Po chorobie mój nos nadal jest czerwony, ale oczy wyglądają już lepiej.

Chorobie is in the locative singular.

The preposition po often takes the locative when it means after in a time sequence:

• po pracy = after work
• po obiedzie = after dinner
• po chorobie = after an illness / after the illness

The base form is choroba. Its locative singular is chorobie.

Because po is the normal preposition for after when talking about something that happens following an event or period.

So:

• po chorobie = after the illness / after being sick

This is the standard Polish pattern. English uses after, but Polish often uses po + locative in these time expressions.

Yes, you could say just nos, and it would still be grammatical.

Polish often leaves out possessives like my, your, his when the meaning is obvious from context. But mój nos is perfectly natural if the speaker wants to be a bit clearer or more personal.

So both are possible:

• Nos nadal jest czerwony = The nose is still red / My nose is still red, depending on context
• Mój nos nadal jest czerwony = My nose is still red

Using mój makes it explicit.

Because with być + adjective, Polish normally uses the nominative, not the instrumental.

So:

• nos jest czerwony = the nose is red

Here czerwony agrees with nos, which is masculine singular.

A learner may expect instrumental because Polish sometimes uses instrumental after to be, especially with nouns:

• On jest lekarzem = He is a doctor

But with ordinary descriptive adjectives like red, tired, happy, Polish uses nominative:

• jest zmęczony
• jest szczęśliwa
• jest czerwony

Nadal means still or continuing to be.

So mój nos nadal jest czerwony means the redness has not gone away yet.

It suggests continuity from an earlier state:

• it was red before
• it is red now too

A close English equivalent is still.

Because they create a contrast:

• nadal = still
• już = already / now

So the sentence contrasts two situations:

• my nose is still red
• but my eyes already look better / look better now

This makes the sentence feel very natural, because it shows that one symptom continues while another has started to improve.

Because oczy means eyes, which is plural.

The singular is:

• oko = eye

The plural is:

• oczy = eyes

Since oczy is plural, the verb must also be plural:

• oko wygląda = the eye looks
• oczy wyglądają = the eyes look

So this is just normal subject-verb agreement.

Because after wyglądać in this kind of sentence, Polish often uses lepiej = better as an adverb-like comparative meaning look better / seem better / appear improved.

So:

• oczy wyglądają lepiej = the eyes look better

This is the most natural way to express improvement in appearance or condition.

Lepsze is an adjective, and it would sound less natural here unless you were directly comparing them as better eyes in some specific sense. In this sentence, the idea is not that the eyes are better eyes, but that they look better now.

Here wyglądać means to look or to appear.

It can refer to physical appearance, but it can also suggest someone’s condition or how healthy they seem.

In this sentence, oczy wyglądają już lepiej does not just mean the eyes are prettier. It means they seem healthier / less tired / less irritated than before.

So wyglądać is broader than just visual beauty.

Yes, Polish word order is fairly flexible, and the adverbs can often move.

The given order is natural and neutral:

• mój nos nadal jest czerwony
• oczy wyglądają już lepiej

But you may also hear variations such as:

• Po chorobie nadal mój nos jest czerwony
• Ale oczy już wyglądają lepiej

The meaning usually stays similar, but the emphasis changes a bit. Polish uses word order partly to manage focus and rhythm, not just grammar.

It can mean either one, depending on context.

Polish has no articles like a or the, so chorobie does not by itself tell you whether it is definite or indefinite.

So po chorobie may be understood as:

• after an illness
• after the illness
• more loosely, after being sick

In a real conversation, context tells you which one is intended.

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

So Polish simply says:

• mój nos
• oczy
• chorobie

Whether English should use a, an, or the depends on context and translation, not on separate Polish words.

That is why one Polish sentence can correspond to several slightly different English versions.

Yes. Ale means but, and it is the most common everyday choice.

A more formal or literary alternative is lecz.

So:

• ..., ale oczy wyglądają już lepiej.
• ..., lecz oczy wyglądają już lepiej.

Both are correct, but ale is more common in normal speech.