Learn Hardcore Polish: On mówi o rodzinie. - He talks about the family.

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.

Does o always mean about, and does it always take the locative case?

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.

Why is there no word for the in On mówi o rodzinie?

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.

How do I say He is talking about his family or her family more precisely?

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.

Can I drop On and just say Mówi o rodzinie?

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.

Does On mówi o rodzinie describe something happening right now or in general?

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.

What verb form is mówi, and what is the infinitive?

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.

What is the difference between mówić, rozmawiać, and gadać?

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.

Is word order flexible in On mówi o rodzinie? Can I move parts around?

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.

How do I pronounce On mówi o rodzinie?

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.