winda (elevator) is feminine
- nominative singular: kolorowa winda

Adjectives change their ending to agree with the noun’s gender, number, and case:

masculine nominative singular: kolorowy przycisk
feminine nominative singular: kolorowa winda
feminine locative singular: kolorowej windzie (e.g. w kolorowej windzie – in the colorful elevator)

So: kolorowy matches przycisk (masculine), kolorowa would match winda (feminine).

Could I say kolorowe przycisk or kolorowego przycisk instead of kolorowy przycisk?

No, both would be incorrect here.

We need adjective–noun agreement:

Noun: przycisk, masculine inanimate, accusative singular
For masculine inanimate, accusative singular = nominative singular:
- kolorowy przycisk

The forms you suggested:

kolorowe przycisk – kolorowe is neuter or non-masculine plural; it does not match przycisk.
kolorowego przycisk – kolorowego is masculine genitive / accusative (for animate); but przycisk is inanimate, so this is wrong in this context.

So the only correct form in this sentence is kolorowy przycisk.

Why do we use w and not na for elevator here?

In Polish, the choice between w (in) and na (on/at) is partly logical and partly idiomatic.

W windzie literally means in the elevator, i.e. inside the cabin. This is the standard way to talk about being inside an elevator.
Na windzie would mean on the elevator (physically on top of it), which is very unusual and would sound strange unless you literally mean someone is standing on the roof of the elevator.

So for normal, everyday use:

w windzie = in the elevator (correct here)
na is used with other places, like na dworcu (at the station), na lotnisku (at the airport), na przystanku (at the stop), but w windzie is the natural collocation.

What case is w windzie, and how is winda declined to get windzie?

W windzie uses the locative case, because w with a static location takes locative.

Declension of winda (feminine, singular):

Nominative: winda (the elevator – subject)
Genitive: windy
Dative: windzie
Accusative: windę
Instrumental: windą
Locative: windzie
Vocative: windo (rarely used)

So in w windzie, you have:

preposition w (in)
winda in the locative singular → windzie

How should I pronounce dzieci, naciskają, and windzie?

Very roughly, in an English-friendly way:

dzieci → [JYEH-chee]
- dz
  - ie = like a soft j sound in jeans, but softer
- stress on the first syllable: DZIE-ci
naciskają → [na-chee-SKAH-yon] (nasal ą at the end)
- ci in naciskają is like chee
- ją at the end is like yon but nasal
- stress on ska: na-ci-SKA-ją
windzie → [VEEN-jyeh]
- w → like English v
- dzi → like a soft j in jeans, then eh
- stress on win: WIN-dzie (but with that soft dz sound)

Remember: in Polish, stress is almost always on the second-to-last syllable.