Ratownik zapytał, czy kobieta jest przytomna i czy może sama oddychać.

Because Polish often repeats czy before each indirect yes/no question.

Here, the sentence contains two linked questions:

• czy kobieta jest przytomna = whether the woman is conscious
• czy może sama oddychać = whether she can breathe on her own

Repeating czy makes the structure clear and natural. In English, we often use whether ... and whether ..., but sometimes only say whether once. In Polish, repeating it is very common.

You may also hear or see:

• Ratownik zapytał, czy kobieta jest przytomna i może sama oddychać.

This is understandable, but repeating czy is clearer and more standard.

Here, czy means whether / if in an indirect question.

It does not mean the same thing as English if in a conditional sentence.

Compare:

• Nie wiem, czy przyjdzie. = I don't know if / whether he will come.
• Jeśli przyjdzie, porozmawiamy. = If he comes, we'll talk.

So in your sentence, czy introduces what was asked:

• Ratownik zapytał, czy... = The paramedic/rescuer asked whether...

Both come from the verb pytać / zapytać, but they differ in aspect.

• pytać = imperfective, asking / used to ask / was asking
• zapytać = perfective, to ask (once, as a completed action)

In this sentence:

• Ratownik zapytał means the rescuer asked — a completed, one-time action.

That is why zapytał is the natural choice here.

Compare:

• Ratownik pytał o jej stan. = The rescuer was asking / used to ask about her condition.
• Ratownik zapytał, czy kobieta jest przytomna. = The rescuer asked whether the woman was conscious.

Because kobieta is the subject of the clause:

• kobieta jest przytomna
• kobieta może sama oddychać

The woman is the one who is conscious and can breathe, so she stays in the nominative case:

• kobieta = nominative singular

You would use kobietę if the woman were a direct object:

• Ratownik zobaczył kobietę. = The rescuer saw the woman.

But here she is not the object of jest or może oddychać. She is the subject of those verbs.

Because przytomna agrees with kobieta, which is a feminine singular noun.

Polish adjectives change form to match the noun in gender, number, and case.

Here:

• kobieta = feminine singular
• so the adjective must also be feminine singular:
• przytomna = conscious

Compare:

• mężczyzna jest przytomny = the man is conscious
• kobieta jest przytomna = the woman is conscious
• dziecko jest przytomne = the child is conscious

In Polish, in normal present-tense statements, you usually include the verb być (to be).

So:

• kobieta jest przytomna = the woman is conscious

Unlike in some other contexts, you generally cannot omit jest here in standard neutral prose.

You may sometimes see verbless structures in headlines, notes, or very compressed speech, but in an ordinary full sentence, jest is needed.

Sama here means on her own / by herself.

So:

• może sama oddychać = she can breathe on her own

It agrees with an implied feminine subject (kobieta), which is why it is sama.

Compare:

• sam = masculine
• sama = feminine
• samo = neuter

Examples:

• On może sam iść. = He can go by himself.
• Ona może sama oddychać. = She can breathe on her own.

Because after może (can), Polish uses the infinitive:

• może oddychać = can breathe

Putting the infinitive after the modal verb is the normal order.

Also, Polish word order is more flexible than English, but:

• czy może sama oddychać sounds natural and neutral.

Other word orders are possible for emphasis, for example:

• czy sama może oddychać
• czy może oddychać sama

But the original version is straightforward and standard.

No. Here może is the verb form of móc (to be able to / can).

So:

• może oddychać = can breathe / is able to breathe

This is different from the particle może, which can mean maybe / perhaps in other contexts.

Compare:

• Ona może oddychać. = She can breathe.
• Może ona oddycha. = Maybe she is breathing.

Same spelling, different function.

Because Polish often keeps the present tense in indirect questions when referring to a situation that is current at the time of asking.

So:

• Ratownik zapytał, czy kobieta jest przytomna
  literally: The rescuer asked whether the woman is conscious.

In natural English, we often backshift tense:

• asked whether the woman was conscious

But Polish does not have to backshift in the same way English does. Using present tense here is completely normal because the woman's condition is being checked at that moment.

Yes. Ratownik has a broader meaning than just paramedic.

Depending on context, it can mean:

• rescuer
• lifeguard
• emergency responder
• medic / paramedic

In a medical-emergency sentence like this one, English translations such as paramedic, rescuer, or emergency worker may all be possible depending on the exact situation.

It is basically neutral standard Polish.

Nothing in it is especially slangy or highly formal. It sounds like ordinary written or spoken Polish, especially in a report or description of an emergency situation.

Some features that make it neutral:

• standard word order
• repeated czy for clarity
• normal aspect choice in zapytał
• straightforward medical vocabulary like przytomna and oddychać

A rough English-style guide would be:

ra-TOHV-nik za-PYI-tow, chi ko-BYE-ta yest pshe-TOM-na ee chi MO-zhe SA-ma od-DY-khahch

A few helpful points:

• czy sounds roughly like chi
• rz in ratownik is pronounced like the s in measure or zh
• przy in przytomna is tricky; the prz cluster is very Polish
• ch in oddychać is like a hard h, not ch as in chair
• ą in zapytał is not present; the final sound is more like -ow here in actual pronunciation

This is only approximate, but it can help you get started.