Learn Hardcore Polish: Wieczorem niebo robi się różowe i żółte przed zachodem słońca. - In the evening the sky becomes pink and yellow before the sunset.

Wieczorem – in the evening (literally: evening‑INST; an adverbial of time)
niebo – the sky (literally just sky, nominative singular, neuter)
robi się – becomes / gets (literally: makes itself)
różowe i żółte – pink and yellow (adjectives referring to niebo)
przed – before
zachodem – sunset (literally: setting / west in instrumental case)
słońca – of the sun (genitive singular)

So a more literal English rendering is:
“In the evening the sky makes itself pink and yellow before the setting of the sun.”
Natural English: “In the evening the sky turns pink and yellow before sunset.”

Why is it Wieczorem and not something like w wieczór for “in the evening”?

Polish often uses bare instrumental case to express “in/at [time of day]”:

rano / rankiem – in the morning
wieczorem – in the evening
nocą – at night
latem – in (the) summer

Here, wieczór (evening) → wieczorem (instrumental), which in this pattern means “in the evening.”
You do not normally say w wieczór. That sounds unnatural in this meaning. The idiomatic, time-expression form is Wieczorem.

What is the role of robi się here, and why not just jest (“is”)?

robi się is from robić się, a reflexive verb meaning “to become, to get, to turn (into some state)”.
In this sentence, niebo robi się różowe i żółte means “the sky becomes/gets/turns pink and yellow.”

Using jest would describe a static state:

Niebo jest różowe i żółte. – “The sky is pink and yellow.” (It’s just describing how it is.)

Using robi się adds the idea of change over time, a process:

Niebo robi się różowe i żółte. – “The sky is becoming / gets / turns pink and yellow.”

So robi się emphasizes that this is what happens as time passes in the evening.

How does the reflexive pronoun się work in robi się? Could it be niebo się robi różowe instead?

się is a reflexive particle, and in robić się it helps create the meaning “to become.”
robi się literally is like “it makes itself,” but idiomatically it’s just “it becomes.”

About word order:

Niebo robi się różowe.
Niebo się robi różowe.

Both are grammatically correct and mean essentially the same thing. Polish clitic words like się tend to stand early in the clause (often in “second position”), which is why Niebo się robi różowe is also very natural.

In this particular sentence, niebo robi się różowe i żółte is fully standard and natural.

Why are the adjectives różowe and żółte in that form? What are they agreeing with?

niebo is neuter singular in Polish (nominative: niebo).
Predicate adjectives that describe the subject normally appear in nominative and agree in gender and number with the subject.

So:

niebo (neuter singular)
→ różowe (neuter singular)
→ żółte (neuter singular)

That’s why you get:

Niebo robi się różowe i żółte. – “The sky becomes pink and yellow.”

If the noun were feminine, you’d say:

woda robi się ciepła – “the water is getting warm.”

If masculine personal plural:

chłopcy robią się zmęczeni – “the boys are getting tired.”

Why is it “różowe i żółte” and not “różowe i żółte niebo”? What exactly do those adjectives refer to?

Both różowe and żółte are predicate adjectives referring back to niebo:

niebo robi się różowe i żółte literally: “the sky becomes pink and yellow.”

Polish, like English, generally does not repeat the noun in this type of structure. Instead of:

Niebo robi się różowe niebo i żółte niebo (incorrect / unnatural),

you just put the adjectives:

Niebo robi się różowe i żółte.

This is parallel to English:
“You say The sky becomes pink and yellow, not “The sky becomes pink sky and yellow sky.”

What cases are used in przed zachodem słońca, and why those cases?

In przed zachodem słońca:

przed – a preposition that takes the instrumental case (when it means “before” in time/space).
zachodem – instrumental singular of zachód (“west / setting / sunset”).
słońca – genitive singular of słońce (“sun”).

Grammatically, zachód is the head noun of the phrase zachód słońca (“sunset,” literally “setting of the sun”). When you decline the phrase:

The head noun (zachód) takes the case required by the preposition (instrumental after przed → zachodem).
The dependent noun (słońce) stays in the genitive (słońca) as in the base phrase zachód słońca.

So:

przed zachodem słońca = “before the sunset” / “before sunset”
(literally: “before the setting of the sun”).

Could you say przed zachód słońca instead of przed zachodem słońca?

No, you cannot say przed zachód słońca here.

The preposition przed (when it means “before” in time or space) requires the instrumental case, not accusative.
zachód is nominative; zachodem is instrumental.

Correct:

przed zachodem słońca – before sunset

Incorrect:

przed zachód słońca – wrong case after przed in this meaning.

Could we rephrase przed zachodem słońca with a full clause, like “before the sun sets”?

Yes. A common alternative is to use a subordinate clause with zanim (“before”):

Wieczorem niebo robi się różowe i żółte, zanim słońce zachodzi.
– “In the evening the sky turns pink and yellow before the sun sets.”

Differences:

przed zachodem słońca – more compact, noun phrase.
zanim słońce zachodzi – clause, feels a bit more descriptive/explicit.

Both are correct and natural. The original sentence chooses the shorter, more compact option.

Why is there no comma before przed zachodem słońca?

In Polish, commas generally separate clauses, not simple prepositional phrases.

przed zachodem słońca is just a prepositional phrase (no verb), functioning as an adverbial (answering “when?”).

So:

Wieczorem niebo robi się różowe i żółte przed zachodem słońca. – no comma.

If you used a clause instead, you would need a comma:

Wieczorem niebo robi się różowe i żółte, zanim słońce zachodzi.
(comma before zanim, which starts a subordinate clause).

Is there a difference between robi się and staje się in this sentence? Could we say niebo staje się różowe i żółte?

You can say:

Wieczorem niebo staje się różowe i żółte przed zachodem słońca.

The meaning is very close: “the sky becomes / turns pink and yellow.”

Nuances (often subtle):

robić się – very common, a bit more colloquial / neutral, used a lot for gradual or everyday changes:
- robi się ciemno – it’s getting dark
- robi mi się zimno – I’m getting cold
stawać się – slightly more formal / literary or used for more abstract / general changes:
- staje się jasne – it becomes clear
- staje się coraz trudniej – it’s becoming more and more difficult

In this description of the sky, robi się feels very natural and everyday; staje się would also be correct, just a bit more “bookish.”

How do you pronounce różowe, żółte, and zachodem? What sounds do rz, ż, and ch make here?

Key consonants:

rz (in różowe) and ż (in żółte) are pronounced the same in modern standard Polish:
- A single sound, similar to the “s” in “measure” or “j” in French “jour”.
- IPA: /ʐ/ (a voiced retroflex fricative).
ch (in zachodem) is pronounced like Polish h, a voiceless fricative, somewhere between the “ch” in German “Bach” and a strong English “h”.
- IPA: /x/ (or sometimes /χ/).

So roughly:

różowe – [roo‑ZHO‑veh]
żółte – [ZHoo‑wteh] (the ł is like English w)
zachodem – [za‑KHO‑dem]

Vowels ó and u are both pronounced [u] (like “oo” in “food”), even though they’re spelled differently.