Learn Hardcore Polish: Mojemu bratu nie podoba się hałas w centrum, woli ciszę na tarasie. - My brother does not like the noise in the center; he prefers silence on the terrace.

Mojemu bratu nie podoba się hałas w centrum, woli ciszę na tarasie.

My brother does not like the noise in the center; he prefers silence on the terrace.

Breakdown of Mojemu bratu nie podoba się hałas w centrum, woli ciszę na tarasie.

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Questions & Answers about Mojemu bratu nie podoba się hałas w centrum, woli ciszę na tarasie.

Why is it Mojemu bratu and not Mój brat at the beginning?

Because podobać się (to be pleasing to someone) takes the dative case for the person who experiences the feeling.

Mój brat = nominative (subject form) – “my brother” as the grammatical subject.
Mojemu bratu = dative – “to my brother”.

The structure with podobać się is:

Coś (something, nominative) + podoba się
- komuś (to someone, dative).

So here:

hałas = “the noise” (subject, nominative)
mojemu bratu = “to my brother” (experiencer, dative)

Literally: “The noise in the centre does not please my brother.”

That’s why you need the dative form Mojemu bratu, not Mój brat.

How does the construction podoba się work? Who is the subject and who “likes” what?

In Polish, podobać się is roughly “to be pleasing (to someone)”.

Pattern:

Coś (something, nominative) podoba się komuś (to someone, dative).

In the sentence:

hałas = subject (nominative singular)
podoba się = verb + reflexive particle
mojemu bratu = indirect object in dative (“to my brother”)

Conceptually:

English: “My brother doesn’t like the noise in the centre.”
Polish structure: “The noise in the centre does not please my brother.”

So grammatically, hałas is doing the “pleasing” (or not pleasing), and mojemu bratu is the person affected by it.

What is the difference between nie podoba się and nie lubi here? Could I say Mój brat nie lubi hałasu w centrum?

Yes, you can say Mój brat nie lubi hałasu w centrum, and it’s correct. But the two verbs behave differently and feel slightly different:

podobać się (with dative)
- Structure: coś
  - podoba się
    - komuś
- Focuses on how something appears/feels to someone, often more about impression or aesthetic/subjective reaction.
- Our sentence:
  Mojemu bratu nie podoba się hałas w centrum.
  Literally “The noise in the centre does not please my brother.”
lubić (with accusative)
- Structure: ktoś
  - lubi
    - coś/kogoś
- More like the English “to like”, general liking or disliking.
- Alternative sentence:
  Mój brat nie lubi hałasu w centrum.
  “My brother doesn’t like the noise in the centre.”

Nuance:

nie podoba się – the noise (as a phenomenon) is unpleasant to him.
nie lubi – more straightforward: he dislikes noise in the centre (more habitual / general).

You just have to keep the grammar consistent:

Mojemu bratu nie podoba się hałas (dative + nominative), not Mojemu bratu nie lubi hałas.
Mój brat nie lubi hałasu (nominative + accusative/genitive), not Mój brat nie podoba hałas.

What cases are used for hałas, ciszę, w centrum, and na tarasie, and why?

Here are the key case roles in the sentence:

hałas – nominative singular
It is the subject of nie podoba się. Something that “is pleasing / not pleasing” is always in nominative.
mojemu bratu – dative singular
The person who something is pleasing (or not pleasing) to: komu? czemu? → bratu.
ciszę – accusative singular of cisza
Object of woli (“prefers what?”).
Pattern for cisza (feminine):
- nominative: cisza
- accusative: ciszę
w centrum – locative singular
After w with a static location (where?), Polish uses the locative: w centrum = “in the centre”.
na tarasie – locative singular of taras
After na with a static location (where?), again locative:
- nominative: taras
- locative: (na) tarasie

So:

subject (nominative): hałas
experiencer (dative): mojemu bratu
direct object of woli (accusative): ciszę
locations (locative): w centrum, na tarasie

Why is it w centrum and not something like w centrumie?

The noun centrum is a neuter loanword ending in -um (from Latin). For this type of noun, many cases in the singular look the same, including the locative.

Singular forms of centrum (standard usage):

nominative: centrum
genitive: centrum
dative: centrum
accusative: centrum
instrumental: centrum
locative: (w) centrum

So w centrum is the correct, natural form for “in the centre”.
A form like w centrumie is non‑standard / incorrect in contemporary standard Polish.

Why is it ciszę and not cisza?

Because ciszę is the accusative form of cisza, and woli (from woleć, “to prefer”) takes its object in the accusative:

woleć + kogo? co? (accusative) → woli ciszę

Declension of cisza (feminine):

nominative: cisza (who/what? – subject form)
accusative: ciszę (whom/what? as object)

So:

“Silence is nice.” → Cisza jest miła. (nominative)
“He prefers silence.” → Woli ciszę. (accusative)

Why is it na tarasie and not na taras?

It depends on whether you’re talking about location (where?) or movement (where to?).

Location (where?) → na
- locative
- na tarasie = “on the terrace”
- Example: Woli ciszę na tarasie. – He prefers silence on the terrace.
Movement (where to?) → na
- accusative
- na taras = “onto the terrace”
- Example: Wychodzi na taras. – He goes onto the terrace.

In your sentence we are talking about a place where the silence is enjoyed (a static location), so we use the locative form: na tarasie.

What does woli come from, and how would it change with different persons (I, you, they)?

Woli is the 3rd person singular present tense of the verb woleć (“to prefer”).

Present tense of woleć:

ja wolę – I prefer
ty wolisz – you prefer (singular, informal)
on / ona / ono woli – he / she / it prefers
my wolimy – we prefer
wy wolicie – you prefer (plural)
oni / one wolą – they prefer

So you could say, for example:

Wolę ciszę na tarasie. – I prefer the silence on the terrace.
Oni wolą hałas w centrum. – They prefer the noise in the centre.

Can the word order change, for example to Hałas w centrum nie podoba się mojemu bratu? Does that change the meaning?

Yes, Polish word order is flexible, and Hałas w centrum nie podoba się mojemu bratu is fully correct. The basic meaning remains the same.

Two versions:

Mojemu bratu nie podoba się hałas w centrum.
- Slightly stronger focus on mojemu bratu (“As for my brother, he doesn’t like the noise…”).
Hałas w centrum nie podoba się mojemu bratu.
- Slightly stronger focus on hałas w centrum (“The noise in the centre is what my brother doesn’t like…”).

Semantically they say the same thing; the difference is mainly in emphasis and information flow, not in factual content.

Where can się go in this sentence? Could I say Mojemu bratu się nie podoba hałas?

Się is an unstressed clitic and normally appears close to the verb, often after the first stressed phrase. In your context, these are natural options:

Mojemu bratu nie podoba się hałas w centrum. (very common)
Mojemu bratu się nie podoba hałas w centrum. (also correct, with a bit more emphasis on not liking)

Important points:

You cannot split nie from the verb with się:
- ❌ Mojemu bratu nie się podoba hałas… – incorrect.
You cannot start the sentence with się:
- ❌ Się hałas nie podoba… – incorrect.

So yes, Mojemu bratu się nie podoba hałas w centrum is grammatically correct and sounds natural, just slightly more emphatic than the original word order.

Do we always need the possessive mojemu, or could we just say Bratu nie podoba się hałas w centrum…?

Grammatically, you can say:

Bratu nie podoba się hałas w centrum, woli ciszę na tarasie.

However:

At the beginning of a context, with no prior reference, Poles would usually clarify whose brother it is:
Mojemu bratu / Mój brat.
Once the person has been introduced, the possessive is often omitted when it’s obvious from context, especially with close family members and body parts.

So:

First mention:
Mój brat nie lubi hałasu w centrum. Bratu nie podoba się tłum…
(Second “bratu” can drop “mojemu” because we already know whose.)

In your one-sentence example, Mojemu bratu is stylistically very natural, especially as the sentence opener.

How would this sentence change if the person were female (my sister instead of my brother)?

You would need the feminine forms of both the noun and the possessive adjective in the dative case:

Mojemu bratu → Mojej siostrze

Full sentence:

Mojej siostrze nie podoba się hałas w centrum, woli ciszę na tarasie.

Changes:

brat (brother, masc.) → siostra (sister, fem.)
dative:
- bratu → siostrze
- mojemu → mojej

All the other parts of the sentence (nie podoba się hałas w centrum, woli ciszę na tarasie) stay the same.