Szefowa chce, żeby zespół był gotowy na siódmą.

Szefowa is the feminine form of szef and means female boss / manager. Polish often marks the gender of a person in the noun itself, so if the boss is a woman, szefowa is natural.

• szef = a male boss, or sometimes boss in a more general sense
• szefowa = a female boss

Because the sentence starts with Szefowa, we know the person who wants this is a woman.

Polish often drops subject pronouns when they are clear from the verb form or context. So instead of saying Ona chce... (She wants...), Polish usually just says Chce...

Here, the noun Szefowa already tells us who the subject is, so adding ona would be unnecessary.

• Szefowa chce... = The boss wants...
• Ona chce... = She wants...

Żeby is very common after verbs like want, ask, need, prefer, and similar expressions when one person wants another action or state to happen.

So:

• Szefowa chce = The boss wants
• żeby zespół był gotowy = the team to be ready

A natural English translation is The boss wants the team to be ready...

You can think of żeby here as introducing the idea of for something to happen.

This is a very common question.

• że usually means that in a factual statement:
  • Wiem, że on jest gotowy. = I know that he is ready.
• żeby is used for wishes, intentions, goals, commands, or desired results:
  • Chcę, żeby on był gotowy. = I want him to be ready.

So in your sentence, żeby is correct because the boss is expressing a requirement or wish, not stating a fact.

After żeby, Polish often uses forms that look like past tense, but they do not simply mean past time there. In this structure, był is part of the pattern used to express a desired or expected state.

So:

• żeby zespół był gotowy = for the team to be ready

Even though był looks like was, in this sentence it is best understood as be in English.

This is normal Polish grammar:

• Chcę, żeby był... = I want him/it to be...
• Chcę, żeby była... = I want her/it to be...
• Chcę, żeby byli... = I want them to be...

Because zespół is a masculine singular noun in Polish.

So the form of być agrees with zespół:

• zespół → masculine singular
• therefore był

The adjective also agrees with zespół:

• gotowy = masculine singular

So the whole phrase matches grammatically:

• zespół był gotowy

Even though zespół means team, which is a group, grammatically it is a singular noun.

Gotowy means ready, and it has to agree with the noun it describes.

Because zespół is masculine singular, the adjective must also be masculine singular:

• masculine singular: gotowy
• feminine singular: gotowa
• neuter singular: gotowe
• masculine personal plural: gotowi
• non-masculine-personal plural: gotowe

So:

• zespół był gotowy = correct
• drużyna była gotowa = if the noun were feminine
• dziecko było gotowe = if the noun were neuter

Na siódmą means for seven o’clock or, more naturally in English here, by seven / ready for seven.

It suggests a deadline or target time. The idea is that the team should already be ready when seven o’clock comes.

So:

• być gotowym na siódmą = to be ready by seven / for seven o’clock

This is an important distinction.

• o siódmej = at seven o’clock
  This tells you when something happens.
• na siódmą = for seven o’clock / by seven
  This gives a target time, deadline, or expected readiness.

Compare:

• Spotkanie jest o siódmej. = The meeting is at seven.
• Muszę być gotowy na siódmą. = I have to be ready by seven.

In your sentence, the meaning is not just at seven, but ready by that time, so na siódmą is the right choice.

Because after na in this time expression, Polish uses the accusative form.

The full underlying idea is something like:

• na siódmą godzinę = for the seventh hour / for seven o’clock

The noun godzinę is usually omitted, but the numeral/adjective stays in the feminine accusative singular form:

• siódma → nominative
• siódmą → accusative

That is why you say:

• na pierwszą
• na drugą
• na siódmą

Yes. Aby is possible and means basically the same thing, but it sounds more formal or written.

So these are both correct:

• Szefowa chce, żeby zespół był gotowy na siódmą.
• Szefowa chce, aby zespół był gotowy na siódmą.

In everyday speech, żeby is more common.

Because in Polish, subordinate clauses are normally separated by a comma, and żeby introduces a subordinate clause here.

So the sentence is divided like this:

• Szefowa chce,
• żeby zespół był gotowy na siódmą.

This comma is standard and should be written.

Zespół can mean several related things, depending on context:

• team
• group
• band (musical group)
• sometimes staff or unit

In this sentence, team is the most natural meaning:

• Szefowa chce, żeby zespół był gotowy... = The boss wants the team to be ready...

So the exact English word depends on context, but the Polish word itself is quite flexible.

A simple pronunciation guide could be:

Sheh-FO-va HTSEH, ZHEH-bih ZES-pool buh-w GOT-oh-vih na syood-mong

A few useful notes:

• sz sounds like sh
• cz sounds like ch in church, but harder/shorter
• ż sounds like zh in measure
• ó sounds like oo
• ą is a nasal vowel; at the end of a word it often sounds somewhat like om/on

So:

• Szefowa ≈ sheh-FO-va
• chce ≈ htse
• żeby ≈ zheh-bih
• zespół ≈ ZES-pool
• był ≈ roughly bihw or buw
• gotowy ≈ go-TO-vih
• na siódmą ≈ na SHOOD-mong or na syood-mong

Yes, Polish word order is more flexible than English, although not every version sounds equally natural.

The most neutral version is:

• Szefowa chce, żeby zespół był gotowy na siódmą.

You might also hear variations for emphasis, such as:

• Szefowa chce, żeby na siódmą zespół był gotowy.

That version puts more emphasis on the time. But for learners, the original order is the safest and most natural to use.