Kiedy w domu jest ciemność, latarka leży zawsze na tym samym stole.

When there is darkness at home, the flashlight always lies on the same table.

Breakdown of Kiedy w domu jest ciemność, latarka leży zawsze na tym samym stole.

• być: to be
• dom: the house
• w: in
• na: on

Questions & Answers about Kiedy w domu jest ciemność, latarka leży zawsze na tym samym stole.

Why does the sentence use „kiedy w domu jest ciemność” and not the more common „kiedy w domu jest ciemno”? Are they both correct?

Both are grammatically correct, but they feel different in style:

• Kiedy w domu jest ciemno
  = “When it is dark in the house.”
  This is the most natural, everyday way to say it. Ciemno works like a predicative adverb (“it’s dark”).

• Kiedy w domu jest ciemność
  = literally “When there is darkness in the house.”
  This sounds more formal, literary, or dramatic, because ciemność is a noun (“darkness”).

In normal spoken Polish, a native speaker would almost always say: > Kiedy w domu jest ciemno, latarka zawsze leży na tym samym stole.

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In English we say “When it is dark in the house”. Why doesn’t Polish use an “it” here?

Polish usually does not need a dummy subject like English it:

• English: It is dark.
• Polish: Jest ciemno. (literally “Is dark.”)

Polish allows the verb to appear without an explicit subject in such impersonal expressions describing weather, light, temperature, etc.:

• Jest zimno. – It’s cold.
• Było jasno. – It was bright.
• W domu jest ciemno. – It is dark in the house.

So no word for “it” is needed; the structure itself tells you it’s an impersonal “it”-situation.

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