Ja trzymam drabinę, a mama podaje jej pędzel.

Yes — in Polish, trzymam already means I am holding / I hold, so ja is not grammatically necessary.

Here, ja is used for emphasis or contrast. The sentence is setting up a contrast:

• Ja trzymam drabinę...
• ...a mama podaje jej pędzel.

So it feels a bit like:

• I’m holding the ladder, and Mum is handing her the brush.

In many situations, Polish speakers would simply say:

• Trzymam drabinę, a mama podaje jej pędzel.

A often translates as and, but it is not exactly the same as i.

In this sentence, a links two clauses while also giving a slight sense of contrast, shift, or meanwhile:

• Ja trzymam drabinę, a mama podaje jej pędzel.

This suggests something like:

• I’m holding the ladder, while Mum is handing her the brush.

Compare:

• i = simple and
• a = and / while / whereas, often with a contrast or change of subject

So a mama is very natural here because the subject changes from I to Mum.

Because drabinę is in the accusative case, which is used here for the direct object of the verb trzymać (to hold).

The dictionary form is:

• drabina = ladder

But in the sentence:

• trzymam drabinę = I’m holding the ladder

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

• drabina → drabinę
• książka → książkę
• kobieta → kobietę

So drabinę is the form required after trzymam.

Here, pędzel is also a direct object, so it is in the accusative case — but for this noun, the accusative singular looks the same as the nominative singular.

Dictionary form:

• pędzel = brush

Sentence:

• mama podaje jej pędzel = Mum is handing her a brush

This happens because pędzel is a masculine inanimate noun. In Polish, masculine inanimate nouns usually have:

• nominative singular = accusative singular

So:

• ten pędzel (nominative)
• mam pędzel / podaje pędzel (accusative)

But masculine animate nouns often change in the accusative, for example:

• mam kota = I have a cat

Here, jej means to her.

The verb podawać often takes:

• a direct object: the thing being handed
• an indirect object: the person receiving it

So in:

• mama podaje jej pędzel

we have:

• pędzel = the brush
• jej = to her

So the structure is:

• someone gives/hand s something to someone

In English, we can say either:

• Mum is handing her the brush
• Mum is handing the brush to her

Polish uses jej for that receiver.

In this sentence, jej is in the dative case, because it marks the recipient — the person something is being given or handed to.

With podawać, the common pattern is:

• podawać + accusative thing + dative person

So:

• podaje = is handing
• pędzel = brush, accusative
• jej = to her, dative

That is why jej here means to her, not just her in a general sense.

Yes. Jej can have more than one grammatical function, which can be confusing for learners.

It can mean:

• to her (dative)
• her / of her (genitive)
• her as a possessive word in some contexts, like her book

For example:

• Daj jej książkę. = Give her the book.
• Nie ma jej. = She isn’t here / There is no sign of her.
• jej książka = her book

In your sentence, because it follows podaje and refers to the recipient, it clearly means to her.

Yes, mama is a feminine noun.

Its basic meaning is mum / mom. In Polish, it behaves like a regular feminine noun ending in -a:

• mama = nominative
• mamę = accusative
• mamie = dative/locative
• z mamą = instrumental

So in your sentence:

• mama podaje... = Mum is handing...

It is the subject, so it stays in the nominative form mama.

Podaje comes from podawać, which often means:

• to hand
• to pass
• to give (especially by handing something directly)

So in this context, podaje pędzel is more naturally:

• is handing the brush
• passes the brush

rather than a general gives.

This fits the scene very well: one person is on or near the ladder, another person hands over the brush.

Because Polish often uses the present tense the same way English uses the present continuous in descriptions of what is happening right now.

So:

• trzymam can mean I hold or I’m holding
• podaje can mean she hands or she is handing

In this sentence, the natural English meaning is:

• I’m holding the ladder, and Mum is handing her the brush.

Both verbs are from imperfective verbs:

• trzymać = to hold
• podawać = to be handing / to hand repeatedly or in an ongoing way

That makes them very normal for describing an action in progress.

Polish word order is more flexible than English word order, because the case endings show what role many words play.

So the original sentence:

• Ja trzymam drabinę, a mama podaje jej pędzel.

could be rearranged in some situations, for example:

• Drabinę trzymam ja, a mama podaje jej pędzel.
• Mama podaje jej pędzel, a ja trzymam drabinę.

However, different word orders change the focus or emphasis.

The original version is very natural and neutral, with a little emphasis on ja because of the contrast with mama.

You usually know from the context.

Polish often leaves things like this unstated when they are already obvious from the situation. So jej means to her, but the listener is expected to know which woman or girl is being talked about.

For example, if the scene shows a woman on the ladder painting, then:

• Ja trzymam drabinę, a mama podaje jej pędzel.

clearly means:

• I’m holding the ladder, and Mum is handing her the brush.

This is very normal in Polish, just as English can say hand her the brush without repeating the person’s name.