Learn Hardcore Polish: Uroczystość odbędzie się jutro w muzeum. - The ceremony will take place tomorrow in the museum.

…it’s understandable, but it sounds a bit more casual and slightly less natural in this context. Odbędzie się is the standard verb used for scheduled events like ceremonies, meetings, concerts, etc. It sounds more official and idiomatic.

What tense and form is odbędzie się?

Odbędzie się is:

Future tense
3rd person singular
Perfective (completed action)
Reflexive verb odbyć się (“to take place”) in the future.

So structurally:

odbyć się – infinitive, perfective
odbędzie się – “it will take place” (once, as a complete event)

What is the role of się here? Can we drop it?

Się is the reflexive particle; it’s part of the verb odbyć się.

odbyć się – “to take place / to be held”
odbędzie się – “will take place”

You cannot drop się here.

✗ Uroczystość odbędzie jutro w muzeum – ungrammatical.

Think of odbyć się as a fixed reflexive verb that always needs się.

What grammatical form is uroczystość? Is it feminine?

Uroczystość is:

Noun
Feminine
Nominative singular in this sentence
Meaning: “ceremony, celebration”

You can see it’s feminine because similar nouns ending in -ość are usually feminine, e.g.:

możliwość (possibility) – feminine
trudność (difficulty) – feminine

Why does the verb look the same even though uroczystość is feminine? Shouldn’t it show gender?

In the 3rd person singular (he / she / it), Polish verbs in the present and future tense do not show gender:

On / ona / ono odbędzie się – “he / she / it will take place” → form odbędzie is the same.

Gender appears clearly in the past tense, not here. For example, with another verb:

On poszedł. – He went.
Ona poszła. – She went.

But for the future of odbyć się, it’s always odbędzie się for he / she / it / the ceremony / the concert, etc.

What case is muzeum in, and why doesn’t it change form?

After w (“in”), you normally use the locative case for stationary location:

w muzeum – in the museum (locative)

Muzeum is a neuter noun whose nominative and locative singular look the same:

Nominative: muzeum – “museum”
Locative: w muzeum – “in the museum”

So the form doesn’t change, but the function in the sentence is locative because of the preposition w (+ locative, no movement).

Could I say do muzeum instead of w muzeum here?

No, not in this sentence.

w muzeum – in the museum (location, where something takes place)
do muzeum – to the museum (direction, movement toward)

Your sentence describes where the ceremony will be held, not where someone is going, so w muzeum is correct:

Uroczystość odbędzie się w muzeum. – It takes place in the museum.
Idę do muzeum. – I’m going to the museum.

Is the word order fixed, or can I move jutro or w muzeum around?

Polish word order is flexible. All of these are grammatically correct, with slightly different emphasis:

Uroczystość odbędzie się jutro w muzeum. (neutral)
Uroczystość odbędzie się w muzeum jutro. (mild emphasis on tomorrow)
Jutro uroczystość odbędzie się w muzeum. (emphasis on tomorrow)
W muzeum jutro odbędzie się uroczystość. (emphasis on in the museum tomorrow)

The basic meaning doesn’t change; only the focus or style does.

Why do we just say jutro for “tomorrow” and not something like “on tomorrow”?

Polish time adverbs like:

jutro – tomorrow
dzisiaj – today
wczoraj – yesterday

are used without prepositions when you specify “when” something happens:

Odbędzie się jutro. – It will take place tomorrow.
Spotkanie jest dzisiaj. – The meeting is today.
Koncert był wczoraj. – The concert was yesterday.

So you don’t say “na jutro” or “w jutro” in this meaning. You just use jutro alone.

Is this sentence formal, neutral, or informal? How would I say it more casually?

Uroczystość odbędzie się jutro w muzeum. is neutral to formal. It sounds like what you’d see in an announcement or invitation.

A more casual version might be:

Impreza jest jutro w muzeum. – The party is tomorrow at the museum.
Ceremonia jest jutro w muzeum. – using ceremonia instead of uroczystość, which many learners find easier.

But for official events, uroczystość odbędzie się is very natural and standard.

How would I say the same idea in the past or present?

Using odbyć się (perfective) and its imperfective partner odbywać się:

Future (one-time event):
Uroczystość odbędzie się jutro w muzeum.
– The ceremony will take place tomorrow in the museum.
Past (one-time, completed event):
Uroczystość odbyła się wczoraj w muzeum.
– The ceremony took place yesterday in the museum.
Present (ongoing / habitual – with imperfective):
Uroczystość odbywa się dzisiaj w muzeum.
– The ceremony is taking place today in the museum.
Uroczystości odbywają się co roku w muzeum.
– Ceremonies take place every year in the museum.

Can I use another verb instead of odbyć się, like mieć miejsce?

Yes. Two common alternatives:

mieć miejsce – “to take place” (literally “to have place”)
- Uroczystość będzie miała miejsce jutro w muzeum.
być – “to be” (more neutral, less formal-sounding):
- Uroczystość jest jutro w muzeum.

However, odbyć się is the single most idiomatic verb for scheduled events like uroczystość, spotkanie, konferencja, koncert etc., especially in announcements.

How do I pronounce the tricky parts: uroczystość, odbędzie, się?

Approximate English-based hints (not perfect, but helpful):

uroczystość – [u-ro-chy-stoshch]
- cz = like ch in church
- ś = soft sh, tongue closer to the palate
- final ść = soft shch sound, but quite short
odbędzie – [od-ben-dzye]
- d
  - bę is like “od-ben”
- dzie = soft “dje”, similar to “j” in “jeans” plus e
się – [śe] roughly “shye”, with the Polish soft ś

In actual Polish, consonants are more palatal (softer) than in English, especially ś, ć, ź, dź.