Kierowniczka powiedziała, że dobra pensja nie zawsze jest ważniejsza niż spokojna atmosfera w pracy.

Kierowniczka is a feminine noun meaning female manager, female supervisor, or female boss.

• masculine: kierownik
• feminine: kierowniczka

Since the sentence is about a woman, Polish uses the feminine form.

Because the subject kierowniczka is feminine singular.

In the past tense, Polish verbs agree with gender and number:

• powiedział = he said
• powiedziała = she said
• powiedzieli / powiedziały = they said

So kierowniczka powiedziała means the female manager said.

This is about aspect and meaning.

• powiedziała comes from powiedzieć and means said as one completed act
• mówiła comes from mówić and means was saying, used to say, or sometimes spoke

Here the sentence reports one completed statement, so powiedziała is the natural choice.

Że means that and introduces a subordinate clause.

So:

• Kierowniczka powiedziała, że... = The manager said that...

In English, that is often optional. In Polish, że is usually needed in this kind of sentence.

Because Polish normally puts a comma before a subordinate clause introduced by words like że, bo, kiedy, jeśli, and so on.

So:

• powiedziała, że...

This comma is standard and expected in written Polish.

Because pensja is a feminine noun, and the adjective must match it in:

• gender
• number
• case

Here both words are in the nominative singular:

• dobra = good, feminine singular nominative
• pensja = salary, feminine singular nominative

So dobra pensja means a good salary.

No. This is a very important false friend.

• pensja = salary, pay
• pension = emerytura in Polish

So dobra pensja means a good salary, not a good pension.

Nie zawsze means not always.

It does not mean never. It means something is true in some cases, but not in all cases.

So:

• dobra pensja nie zawsze jest ważniejsza...
• a good salary is not always more important...

This is a common and natural position for nie zawsze in Polish.

Because ważniejsza must agree with pensja, which is feminine singular.

The base adjective is:

• ważny = important

The comparative is:

• ważniejszy = more important

Then it changes for gender:

• ważniejszy = masculine
• ważniejsza = feminine
• ważniejsze = neuter

Since pensja is feminine, we get ważniejsza.

Niż means than and is used after comparatives.

So:

• ważniejsza niż = more important than

This is the most direct equivalent of English than.

Yes. After a comparative, Polish often allows both:

• ważniejsza niż spokojna atmosfera
• ważniejsza od spokojnej atmosfery

Both mean the same thing: more important than a calm atmosphere.

The difference is grammatical:

• after niż, you usually keep the compared phrase in the same basic form
• after od, the noun goes into the genitive

So:

• niż spokojna atmosfera
• od spokojnej atmosfery

After niż in this sentence, spokojna atmosfera stays in the nominative:

• spokojna atmosfera

That is why both words have their basic dictionary forms:

• spokojna = calm, feminine nominative singular
• atmosfera = atmosphere, feminine nominative singular

If the sentence used od instead, it would change to:

• od spokojnej atmosfery

which is genitive.

Because the preposition w meaning in or at takes the locative case when talking about location.

The noun is:

• praca = work

In the locative singular, it becomes:

• pracy

So:

• w pracy = at work / in the workplace

Yes. Polish word order is more flexible than English, because endings show grammatical relationships.

The sentence as given is neutral and natural:

• Kierowniczka powiedziała, że dobra pensja nie zawsze jest ważniejsza niż spokojna atmosfera w pracy.

But you could move parts around for emphasis, for example:

• Kierowniczka powiedziała, że nie zawsze dobra pensja jest ważniejsza niż spokojna atmosfera w pracy.

That is still understandable, but the original version sounds more standard and natural.

No. Here atmosfera means the mood, environment, or overall feel at work, not the physical air.

So spokojna atmosfera w pracy means something like:

• a calm atmosphere at work
• a peaceful working environment
• a relaxed mood in the workplace

This is a very common use of atmosfera in Polish.