Learn Hardcore Polish: Moja ciocia gotuje najlepszą zupę, a wujek zawsze piecze ciasto. - My aunt cooks the best soup, and my uncle always bakes cake.

Base form (nominative): najlepsza zupa – “the best soup” (used as a subject: Najlepsza zupa jest gorąca – “The best soup is hot.”)
Accusative (object): najlepszą zupę – “(she cooks) the best soup”

For feminine -a nouns:

nominative: zupa
accusative: zupę

The adjective must match the noun in gender, number, and case, so:

nominative: najlepsza zupa
accusative: najlepszą zupę

Why does zupa change to zupę, but ciasto stays ciasto?

Because zupa is feminine and ciasto is neuter.

For feminine -a nouns:

nominative (subject): zupa
accusative (object): zupę

For neuter nouns (like ciasto):

nominative: ciasto
accusative: ciasto (no change)

So:

gotuje zupę – “(she) cooks soup”
piecze ciasto – “(he) bakes cake”

Both zupę and ciasto are objects in the accusative case, but only the feminine one changes its ending.

Why is it moja ciocia but just wujek, without mój?

Polish often drops possessive pronouns (like “my”) with close family members when it’s obvious whose family we’re talking about.

So all of these are grammatically correct:

Moja ciocia gotuje… a mój wujek zawsze piecze…
Moja ciocia gotuje… a wujek zawsze piecze…
Ciocia gotuje… a wujek zawsze piecze…

The version in the sentence emphasizes moja ciocia (“my aunt”) but treats wujek (“uncle”) as contextually understood (probably the same aunt’s husband, or “our uncle” in the family context). Native speakers frequently omit mój / moja here.

Why is it moja ciocia and not mój ciocia?

Because moja/mój/moje must agree with the gender of the noun.

ciocia (aunt) is feminine → moja ciocia
wujek (uncle) is masculine → mój wujek
ciasto (cake) is neuter → moje ciasto

So:

moja mama, moja ciocia (feminine)
mój tata, mój wujek (masculine)
moje dziecko, moje ciasto (neuter)

What is the difference between a and i? Why use a here?

Both a and i can mean “and”, but they’re used slightly differently:

i = simple “and”, joining similar things without contrast
- Mama i tata są w domu. – “Mom and Dad are at home.”
a = “and / while / whereas”, often showing contrast or alternation
- Moja ciocia gotuje najlepszą zupę, a wujek zawsze piecze ciasto.
  → “My aunt cooks the best soup, while my uncle always bakes cake.”

Here a suggests a kind of contrast: the aunt specializes in soup, while the uncle specializes in cake. Using i would be possible, but a sounds more natural and expressive in this context.

What’s the difference between ciocia and ciotka, and between wujek and wuj?

These pairs differ mainly in tone and formality:

ciocia – affectionate, informal, very common in speech, like “auntie”
ciotka – more neutral or sometimes slightly colder; also used in fixed phrases and some dialects
wujek – affectionate, normal everyday word for “uncle”
wuj – more formal / bookish, or used in set expressions; less common in everyday speech

In typical family talk, people overwhelmingly say:

ciocia Ania, wujek Marek

Why is gotuje used here, and not the infinitive gotować?

Gotować is the infinitive: “to cook”.
In the sentence we need a conjugated verb that matches the subject moja ciocia (3rd person singular).

Present tense of gotować:

(ja) gotuję – I cook
(ty) gotujesz – you cook
(on/ona/ono) gotuje – he/she/it cooks
(my) gotujemy – we cook
(wy) gotujecie – you (pl.) cook
(oni/one) gotują – they cook

So moja ciocia gotuje = “my aunt cooks / is cooking”.

What about piecze? What verb is that from, and why this form?

Piecze is the 3rd person singular present of piec (“to bake”).

Present tense of piec:

(ja) piekę – I bake
(ty) pieczesz – you bake
(on/ona/ono) piecze – he/she/it bakes
(my) pieczemy – we bake
(wy) pieczecie – you (pl.) bake
(oni/one) pieką – they bake

So wujek zawsze piecze ciasto = “(my) uncle always bakes cake.”

Are gotuje and piecze imperfective or perfective? How does that affect the meaning?

Both gotuje (from gotować) and piecze (from piec) are imperfective forms.

Imperfective verbs in Polish:

describe ongoing or repeated/habitual actions
are used with adverbs like zawsze (“always”)

So:

Moja ciocia gotuje najlepszą zupę – expresses a general ability / habit.
Wujek zawsze piecze ciasto – “Uncle always bakes cake” (repeated habit).

Perfective partners would be:

ugotować (to cook something to completion: ugotuje – “(she) will cook” / “will have cooked”)
upiec (to bake to completion: upiecze – “(he) will bake” / “will have baked”)

Those are not used with zawsze for general habits.

Why is there no word for “the” in “the best soup” or “the cake”?

Polish has no articles (“a / an / the”). The meaning that English expresses with articles is conveyed by:

context
word order
adjectives (like najlepsza – “best”)
sometimes pronouns or demonstratives (ta zupa – “this soup / that soup”)

So:

najlepszą zupę can mean “the best soup” or “the best kind of soup”
ciasto can be “a cake”, “cake”, or “the cake” depending on context

In this sentence, in natural English we’d say:

“My aunt cooks the best soup, and my uncle always bakes cake / a cake.”

Can I swap the order and say Wujek zawsze piecze ciasto, a moja ciocia gotuje najlepszą zupę?

Yes, that sentence is perfectly correct and natural.

The meaning stays the same; you just change which part is mentioned first. Polish word order is relatively flexible, so both are fine:

Moja ciocia gotuje najlepszą zupę, a wujek zawsze piecze ciasto.
Wujek zawsze piecze ciasto, a moja ciocia gotuje najlepszą zupę.

The first one slightly emphasizes the aunt first; the second emphasizes the uncle first.

How do you pronounce ciocia and wujek?

Approximate English-like pronunciation:

ciocia → CHO-cha
- cio = “cho” (soft ch, tongue near the teeth)
- cia = “cha” (but again soft, not as harsh as in “chair”)

Technically:

ci is a soft ć sound + i, something between “chy” and “tchy”
Stress on the first syllable: CIO-cia
wujek → roughly VOO-yek
- w in Polish = English “v”
- u = “oo” in “food”
- jek like “yek” in “yek”

Stress again on the first syllable: WU-jek (with w pronounced like v).

How do you pronounce the ę at the end of zupę?

In zupę, the final ę is a nasal vowel.

In careful pronunciation, especially before a pause, it’s somewhat like “en” or “e” + light nasalization: ZUP-en (but don’t fully say the n).
In fast everyday speech, many people pronounce final -ę almost like plain -e: zupe (still written zupę).

Key point: you must write zupę (with ę) in this case, even if in rapid speech it sounds close to zupę / zupe.

What does zawsze do to the meaning of piecze? Could you leave it out?

Zawsze means “always” and shows that the action is habitual:

Wujek piecze ciasto. – “Uncle bakes cake.” (general statement – could mean he is baking now, or that he bakes cake as something he does.)
Wujek zawsze piecze ciasto. – “Uncle always bakes cake.” (stronger: every time / as a rule)

You can leave zawsze out; the sentence stays grammatical, but you lose the “always” meaning.

Does ciasto mean “cake” or “dough” or “pastry”?

Ciasto is a broad word; it can mean:

dough / batter – the raw mixture of flour, eggs, etc.
- Ciasto jest jeszcze surowe. – “The dough is still raw.”
cake / pastry / baked sweet – the finished product
- Lubię domowe ciasto. – “I like homemade cake / pastry.”

In your sentence:

wujek zawsze piecze ciasto
is naturally understood as “My uncle always bakes cake” (or “some kind of cake/pastry”).