Fachowiec naprawia odpływ, żeby w kuchni nie było wody na podłodze.

Fachowiec is a fairly broad word. It means a skilled professional, tradesperson, or someone who knows their craft.

In this sentence, the most natural English translation is something like a repairman, a tradesman, or a professional. The exact job is not specified.

So:

• fachowiec = a skilled worker / professional
• not necessarily one specific profession
• in context, probably someone hired to fix a household problem

If you wanted to be more specific, you might say:

• hydraulik = plumber

So Fachowiec naprawia odpływ is a bit broader than Hydraulik naprawia odpływ.

Naprawia is the 3rd person singular present tense of the imperfective verb naprawiać.

It can mean:

• is repairing
• repairs

In context, it most naturally means is repairing.

Here is the contrast:

• naprawiać = imperfective, focuses on the process
• naprawić = perfective infinitive, focuses on completion
• naprawi = future, he/she will repair

So:

• Fachowiec naprawia odpływ = The professional is repairing the drain.
• Fachowiec naprawi odpływ = The professional will repair the drain / will get it fixed.

Polish often uses the imperfective present for an action currently in progress, where English uses is repairing.

Odpływ means drain, outlet, or drainpipe/opening where water flows away.

In a kitchen context, it most likely refers to:

• the drain
• the sink drain
• the waste outlet

It comes from the idea of flowing away:

• odpływać = to flow away
• odpływ = outflow / drain

So in this sentence, the person is repairing the thing that should carry the water away properly.

Żeby introduces a purpose clause. It means:

• so that
• in order that
• sometimes simply so

So the sentence structure is:

• Fachowiec naprawia odpływ = The professional is repairing the drain
• żeby w kuchni nie było wody na podłodze = so that there won’t be water on the kitchen floor / so that there is no water on the floor in the kitchen

In other words, żeby answers the question for what purpose?

A very literal breakdown would be:

• He is repairing the drain
• so that there not be water on the floor in the kitchen

That literal English is awkward, but it shows the grammar more clearly.

This is a very common point of confusion.

Yes, było looks like the neuter past tense of być (to be), but after żeby, Polish often uses forms like był / była / było / byli / były to express something that is wanted, intended, possible, or desired—not necessarily something in the past.

So here:

• żeby ... nie było does not mean so that there wasn’t
• it means so that there won’t be / so that there isn’t

This is just how Polish commonly builds this kind of clause.

Compare:

• Jest tu woda. = There is water here.
• Nie ma tu wody. = There is no water here.
• Chcę, żeby tu była woda. = I want there to be water here.
• Chcę, żeby tu nie było wody. = I want there not to be water here.

So after żeby, this było structure is normal and does not automatically refer to the past.

Because after negation, Polish often uses the genitive case, especially with expressions like there is / there was.

Here the key pattern is:

• jest woda = there is water
• nie ma wody = there is no water
• była woda = there was water
• nie było wody = there was no water / there isn’t any water

So woda changes to wody because it is in the genitive singular.

This is very important in Polish:

• affirmative existential statement: often nominative
  
  • Jest kawa. = There is coffee.
• negative existential statement: genitive
  
  • Nie ma kawy. = There is no coffee.

Your sentence follows the same pattern:

• nie było wody = there was/would be no water

Because Polish uses different prepositions depending on the type of location.

• w = in
• na = on

So:

• w kuchni = in the kitchen
• na podłodze = on the floor

Both of these prepositions require the locative case when talking about location.

That is why the nouns change form:

• kuchnia → w kuchni
• podłoga → na podłodze

So the grammar is:

• w + locative for being inside something
• na + locative for being on a surface

Polish word order is more flexible than English word order, but the sentence as written is very natural.

The order here is:

• w kuchni = in the kitchen
• nie było wody = there was no water
• na podłodze = on the floor

This sounds like: so that in the kitchen there wouldn’t be water on the floor.

You could move things around for emphasis, for example:

• żeby na podłodze w kuchni nie było wody
• żeby nie było wody na podłodze w kuchni

These are possible, but they shift the focus a little.

The original sentence sounds natural because it first sets the place broadly (in the kitchen) and then specifies the exact unwanted location of the water (on the floor).

Polish has no articles, so there is no direct equivalent of a or the.

That means odpływ can mean:

• a drain
• the drain

The exact meaning depends on context.

In this sentence, English would probably use the drain, because it sounds like a specific household problem that someone is fixing:

• The professional is repairing the drain...

But grammatically, Polish itself does not mark that distinction.

This is true for the whole sentence:

• fachowiec could be a professional or the professional
• odpływ could be a drain or the drain

Context tells you which is more natural.

Yes. Aby is possible, but it is usually more formal or bookish.

So you could say:

• Fachowiec naprawia odpływ, aby w kuchni nie było wody na podłodze.

This means the same thing.

The difference is mostly one of style:

• żeby = common, everyday, natural in speech
• aby = more formal, more written-style

For most learners, żeby is the more useful everyday choice.

Literally and grammatically, it is closer to:

• there was no water on the floor

This is an existential structure: it talks about the presence or absence of something.

Polish often uses być in this kind of there is / there was meaning:

• Jest woda na podłodze. = There is water on the floor.
• Nie ma wody na podłodze. = There is no water on the floor.
• Żeby nie było wody na podłodze... = So that there won’t be / isn’t water on the floor...

If you wanted to say the water is not on the floor, that would be a different kind of idea, because now you are talking about some specific water as the subject. This sentence is not built that way.

Yes, absolutely. That is one of the most natural readings.

Fachowiec naprawia odpływ, żeby w kuchni nie było wody na podłodze most naturally means:

• the drain is being repaired to prevent water from ending up on the kitchen floor

So the purpose is preventive.

In smoother English, you might translate it as:

• The repairman is fixing the drain so that there won’t be water on the kitchen floor.
• The professional is repairing the drain to keep water off the kitchen floor.
• The tradesman is fixing the drain so the kitchen floor doesn’t get flooded/wet.

So although the Polish wording literally uses żeby ... nie było, the overall meaning is very much about preventing an unwanted situation.