Learn Hardcore Polish: Kiedy ona cicho gra na pianinie, dziadek odkłada gitarę i słucha w ciszy. - When she quietly plays the piano, grandpa puts the guitar down and listens in silence.

kiedy – neutral, very common in both speech and writing.
gdy – a bit more formal or literary, but also perfectly correct here:
Gdy ona cicho gra na pianinie, dziadek odkłada gitarę…
jak – more colloquial and regional in this meaning of when, used in some dialects and casual speech, but not always recommended in standard written Polish.

So:

kiedy – safest, most neutral choice (good here).
gdy – also correct, just slightly more formal.
jak – mostly for informal spoken Polish, and not all teachers will encourage it.

Why is the pronoun ona used? Could I just say Kiedy cicho gra na pianinie?

In Polish, subject pronouns (ja, ty, on, ona, ono, my, wy, oni, one) are usually optional, because the verb ending already shows the person and number.

So you can say:

Kiedy ona cicho gra na pianinie…
Kiedy cicho gra na pianinie…

Both are grammatically correct.

Including ona:

adds emphasis or contrast (e.g. when *she plays, not someone else*);
can clarify who you are talking about if the context is not obvious.

Leaving it out is more typical in neutral, flowing narration when the subject is already clear from context.

Why is it cicho gra, not gra cicho? Where does the adverb normally go?

Both word orders are possible:

Ona cicho gra na pianinie.
Ona gra cicho na pianinie.

In Polish, adverbs like cicho (quietly), głośno (loudly), szybko (quickly) are flexible in position. The nuance:

cicho gra slightly highlights how she plays (the quietness) before mentioning the action.
gra cicho sounds a bit more neutral; the focus is first on the fact of playing, then on the manner.

Neither is “wrong” — it’s mainly a matter of rhythm and subtle emphasis. In practice, you will hear both.

Why is it gra na pianinie instead of something like gra pianino? What does na do?

With musical instruments, Polish normally uses:

grać na + [instrument in locative case]

So:

grać na pianinie – play the piano
grać na gitarze – play the guitar
grać na skrzypcach – play the violin
grać na perkusji – play the drums

You cannot say gra pianino in standard Polish. The preposition na plus the locative case is the standard construction for “play an instrument.”

Why is it pianinie and not pianino or pianina?

The base noun is pianino (neuter).
After na in this sense (location / instrument), Polish uses the locative case.

Declension (singular) of pianino:

Nominative: pianino (dictionary form, subject)
Genitive: pianina
Dative: pianinu
Accusative: pianino
Instrumental: pianinem
Locative: pianinie
Vocative: (same as nominative, rarely used: pianino)

So with na for “play (on) an instrument” → na pianinie (locative), not pianino or pianina.

Could I say na fortepianie instead of na pianinie? Is there a difference?

Yes, both are possible, but they are not identical in meaning:

pianino – an upright piano
fortepian – a grand piano

So:

gra na pianinie – plays an upright piano
gra na fortepianie – plays a grand piano

Grammatically, the structure is the same: grać na + locative.
The choice depends on which type of instrument you mean.

Why is it dziadek and not dziadka or dziadkiem?

Dziadek is in the nominative case, because it is the subject of the main clause.

Kto odkłada gitarę? – Dziadek.
(Who puts the guitar aside? Grandpa.)

Case forms of dziadek (singular):

Nominative: dziadek – subject (Grandpa reads. – Dziadek czyta.)
Genitive: dziadka
Dative: dziadkowi
Accusative: dziadka
Instrumental: dziadkiem
Locative: dziadku / dziadku (context dependent)

Here, since he does the action (he puts the guitar aside), nominative is required: dziadek.

Why is it odkłada gitarę and not odkłada gitara? Which case is gitarę?

Gitarę is the accusative singular of gitara.

In odkłada gitarę:

odkłada – he puts aside (verb)
gitarę – the direct object, the thing being put aside

Many Polish verbs that take a direct object require the accusative:

czyta książkę – reads a book
pije kawę – drinks coffee
kupuje samochód – buys a car
odkłada gitarę – puts the guitar aside

So you must say gitarę (accusative), not gitara (nominative).

What is the difference between odkłada and odłoży? Could I say dziadek odłoży gitarę?

This is about aspect (imperfective vs perfective):

odkładać (imperfective) → odkłada (3rd sg present)
odłożyć (perfective) → odłoży (3rd sg, future meaning)

In your sentence:

Kiedy ona cicho gra na pianinie, dziadek odkłada gitarę…
– describes a repeated / habitual situation or something happening at the same time as her playing.

If you say:

Kiedy ona cicho gra na pianinie, dziadek odłoży gitarę i będzie słuchał w ciszy.

this sounds more like:

at that future moment, when she plays, then he will put the guitar aside (once).

So:

odkłada – ongoing / repeated action (good for general statements).
odłoży – single, completed action, usually in the future relative to some point.

Why is it słucha w ciszy, not just słucha ciszy? What does w do here?

The verb słuchać usually takes a genitive object (what you listen to):

słucha muzyki – listens to music
słucha radia – listens to the radio

But w ciszy here doesn’t say what he listens to; it says in what conditions he listens — in silence.

So we have:

słucha – he listens
w ciszy – in silence (prepositional phrase with w + locative)

Cisza (silence):

Nominative: cisza
Locative: ciszy

With w (in), the locative is used: w ciszy.

If you said słucha ciszy, that would literally mean he listens to the silence, which is grammatically possible but a bit poetic or unusual in everyday speech. Słucha w ciszy = he listens while it is quiet/there is silence.

Isn’t it redundant to have both cicho and w ciszy? Don’t they both mean “quietly”?

They are related, but they describe different parts of the situation:

cicho gra – describes how she plays (quietly; low volume).
słucha w ciszy – describes in what environment he listens (there is silence around; no other noise).

They refer to different actions and different subjects:

her playing is quiet (cicho gra)
his listening happens in a quiet atmosphere (słucha w ciszy)

So it’s not redundancy inside one clause; it’s parallel description in two clauses. Stylistically, it also creates a nice, calm mood in the sentence.

Why is there a comma before dziadek odkłada gitarę? Are commas before kiedy clauses required?

Yes. In Polish, a clause introduced by kiedy is a subordinate clause, and subordinate clauses are normally separated by commas.

Structure:

[Kiedy ona cicho gra na pianinie], [dziadek odkłada gitarę i słucha w ciszy].

Rules:

You put a comma between the subordinate clause (kiedy
- verb) and the main clause.
This is true whether the kiedy clause comes first or second:
- Kiedy ona cicho gra na pianinie, dziadek odkłada gitarę…
- Dziadek odkłada gitarę, kiedy ona cicho gra na pianinie.

In both orders, the comma is required in standard Polish punctuation.

Could the word order be Dziadek odkłada gitarę i słucha w ciszy, kiedy ona cicho gra na pianinie? Does that change the meaning?

Yes, that word order is also correct:

Dziadek odkłada gitarę i słucha w ciszy, kiedy ona cicho gra na pianinie.

The core meaning stays the same: her quiet playing is the time when he puts the guitar aside and listens. The difference is mostly one of focus and rhythm:

Original: starts with Kiedy ona cicho gra… – emphasizes her playing as the background.
Reordered: starts with Dziadek odkłada gitarę… – emphasizes what grandpa does.

Both are grammatical and natural; the change does not create a new logical relationship, just shifts emphasis.

Does słucha need an object here? Should it be słucha jej or słucha jej gry?

Słucha often takes an explicit object:

słucha jej – he listens to her
słucha jej gry – he listens to her playing
słucha muzyki – he listens to music

In your sentence, the object is understood from context (we clearly know he’s listening to her piano playing), so it can be left out:

…dziadek odkłada gitarę i słucha w ciszy.

This is natural in Polish: if it’s obvious what you are listening to, you don’t need to repeat it.
If you want to make it explicit, the most natural is:

…dziadek odkłada gitarę i w ciszy słucha jej gry.
(grandpa puts the guitar aside and in silence listens to her playing.)