W tej kawiarni podają ciepłe gofry, ale ja wolę małą przekąskę i herbatę.

Because w meaning in takes the locative case when it refers to location.

• basic form: ta kawiarnia = this café
• after w: w tej kawiarni = in this café

Both words change:

• ta → tej
• kawiarnia → kawiarni

So w tej kawiarni is the correct way to say in this café.

Kawiarni is locative singular of kawiarnia.

Many feminine nouns ending in -a change in the locative:

• kawiarnia → w kawiarni
• szkoła → w szkole
• książka → w książce

So the ending changes because the noun is following w in a location meaning.

In Polish, the 3rd person plural is often used when the speaker means people in general, especially staff in places like cafés, restaurants, or shops.

So podają ciepłe gofry literally means they serve warm waffles, but in natural English it often means:

• they serve warm waffles here
• warm waffles are served here

It refers generally to the café staff, not to a specific group already mentioned.

Yes, podają is present tense.

Its base verb is podawać, which is an imperfective verb meaning to serve / to hand / to offer, depending on context.

Here:

• podawać = to serve
• podają = they serve / people serve

The perfective partner is podać, but you would not normally use a perfective verb for a general habitual statement like this.

Because the adjective has to agree with the noun in number, gender, and case.

• singular: ciepły gofr = a warm waffle
• plural: ciepłe gofry = warm waffles

Since gofry is plural, the adjective also becomes plural: ciepłe.

Also, after podają, this phrase is in the accusative plural, but for non-masculine-personal nouns like gofry, the accusative plural looks the same as the nominative plural:

• gofry
• ciepłe gofry

Polish often leaves out subject pronouns because the verb already shows the person:

• wolę = I prefer

So ale wolę would already be grammatical.

Adding ja gives contrast or emphasis:

• ale ja wolę... = but I prefer...

It sounds a bit like:

• but as for me, I prefer...
• but I personally prefer...

So ja is not required, but it is very natural here because the sentence contrasts what the café serves with what the speaker prefers.

Because wolę takes a direct object, and the direct object here is in the accusative case.

Base form:

• mała przekąska = a small snack

Accusative form:

• małą przekąskę

Both words change because przekąska is a feminine noun:

• mała → małą
• przekąska → przekąskę

So after wolę, you need:

• wolę małą przekąskę = I prefer a small snack

For the same reason: herbata is also a direct object of wolę, so it must be in the accusative.

• nominative: herbata = tea
• accusative: herbatę = tea as the object

So:

• wolę herbatę = I prefer tea

This is a very common pattern with feminine nouns ending in -a:

• kawa → kawę
• woda → wodę
• herbata → herbatę

Yes. The speaker prefers both:

• a small snack
• tea

So the structure is:

wolę + małą przekąskę i herbatę

This is like saying:

• I prefer a small snack and tea

Both nouns are objects of wolę, which is why both are in the accusative.

Yes. Polish word order is more flexible than English, because case endings show the grammatical roles.

The original sentence is natural:

• W tej kawiarni podają ciepłe gofry, ale ja wolę małą przekąskę i herbatę.

But other versions are also possible, with slightly different emphasis:

• Ale ja wolę herbatę i małą przekąskę.
• Ja wolę małą przekąskę i herbatę.
• Ciepłe gofry podają w tej kawiarni...

The original order sounds neutral and natural. It first sets the place, then says what is served there, then contrasts that with the speaker’s preference.

Because ale means but, and in Polish it normally introduces a new clause or contrast, so it is preceded by a comma.

So:

• ..., ale ... = ..., but ...

This is very standard punctuation in Polish.

A rough guide:

• tej sounds roughly like tey in they, but shorter and without the English glide being too strong
• gofry sounds roughly GO-fri
• herbatę sounds roughly her-BA-teh or her-BA-ten depending on how clearly the nasal vowel ę is pronounced in connected speech

A few important points:

• w in Polish sounds like English v
• ł sounds like English w
• ę is a nasal vowel, but at the end of a word it is often pronounced less strongly in everyday speech

So małą has a final ł pronounced like w, and herbatę ends with ę, not a plain e.

Yes, but the meaning would change.

• lubię = I like
• wolę = I prefer

So:

• lubię herbatę = I like tea
• wolę herbatę = I prefer tea

In this sentence, wolę is important because the speaker is making a contrast:

• the café serves warm waffles,
• but the speaker prefers a small snack and tea.

So wolę fits better than lubię.