Ten hotel jest droższy niż tamten, ale jest bliżej centrum.

Ten means this, and tamten means that one or that one over there.

They have these forms because they refer to hotel, which is:

• masculine
• singular
• nominative (the subject of the sentence)

In Polish, words like ten and tamten must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.

So:

• ten hotel = this hotel
• tamten = that one / that hotel

If the noun were feminine or neuter, the form would change.

Ten hotel is the normal, neutral word order.

In Polish, demonstratives like ten and tamten usually come before the noun:

• ten hotel
• ta książka
• to miasto

You can sometimes see hotel ten, but that is more marked and can sound more literary, contrastive, or emphatic depending on context. For a basic sentence like this, ten hotel is the standard choice.

Droższy is the comparative form of drogi (expensive).

So:

• drogi = expensive
• droższy = more expensive

In Polish, many common adjectives form the comparative with a special ending rather than using bardziej. This is the normal pattern here.

So Polish prefers:

• droższy = more expensive

rather than:

• bardziej drogi = literally more expensive, but usually not the natural choice here

English speakers often expect a structure like more + adjective, but Polish very often uses a single comparative word instead.

Because it agrees with hotel, which is a masculine singular noun in the nominative.

The adjective has to match the noun, so:

• ten hotel jest droższy

If the noun were feminine, the form would be different:

• ta restauracja jest droższa

And for neuter:

• to miejsce jest droższe

So the ending changes because Polish adjectives agree with the noun they describe.

Yes. Niż means than and is very commonly used in comparisons.

So:

• droższy niż tamten = more expensive than that one

You can also say:

• droższy od tamtego

Both are correct.

The difference is mainly grammatical:

• after niż, you get tamten
• after od, you use the genitive, so it becomes tamtego

So these are both possible:

• Ten hotel jest droższy niż tamten.
• Ten hotel jest droższy od tamtego.

Because Polish often leaves out a noun when it is already clear from context.

So:

• droższy niż tamten

really means:

• droższy niż tamten hotel

But repeating hotel is unnecessary, because the listener already knows what tamten refers to.

This works a lot like English that one.

Because bliżej is an adverbial comparative meaning more near / nearer / closer, and this is a very natural Polish way to talk about location.

So:

• jest bliżej centrum = it is closer to the center

English uses closer after is, and that feels adjective-like to English speakers. In Polish, this idea is often expressed with bliżej, which comes from blisko (near).

There is also an adjective bliższy (closer), but the sentence here uses the very common pattern:

• być bliżej + noun

So the given sentence is completely natural.

It is genitive.

After words like bliżej (closer), Polish often uses the genitive:

• bliżej domu = closer to home
• bliżej miasta = closer to the city
• bliżej centrum = closer to the center

A tricky point is that centrum looks the same in the nominative and genitive singular, so you do not see a visible ending change here.

That is why learners often wonder whether the case changed at all — it did, but the form stayed the same.

Not always, but including it is completely natural and clear.

The sentence says:

• Ten hotel jest droższy niż tamten, ale jest bliżej centrum.

Because the subject is still ten hotel, Polish can sometimes omit repeated elements if they are obvious. So you may also hear a shortened version in some contexts.

However, keeping the second jest is a safe, neutral choice and sounds perfectly normal.

For learners, it is often better to include it until you become more comfortable with ellipsis in Polish.

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

So:

• ten hotel can mean this hotel
• hotel on its own may mean a hotel or the hotel, depending on context

Polish uses:

• context
• word order
• demonstratives like ten, tamten
• sometimes stress or emphasis

to show whether something is specific or general.

That is why the sentence does not need a separate word for the.

A rough English-friendly guide:

• droższy ≈ DROHZH-shih
• bliżej ≈ BLI-zhay

A few useful sound notes:

• ż sounds like the s in measure
• sz sounds like sh
• j sounds like English y
• ó sounds like u in Polish

So droższy has two different zh/sh-type sounds next to each other, which can feel tricky at first.

And bliżej ends with -ej, which sounds a bit like ay in English.

These are only approximations, but they are enough to help you start saying the words more confidently.