Learn Hardcore Polish: Ostry wiatr sprawia, że jest mi zimno.

Ostry literally means “sharp,” but when used with wiatr (wind), it usually describes wind that feels biting, harsh, cutting, often because it’s both strong and cold.

In this context, natural English translations could be:

“The biting wind…”
“The harsh wind…”
“The strong, cold wind…”

Other related adjectives for wind:

silny wiatr – strong wind (focus on strength)
mroźny wiatr – frosty wind (focus on temperature)

Ostry wiatr emphasizes how sharply the wind is felt on your skin.

Why is it ostry wiatr and not some other form like ostra wiatr or ostre wiatr?

Ostry agrees in gender, number, and case with wiatr:

wiatr is masculine, singular, nominative (subject of the sentence)
So the adjective must also be: masculine, singular, nominative → ostry

Other forms of ostry for comparison:

ostry nóż – sharp knife (masc. sing.)
ostra kawa – strong/sharp coffee (fem. sing.)
ostre noże – sharp knives (plural)

Because wiatr is masculine singular in the nominative, ostry wiatr is the correct form.

What case is wiatr in, and what role does it play in the sentence?

Wiatr is in the nominative case. It is the subject of the sentence.

Structure:

Ostry wiatr – subject (nominative)
sprawia – verb (“causes / makes”)
że jest mi zimno – subordinate clause (what it causes)

So in English-like terms:

“The sharp wind causes that it is cold to me.”
More naturally: “The sharp wind makes me feel cold.”

What does sprawia mean here, and how is it different from robi or powoduje?

Sprawia comes from sprawiać and here means “causes / makes / results in.”

Rough equivalents:

sprawia – causes, makes (quite natural, common)
powoduje – causes (a bit more formal or technical)
robi – does/makes (too general or sometimes childish-sounding in this context)

In this sentence:

Ostry wiatr sprawia, że jest mi zimno.
= “The sharp wind causes that I feel cold / makes me feel cold.”

Using robi here (e.g. wiatr robi, że…) is not natural in standard Polish. Sprawia or powoduje are the idiomatic verbs for this cause–effect structure.

Why is there a comma before że, and what does że do in the sentence?

Że is a conjunction meaning “that” and it introduces a subordinate clause.

The sentence structure is:

Main clause: Ostry wiatr sprawia, – “The sharp wind causes…”
Subordinate clause: że jest mi zimno. – “…that I feel cold.”

In Polish, you normally put a comma before że when it introduces a subordinate clause.
So the comma is required by standard punctuation rules:

…sprawia, że…
Myślę, że… – “I think that…”
Wiem, że… – “I know that…”

Why do we say jest mi zimno instead of something like jestem zimny to say “I’m cold”?

In Polish, feeling physically cold is usually expressed with the impersonal dative construction:

Jest mi zimno. – literally: “It is cold to me.”

This is the natural way to say “I’m cold / I feel cold.”

Jestem zimny literally means “I am cold (as a property),” like:

Your body is cold to the touch (e.g. a corpse)
Or figuratively: you are emotionally cold

So:

Jest mi zimno. – I feel cold (normal, everyday phrase)
Jestem zimny. – I am (a) cold (person / object), not normally used for “I’m cold” in the usual sense.

What is mi here? Why not mnie or ja?

Mi is the dative form of ja (“I”) in its unstressed, clitic form.

Dative of ja:

Full (stressed) form: mnie
Unstressed (clitic) form: mi

In expressions like jest mi zimno, you almost always use mi because it is unstressed and comes right after the verb:

Jest mi zimno. – It is cold to me.
Było mi smutno. – I felt sad.

You use mnie when you want to add emphasis or when word order requires a stronger form:

To mnie jest zimno, nie jemu. – I am the one who’s cold, not him.

So in the neutral statement “I’m cold,” jest mi zimno is the standard form.

Can the word order change? For example, can I say Wiatr ostry sprawia, że jest mi zimno or Jest mi zimno przez ostry wiatr?

Yes, Polish allows flexible word order, but not all versions sound equally natural.

Possible and natural (though slightly different in feel):

Ostry wiatr sprawia, że jest mi zimno. – base sentence
To ostry wiatr sprawia, że jest mi zimno. – “It’s the sharp wind that makes me cold.” (emphasis on ostry wiatr)
Jest mi zimno przez ostry wiatr. – “I’m cold because of the sharp wind.” (focus on the cause; more casual)

Less natural or awkward:

Wiatr ostry sprawia, że jest mi zimno. – grammatically possible, but the adjective usually comes before the noun in neutral style: ostry wiatr. This order can sound odd or poetic/marked.

So yes, you can move parts around, but Ostry wiatr sprawia… is the most neutral version.

What tense and aspect is sprawia, and what would the past or future look like?

Sprawia is:

Present tense
Imperfective aspect (from sprawiać)

Basic forms (imperfective):

Present: sprawia – “causes / is causing”
Past: sprawiał / sprawiała / sprawiało / sprawiali – “was causing / used to cause / caused (repeatedly)”
Future (periphrastic): będzie sprawiać – “will cause / will be causing”

There’s also a perfective verb sprawić (to cause, to make something happen once, as a single completed event):

Past: sprawił – “he caused / made (once)”
Future: sprawi – “he will cause / will make (once)”

In our sentence, sprawia suggests a present, possibly ongoing or general effect:

“The sharp wind (generally / right now) makes me feel cold.”

Could you drop jest and just say Mi zimno? Is that correct?

You can hear Mi zimno in colloquial speech, and people will understand it, but the standard, complete form is:

Jest mi zimno.

In careful or written Polish, you should keep the verb:

Jest mi zimno. – correct, standard
Mi zimno. – colloquial, shortened, sometimes sounds a bit childish or very informal

For learning purposes, it’s better to stick with Jest mi zimno.

How natural is this sentence compared to saying something like Jest mi zimno, bo wieje ostry wiatr?

Both are natural but slightly different in style and focus:

Ostry wiatr sprawia, że jest mi zimno.
- A bit more structured/“logical”: cause (wiatr) + verb (sprawia) + result (jest mi zimno).
- Could fit both spoken and written Polish.
Jest mi zimno, bo wieje ostry wiatr. – “I’m cold because a sharp wind is blowing.”
- Sounds more conversational and direct: first the feeling, then the reason.

Neither is wrong; they simply organize the information differently.

Could this also mean “I am a cold person because of the sharp wind,” or is it only about feeling cold?

This sentence only talks about feeling physically cold.

…jest mi zimno is the standard expression for “I feel cold / I’m cold.”

To say “I am a cold person” (emotionally), you would use a completely different structure, for example:

Jestem chłodną osobą. – I am a cold (distant) person.
Jestem zimny emocjonalnie. – I am emotionally cold.

So Ostry wiatr sprawia, że jest mi zimno does not imply anything about your personality; it’s purely about temperature.

How do you pronounce ostry wiatr? The consonant cluster looks tricky.

Approximate pronunciation (IPA-like, but simplified):

ostry – OSS-trih
- o as in off
- s as in see
- tr like English tr in tree, but a bit “harder”
- final y like the i in bit (but slightly different quality)
wiatr – VYA-tr
- w in Polish sounds like English v
- ia is like a quick “ya”
- tr again like in tree; final r is rolled or tapped

So together: ostry wiatr ≈ OSS-trih VYA-tr.