Learn Hardcore Polish: Na weselu atmosfera bywa głośna, ale dziś chcą spokojnej uroczystości. - At a wedding the atmosphere can be loud, but today they want a calm ceremony.

na is very often used with:
- events: na weselu (at a wedding party), na koncercie (at a concert), na spotkaniu (at a meeting)
- open or flat spaces: na plaży (on the beach), na stadionie (at the stadium)
w is more for being inside something:
- w domu (in the house)
- w sklepie (in the shop)

A wedding party is treated more like an event you attend than a physical container you are inside, so Polish uses na weselu, not w weselu.

Why is it weselu and not wesele? What case is that?

Weselu is the locative case (Polish: miejscownik) of wesele (“wedding party”).

Nominative (dictionary form): wesele – “a wedding (party)”
Locative singular: weselu

The locative is used in Polish mainly:

after some prepositions, especially when talking about location: w, na, o, przy, po (when they answer “where?”)
Example:
- w domu (in the house) – dom → domu
- na weselu (at the wedding) – wesele → weselu

So na weselu literally means “on/at (the) wedding (party)” and weselu is in the locative case because of the preposition na in a static “where?” sense.

What’s the difference between bywa and jest in atmosfera bywa głośna?

Both relate to “to be”, but:

jest = “is” (a straightforward statement of fact, often about now or a more general truth)
- Atmosfera jest głośna. – The atmosphere is loud. (right now, or always, quite strongly stated)
bywa is the 3rd person singular of bywać, which means something like:
- “tends to be”
- “can be”
- “is (at times)” / “is usually”

So:

Na weselu atmosfera bywa głośna ≈ “At weddings the atmosphere tends to be loud / can be loud.”
It suggests a habitual or typical situation, not an absolute rule. Using bywa softens it and makes it sound like you’re talking about what usually happens, not what always happens.

Why is it głośna and not something like głośną?

Głośna is an adjective (“loud”) in the nominative feminine singular, agreeing with atmosfera:

atmosfera – feminine singular noun, nominative
głośna – feminine singular adjective, nominative

In Polish, after the verb być (and bywać) the adjective stands in the nominative case, agreeing with the subject:

Atmosfera jest głośna. – The atmosphere is loud.
Kawa jest gorąca. – The coffee is hot.
Film był nudny. – The movie was boring.

So głośna must match atmosfera in:

gender: feminine
number: singular
case: nominative

Why is chcą used without a subject pronoun like oni? How do I know who “wants”?

In Polish, subject pronouns (ja, ty, on, ona, my, wy, oni, one) are often dropped when the verb form already makes the subject clear from its ending.

chcą is 3rd person plural (they want)
So oni/one (they) is usually omitted unless you want extra emphasis or contrast.

Examples:

Chcą spokojnej uroczystości. – They want a calm ceremony.
Oni chcą spokojnej uroczystości, a nie ja. – They want a calm ceremony, not me. (emphasis on they)

You know it’s “they” from the -ą ending on chcą, which is the standard 3rd person plural ending for many present-tense verbs.

Why is it spokojnej uroczystości and not spokojna uroczystość or spokojną uroczystość?

This is about case and the verb chcieć (“to want”).

What case is it?
- uroczystości here is in the genitive singular:
  - nominative: uroczystość – “ceremony / celebration”
  - genitive: uroczystości
- spokojnej is the adjective spokojny (“calm”) in genitive feminine singular, agreeing with uroczystości.
Why genitive?
The verb chcieć normally takes the genitive when you mean “to want some of something / to want something as a general wish”:
- Chcę kawy. – I want (some) coffee.
- Chcą spokojnej uroczystości. – They want a calm ceremony (they want the ceremony to be calm in character).

You can also hear chcieć with accusative in colloquial speech, especially for concrete, countable things:

Chcę kawę. – I want a coffee (one coffee).
Chcą spokojną uroczystość. – They want a calm ceremony. (more like “they want this particular event to be a calm one”)

In your sentence, spokojnej uroczystości (genitive) fits the more neutral/standard pattern chcieć + genitive and sounds like wishing for the overall nature of the event to be calm, not grabbing a specific object.

What’s the difference between wesele and uroczystość here? Don’t they both mean “wedding/celebration”?

They overlap but aren’t the same:

wesele
- specifically: the wedding party / reception (often with food, music, dancing)
- It’s the event after the marriage ceremony.
- Example: Idziemy na wesele. – We’re going to the wedding party.
uroczystość
- more general: ceremony / celebration / formal event
- can be religious, official, or family-related:
  - uroczystość ślubna – wedding ceremony
  - uroczystość rodzinna – family celebration
  - uroczystość państwowa – state ceremony

In the sentence:

Na weselu atmosfera bywa głośna – At (wedding) parties, the atmosphere tends to be loud.
ale dziś chcą spokojnej uroczystości – but today they want a calm ceremony/celebration.

So the speaker contrasts:

typical loud wedding party
with their wish for a calmer, more subdued event today (not necessarily only the party part).

Can I change the word order, for example to Atmosfera na weselu bywa głośna? Does it change the meaning?

Yes, you can change the word order quite freely in Polish. The basic meaning stays the same, but the focus/emphasis can shift slightly.

All of these are grammatically correct:

Na weselu atmosfera bywa głośna.
- Neutral, with a slight emphasis on “at a wedding (as a setting), the atmosphere tends to be loud.”
Atmosfera na weselu bywa głośna.
- Slightly more emphasis on atmosfera (“The atmosphere at a wedding tends to be loud”).
Na weselu bywa głośna atmosfera.
- A bit marked; it can sound like you’re contrasting with some other type of atmosphere, e.g. “At weddings the loud atmosphere tends to appear” (vs some other mood somewhere else).

Polish uses word order more for information structure and emphasis than for basic grammar roles (subject/object). The core grammatical relations are shown by endings, not position.

Does dziś mean exactly the same as dzisiaj? Could I say ale dzisiaj chcą spokojnej uroczystości?

Yes, dziś and dzisiaj are essentially the same word: “today”.

dziś – shorter, a bit more literary or neutral
dzisiaj – a bit more colloquial, very common in everyday speech

You can say either:

ale dziś chcą spokojnej uroczystości
ale dzisiaj chcą spokojnej uroczystości

Both are correct and natural. The difference is just a slight stylistic preference.

Why is everything in the present tense if we’re talking about a general situation and about “today”? Could it be future?

Polish present tense covers:

General truths / habitual actions
- Na weselu atmosfera bywa głośna.
  – At weddings the atmosphere tends to be loud.
  This is a general, habitual statement in the present tense.
What someone wants now (possibly about a near future event)
- ale dziś chcą spokojnej uroczystości.
  – But today they want a calm ceremony.
  They currently have this wish; the ceremony might be later today, but their wanting is “now”.

If you wanted a clear future form, you could modify it, e.g.:

ale dziś będą chcieli spokojnej uroczystości. – but today they will want a calm ceremony.

However, in natural Polish, the present tense is completely fine here, especially because:

the wanting is about today
the context makes it obvious you’re talking about this particular wedding/ceremony.