Gdy jest słaby zasięg, połączenie często kończy się po kilku minutach.

Gdy means when or whenever here. It introduces the situation in which the main action happens.

You could also use kiedy in many contexts:

• Gdy jest słaby zasięg...
• Kiedy jest słaby zasięg...

Both are correct. Gdy can sound a bit more neutral or slightly more written/formal, while kiedy is very common in everyday speech too.

Jeśli is different: it means if. It makes the sentence sound more conditional:

• Jeśli jest słaby zasięg... = If the coverage is poor...

So gdy and kiedy are closest here; jeśli changes the nuance a little.

Polish does not need a dummy subject like English it or there.

In English, you often say:

• there is poor reception
• it is a weak signal

In Polish, you can simply say:

• jest słaby zasięg

The real noun is zasięg, and Polish does not need an extra filler word before the verb. So the structure is perfectly normal.

Because słaby zasięg is a noun phrase in the nominative singular:

• zasięg = a masculine singular noun
• słaby = the adjective agreeing with it in gender, number, and case

So:

• słaby zasięg = weak/poor coverage

The adjective has to match the noun:

• masculine singular nominative: słaby
• feminine singular nominative would be something else, for example słaba
• neuter singular nominative would be słabe

In this sentence, zasięg means mobile coverage / reception.

In phone-related contexts, Polish speakers often use:

• mieć zasięg = to have signal / to have coverage
• nie mieć zasięgu = to have no signal / no coverage
• słaby zasięg = poor reception / weak coverage

It is not just the general dictionary meaning range. In everyday speech, it very often refers to phone network reception.

A related word is sygnał:

• sygnał = signal
• zasięg = coverage/reception

They overlap a bit in meaning, but zasięg is especially common for mobile coverage.

Because Gdy jest słaby zasięg is a subordinate clause, and it is separated from the main clause by a comma.

Structure:

• Gdy jest słaby zasięg, = subordinate clause
• połączenie często kończy się po kilku minutach. = main clause

This is standard Polish punctuation. If you reverse the order, you still use a comma:

• Połączenie często kończy się po kilku minutach, gdy jest słaby zasięg.

Połączenie means connection / call in a technical sense. It focuses on the phone connection itself.

Rozmowa means conversation.

So:

• połączenie kończy się = the call/connection ends
• rozmowa się kończy = the conversation ends

In a sentence about bad coverage, połączenie is very natural because the problem is technical: the call drops or disconnects.

Here kończy się means ends or comes to an end.

Yes, it contains się, but this does not mean the call is literally doing something to itself in the English sense. In Polish, many verbs use się to form an intransitive or change-of-state meaning.

Compare:

• kończyć coś = to end something
• kończyć się = to end

So:

• Operator kończy połączenie = The operator ends the call.
• Połączenie kończy się = The call ends.

In this sentence, się helps make the verb work like to end rather than to end something.

Because this sentence describes a general repeated situation, not one single completed future event.

• kończyć się = imperfective
• skończyć się = perfective

Polish uses the imperfective present for habits, repeated situations, and general truths:

• połączenie często kończy się... = the call often ends...

If you said skończy się, it would usually refer to one specific future event:

• Połączenie skończy się po kilku minutach. = The call will end after a few minutes.

So the choice of kończy się is about aspect as well as meaning.

After po meaning after, Polish uses the locative.

So:

• po
  • locative
• kilku minutach = locative plural

Breakdown:

• kilka = a few
• after po, it changes to kilku
• minuty changes to minutach

That is why you get:

• po kilku minutach = after a few minutes

This is different from a duration expression:

• przez kilka minut = for a few minutes

So:

• po kilku minutach = after a few minutes
• przez kilka minut = for a few minutes

Yes, Polish word order is flexible, and często can move.

The version in the sentence is very natural and neutral:

• połączenie często kończy się po kilku minutach

You could also hear:

• często połączenie kończy się po kilku minutach
• połączenie kończy się często po kilku minutach

But these may shift the emphasis a little. The original order sounds like the most straightforward, neutral version.

Yes. Polish allows more word-order freedom than English.

For example:

• Gdy jest słaby zasięg, połączenie często kończy się po kilku minutach.
• Połączenie często kończy się po kilku minutach, gdy jest słaby zasięg.

The basic meaning stays the same. What changes is mostly focus or style:

• starting with Gdy... foregrounds the condition first
• starting with Połączenie... foregrounds the main fact first

The original version is very natural because it first gives the condition, then the result.