On stawia sobie cel.

Stawia comes from stawiać.

In On stawia sobie cel, stawia is:

• 3rd person singular
• present tense
• imperfective

So it can mean things like:

• he sets
• he is setting

Which English version fits best depends on context.

Sobie is the reflexive pronoun in the dative case here, and it means for himself / to himself.

So the structure is basically:

• on = he
• stawia = sets
• sobie = for himself
• cel = a goal

Polish often uses this kind of reflexive structure where English would say for himself.

Because this sentence needs the dative reflexive form.

Here, Polish uses:

• sobie = to/for oneself

So stawiać sobie cel means to set oneself a goal or to set a goal for oneself.

Using się here would be incorrect in standard Polish.

Cel is the direct object of stawia, so it is in the accusative case.

But cel is a masculine inanimate noun, and in the singular, the accusative often looks exactly the same as the nominative.

So:

• nominative: cel
• accusative: cel

That is why you do not see a different ending here.

Yes. It is a normal and natural expression meaning to set oneself a goal.

You may also hear related phrases like:

• wyznaczać sobie cel
• postawić sobie cel

They are similar, though the aspect and nuance can differ a bit.

Yes, on can often be omitted.

Polish frequently leaves out subject pronouns when the subject is clear from context. So you can say:

• Stawia sobie cel.

However, on may be included for:

• emphasis
• contrast
• clarity

Also, stawia by itself could mean he/she/it sets, so on makes it explicit that the subject is he.

It can mean either, depending on context.

Because stawiać is imperfective, the present tense in Polish can express:

• an action happening now: he is setting himself a goal
• a more general/habitual action: he sets himself a goal
• sometimes a repeated behavior: he sets goals for himself

Context tells you which reading is intended.

The perfective partner is usually postawić.

So you get a contrast like this:

• stawiać sobie cel = imperfective, focusing on process, repetition, or general action
• postawić sobie cel = perfective, focusing on setting the goal as a completed act

For example:

• On stawia sobie cel. = He sets / is setting himself a goal.
• On postawił sobie cel. = He set himself a goal.

Yes. Polish word order is more flexible than English word order.

You may hear:

• On stawia sobie cel.
• On sobie stawia cel.
• Cel sobie stawia.

These versions are not all equally neutral, but they are possible. The differences are mainly about emphasis and information focus, not basic meaning.

The given sentence is a normal, neutral order.

It can mean all of those, depending on context.

Most naturally here, cel means:

• goal
• aim

In other situations, it can also mean target.

So in this sentence, the most idiomatic English meaning is usually goal.

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

So cel can mean:

• a goal
• the goal

The exact meaning depends on context. In an isolated sentence like this, English usually translates it as a goal.

The singular is completely natural if you mean one specific goal.

The plural is also common in other contexts:

• On stawia sobie cele. = He sets goals for himself.

So:

• cel = one goal
• cele = goals in general or more than one goal

Both are natural; they just mean different things.