On mówi o rodzinie.

The basic dictionary form is rodzina (nominative case: a family / the family).

In the sentence On mówi o rodzinie, rodzinie is not the subject; it follows the preposition o.

• The preposition o (in the sense of about) requires the locative case.
• The locative singular of rodzina is rodzinie (ending -ie).

So rodzina → rodzinie simply shows the grammatical role: about (the) family.

Rodzinie is in the locative case (przypadek miejscownik).

The locative:

• Almost always appears after certain prepositions, such as o, w, na, po, przy (in some of their meanings).
• Often answers questions like o kim? o czym? (about whom? about what?) or w kim? w czym? (in whom? in what?).

Examples:

• Myślę o rodzinie. – I’m thinking about (the) family.
• Mieszkam w Warszawie. – I live in Warsaw.
• Na uniwersytecie – at the university.

So in On mówi o rodzinie, the locative marks the topic of speaking.

In this sentence, o means about and takes the locative: mówić o + locative.

However:

• With verbs of speaking/thinking/reading, o normally = about

  • locative:
  • mówić o czymś – to talk about something
  • czytać o czymś – to read about something
  • myśleć o kimś – to think about someone

• O also has other meanings and may take different cases. For example:

  • Walczyć o pokój. – to fight for peace (o + accusative)
  • O siódmej. – at seven o’clock (o + locative, but meaning at (time))

So: in On mówi o rodzinie, you can safely read o as about + locative.

Polish has no articles (no a / an / the), so you simply don’t add anything here.

• rodzinie can mean the family, a family, or family (in general).
• The exact nuance (the, a, his, her, etc.) is understood from context, not from an article.

So On mówi o rodzinie can be translated as:

• He talks about the family.
• He talks about his family.
• He talks about family (as a topic in general).

The English article is chosen when you translate, based on what you mean.

You add a possessive adjective, and it must also be in the locative:

• On mówi o swojej rodzinie. – He is talking about his own family.
• On mówi o jego rodzinie. – He is talking about his (another man’s) family.
• On mówi o jej rodzinie. – He is talking about her family.
• On mówi o mojej rodzinie. – He is talking about my family.

Notes:

• swojej rodzinie is the reflexive form: used when the family belongs to the subject (he talks about his own family).
• jego / jej are used when the family belongs to someone else, not the subject.

Grammatically, all these forms (swojej, jego, jej, mojej) are in the locative to match o.

Yes. Polish is a pro-drop language: the subject pronoun is often omitted when it is clear from context or from the verb ending.

• On mówi o rodzinie. – He talks about the family.
• Mówi o rodzinie. – (He/She) talks about the family.

The verb ending -i in mówi shows 3rd person singular, so in context you usually know whether it’s he or she.

When you keep the pronoun, it can add emphasis or contrast:

• To on mówi o rodzinie, nie ona. – It is he who is talking about the family, not her.

The Polish present tense usually covers both English:

• He talks about the family. (habitual, general)
• He is talking about the family. (right now)

So On mówi o rodzinie can mean either, depending on context.

If you want to make “right now” clearer, you can add a time word:

• On teraz mówi o rodzinie. – He is talking about the family now.
• On często mówi o rodzinie. – He often talks about the family.

• The infinitive is mówić – to speak, to talk, to say.
• mówi is 3rd person singular present tense: he/she speaks / is speaking.

A short part of the present-tense conjugation:

• ja mówię – I speak
• ty mówisz – you (singular) speak
• on / ona / ono mówi – he / she / it speaks
• my mówimy – we speak
• wy mówicie – you (plural) speak
• oni / one mówią – they speak

In our sentence, on mówi = he speaks / he is speaking.

All three can relate to talking, but they are used differently:

• mówić – to speak / to talk / to say

  • Can be one-directional: one person speaks, others listen.
  • On mówi o rodzinie. – He talks about the family.

• rozmawiać – to talk with / to have a conversation

  • Implies a two-way conversation.
  • On rozmawia z kolegą o rodzinie. – He is talking with a friend about the family.

• gadać – informal, to chat / to talk a lot / to gab

  • Colloquial, more casual; can sound a bit careless or gossipy in some contexts.
  • Gadamy o rodzinie. – We’re chatting about family.

So On mówi o rodzinie focuses on what he is saying rather than on a mutual conversation.

Yes, Polish word order is relatively flexible, though On mówi o rodzinie is the most neutral.

Possible variants:

• On o rodzinie mówi. – Slight emphasis on o rodzinie (the topic).
• O rodzinie on mówi. – Stronger focus on o rodzinie; e.g. contrasting with another topic:
  
  • O pracy nie mówi, o rodzinie on mówi. – He doesn’t talk about work, he talks about family.

The core meaning (he talks about the family) remains the same; word order mainly changes emphasis and focus, not basic grammar.

Approximate pronunciation (IPA):
/ɔn ˈmuvʲi ɔ rɔˈd͡ʑiɲɛ/

Broken down:

• On – like English on, but short: on.

• mówi – MOO-vee

  • ó sounds like English oo in food.
  • Stress on mó: MÓ-wi.

• o – a short o, like in not (but shorter).

• rodzinie – roughly ro-JEE-nyeh

  • ro – like ro in rock (but shorter).
  • dzi before i makes a soft sound similar to j in jeans: dʑi ≈ jee.
  • nie – like nyeh; the n is softened by i.

Stress in Polish is almost always on the second-to-last syllable:
ON MÓ-wi o ro-DZI-nie.