Proszę, zostaw szczotkę na półce i schowaj grzebień do szuflady.

Here proszę is a politeness word, similar to please.

So Proszę, zostaw... i schowaj... means something like Please, leave... and put away...

A few useful notes:

• proszę can appear at the beginning of a request
• it often makes an imperative sound softer and more polite
• Polish also uses proszę in other ways, for example:
  • Proszę pani = ma’am
  • Proszę bardzo = here you go / you’re welcome
  • Proszę usiąść = Please sit down

In this sentence, it is simply the polite please.

They are imperative forms, used for giving instructions or requests.

• zostaw = leave
• schowaj = put away / hide

These are the 2nd person singular imperative forms, so they are used when speaking to one person in an informal way, or in a direct instructional tone.

The dictionary forms are:

• zostawić = to leave
• schować = to put away, hide

So:

• zostawić → zostaw!
• schować → schowaj!

It is a bit of both.

The imperatives zostaw and schowaj by themselves are direct and can sound informal or like instructions. But adding proszę makes the sentence more polite.

So the overall tone is:

• polite enough for many everyday situations
• still fairly direct
• natural in instructions, requests, or household situations

A more formally phrased version could be:

• Proszę zostawić szczotkę na półce i schować grzebień do szuflady.

Or, even more explicitly polite:

• Proszę, niech pan/pani zostawi szczotkę na półce i schowa grzebień do szuflady.

Because szczotkę is the accusative singular form of szczotka.

szczotka means brush in the basic dictionary form, but in this sentence it is the direct object of zostaw. Polish usually changes the ending of a noun when its grammatical role changes.

For feminine nouns ending in -a, the accusative singular usually changes to -ę:

• szczotka → szczotkę
• książka → książkę
• torba → torbę

So zostaw szczotkę means leave the brush.

Because grzebień is a masculine inanimate noun, and in the singular its accusative form is the same as its nominative form.

So:

• nominative: grzebień
• accusative: grzebień

That is why the direct object after schowaj stays grzebień.

Compare this with masculine animate nouns, which do change in the accusative:

• widzę psa = I see a dog
• but
• widzę stół = I see a table

Since a comb is inanimate, grzebień stays the same here.

Because na here means on, and when na describes a location, it usually takes the locative case.

The noun is:

• półka = shelf

After na meaning on/at, it becomes:

• na półce = on the shelf

So:

• zostaw szczotkę na półce = leave the brush on the shelf

This is a very common pattern:

• na stole = on the table
• na krześle = on the chair
• na ścianie = on the wall

Because do means to / into, and it normally takes the genitive case.

The noun is:

• szuflada = drawer

After do, it becomes:

• do szuflady = into the drawer

So:

• schowaj grzebień do szuflady = put the comb into the drawer

This is another very common pattern:

• do domu = into/to the house, home
• do torby = into the bag
• do pudełka = into the box

Because the sentence is describing two different spatial ideas.

• na półce = on the shelf
  A shelf is understood as a surface, so Polish uses na.

• do szuflady = into the drawer
  A drawer is understood as an interior/container, so Polish uses do.

So the difference is not random:

• na often means on a surface
• do often means into an enclosed space

That is very similar to English:

• on the shelf
• into the drawer

They are not exact synonyms.

• zostaw means leave or leave in place
• schowaj means put away, hide, or store out of sight

So the sentence is carefully choosing two different actions:

• zostaw szczotkę na półce = leave the brush on the shelf
• schowaj grzebień do szuflady = put the comb away in the drawer

If you used schowaj for both objects, the meaning would change. The brush would no longer be left visible on the shelf.

They are perfective verbs:

• zostawić = perfective
• schować = perfective

Perfective verbs focus on a completed action. In commands, this often means:

• do it once
• do it fully
• achieve the result

So here the speaker means:

• leave the brush there
• put the comb away completely

The imperfective counterparts would be:

• zostawiać
• chować

Their imperatives would be things like:

• zostawiaj
• chowaj

Those can sound more like repeated, ongoing, or habitual action, and are not the natural choice here.

Because Polish does not have articles like English a and the.

So:

• szczotkę can mean a brush or the brush
• grzebień can mean a comb or the comb
• na półce can mean on a shelf or on the shelf

The exact meaning depends on context.

In this sentence, English would naturally translate it with the because the objects seem specific and known, but Polish does not need a separate word for that.

Yes. Polish word order is more flexible than English because the case endings already show what each noun is doing.

The given version is very natural:

• Proszę, zostaw szczotkę na półce i schowaj grzebień do szuflady.

But other orders are possible, for example:

• Zostaw szczotkę na półce i schowaj grzebień do szuflady, proszę.
• Grzebień schowaj do szuflady, a szczotkę zostaw na półce.

Changing the word order usually changes emphasis, not the core meaning.

The original order is the most neutral and straightforward.

Yes. Both are possible, but they feel slightly different.

• Proszę, zostaw...
  uses the imperative directly, softened by proszę
• Proszę zostawić...
  uses proszę + infinitive, which often sounds a bit more formal or less direct

So both can mean Please leave...

Compare:

• Proszę, zamknij drzwi.
• Proszę zamknąć drzwi.

Both are polite, but the second one often sounds more formal or service-like.

Sometimes yes, but not always.

The verb schować can mean:

• hide
• put away
• put out of sight
• store somewhere

In this sentence, put away is the best natural translation, because the comb is being placed in a drawer.

So:

• schowaj grzebień do szuflady
  is not necessarily secretive or dramatic
• it just means put the comb away in the drawer

These are tricky for English speakers.

• szczotkę starts with szcz, which is a cluster something like shch together
• grzebień begins with grz, where rz sounds like the zh sound in measure

A rough approximation:

• szczotkę ≈ SHCHOT-keh
• grzebień ≈ GZHEH-byen or GZHEB-yen, depending on how detailed you want to be

A few sound notes:

• sz sounds like English sh
• cz sounds like ch in chop
• rz usually sounds like zh as in measure
• ń is a soft n, like ny in canyon

These rough guides are not perfect, but they help at the beginning.