Ta sukienka jest ładna, ale nie chcę jej kupić.

Because sukienka is a feminine singular noun, and the demonstrative must agree with it.

The basic forms are:

• ten for masculine
• ta for feminine
• to for neuter

So:

• ta sukienka = this/that dress

Both words are in the nominative singular here because ta sukienka is the subject of the sentence.

Because adjectives in Polish agree with the noun they describe in gender, number, and case.

Here:

• sukienka is feminine singular
• so the adjective must also be feminine singular
• therefore: ładna

Compare:

• ładny = masculine singular
• ładna = feminine singular
• ładne = neuter singular or non-masculine-personal plural

Even after jest, the adjective still agrees with the noun:

• Ta sukienka jest ładna
• Ten sweter jest ładny
• To dziecko jest ładne

In this kind of sentence, Polish normally uses jest.

• Ta sukienka jest ładna = This dress is pretty

You generally cannot just say Ta sukienka ładna in standard Polish.

Polish sometimes omits forms of to be in very informal speech or in special sentence types, but with a normal adjective predicate like this, jest is the standard form.

Chcę is the 1st person singular present tense of chcieć = to want.

So:

• chcę = I want
• nie chcę = I do not want / I don't want

That is why the sentence means:

• I don't want to buy it

A few related forms:

• chcesz = you want
• chce = he/she/it wants
• chcemy = we want

Because the meaning is I do not want to buy it, so the verb being negated is want.

Structure:

• chcę kupić = I want to buy
• nie chcę kupić = I do not want to buy

If you tried to negate only kupić, you would change the meaning. It would be more like I want not to buy it, which is a different idea and not the normal intended sentence here.

So nie goes with chcę because that is the main verb of the sentence.

This is one of the most important grammar points in the sentence.

In a positive sentence, you would normally say:

• Chcę ją kupić = I want to buy it

But in a negative sentence, Polish often changes the direct object from accusative to genitive. That is why you get:

• Nie chcę jej kupić = I don't want to buy it

So here:

• ją = accusative
• jej = genitive

This is the standard pattern learners are expected to know:

• mam ją / nie mam jej
• chcę ją kupić / nie chcę jej kupić

Because Polish pronouns follow the grammatical gender of the noun, not the natural gender of the object.

• sukienka is a feminine noun
• so when you refer back to it, you use the feminine pronoun forms

That is why English it becomes Polish ją or jej, depending on case.

So in this sentence, jej means it, but grammatically it is the feminine form because sukienka is feminine.

This is about aspect.

• kupić is perfective
• kupować is imperfective

Very roughly:

• kupić focuses on a completed purchase
• kupować focuses on the process, repetition, or habit

In this sentence, the speaker means a single, complete action:

• I don't want to buy it

So kupić is the natural choice.

Compare:

• Nie chcę jej kupić = I don't want to buy it
• Nie chcę jej kupować = I don't want to be buying it / I don't want to buy it repeatedly or as an ongoing matter

Not completely, but this version is the most neutral and natural.

Polish word order is more flexible than English because case endings show grammatical roles. Still, some orders sound more natural than others.

Neutral order:

• nie chcę jej kupić

This places the short pronoun jej before the infinitive, which is very common.

Other orders are possible, but they usually add emphasis or sound less neutral, for example:

• jej nie chcę kupić = emphasis on it/her
• nie chcę kupić jej = possible, but less natural in a plain sentence

So yes, word order can change, but the original sentence is the standard choice.

Usually learners first meet ta as this, and that is a good basic translation.

But in real Polish, ten/ta/to can sometimes correspond to English this or that, depending on context. If you need a stronger contrast like that one over there, Polish often uses:

• tamten / tamta / tamto

So:

• ta sukienka = this dress / that dress, depending on context
• tamta sukienka = that dress over there / that other dress

Because in Polish, ale normally takes a comma before it when it joins two clauses or two contrasting parts of a sentence.

So:

• Ta sukienka jest ładna, ale nie chcę jej kupić.

This is standard Polish punctuation. It is similar to English ..., but ..., though Polish is often even more regular about putting a comma before conjunctions like ale.

This word is tricky for English speakers because of the consonant cluster.

A simple guide:

• ch sounds like Polish h in modern standard pronunciation
• c sounds like ts
• ę is a nasal vowel, but before the end of a word it is often pronounced approximately like en or a nasalized e, depending on the speaker and context

So chcę is pronounced roughly like hts-en or khts-en, depending on how you approximate it in English.

The exact Polish pronunciation is hard to capture in English spelling, but the main thing is:

• do not pronounce ch like English ch in chair
• do not pronounce c like English k or s alone

It is worth listening to native audio for this word, because pronunciation is much easier to copy than to learn from spelling alone.