To skaleczenie nie wygląda źle, ale opatrunek trzeba zmieniać codziennie.

Here to is the neuter singular form of the demonstrative ten / ta / to, so it means this.

Because skaleczenie is a neuter noun, Polish uses to:

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

So:

• to skaleczenie = this cut / this injury

Skaleczenie usually means a cut, scratch, or minor injury caused by cutting. It is often less serious than rana, which is a more general word for wound.

So skaleczenie suggests something like:

• a cut on the skin
• a small injury from something sharp

It comes from the verb skaleczyć (się), meaning to cut / injure / cut oneself.

In Polish, nie is normally written separately from verbs.

So:

• wygląda = looks
• nie wygląda = doesn’t look

This is standard:

• nie wiem = I don’t know
• nie mam = I don’t have
• nie wygląda = it doesn’t look

A learner often notices that nie is sometimes attached to other words, but with most finite verbs it is written separately.

Wygląda is the 3rd person singular present form of wyglądać, meaning to look or to appear.

So:

• wyglądać = to look / to appear
• wygląda = looks / appears

In this sentence, the subject is skaleczenie, which is singular, so Polish uses wygląda.

Also, in the present tense, Polish verbs do not show gender, so wygląda would be the same whether the subject is masculine, feminine, or neuter, as long as it is singular.

Because after wyglądać, Polish uses an adverb, not an adjective.

• źle = badly / in a bad way
• zły / zła / złe = bad as an adjective

So:

• wygląda źle = looks bad
• To jest złe skaleczenie = This is a bad cut

English says looks bad, where bad feels adjective-like, but Polish uses the adverb źle after wyglądać.

Not quite.

• nie wygląda źle = it doesn’t look bad
• wygląda dobrze = it looks good

The first is a bit more cautious. It suggests:

• it is not serious-looking
• it is not too bad
• but the speaker is not necessarily saying it looks fully good or perfect

This kind of cautious wording is very natural in both Polish and English.

Trzeba means something like:

• it is necessary to
• one has to
• you need to
• must

It is an impersonal word, so it does not name who must do the action.

So:

• opatrunek trzeba zmieniać = the dressing needs to be changed / one has to change the dressing

This is very common in Polish when the speaker wants to express necessity in a general way, without saying exactly who is responsible.

After trzeba, Polish normally uses the infinitive.

So:

• trzeba zmieniać = it is necessary to change
• not a form like trzeba zmienia

This is the usual pattern:

• trzeba iść = you have to go
• trzeba czekać = you have to wait
• trzeba zmieniać = you have to change

This is a matter of aspect.

• zmieniać = imperfective
• zmienić = perfective

In this sentence, zmieniać is used because the action is repeated regularly: codziennie = every day.

So:

• trzeba zmieniać codziennie = the dressing needs to be changed daily / repeatedly
• trzeba zmienić would sound more like it needs to be changed once / now / on a particular occasion

That is why the imperfective verb is the natural choice here.

It is in the accusative, because it is the direct object of zmieniać.

You are changing the dressing, so opatrunek is the thing affected by the action.

For an inanimate masculine singular noun like opatrunek, the accusative looks the same as the nominative:

• nominative: opatrunek
• accusative: opatrunek

So the form does not change, even though the case has changed.

Opatrunek is a medical dressing. Depending on context, English may translate it as:

• dressing
• bandage
• sometimes a more general covering for a wound

In medical or first-aid contexts, dressing is often the best translation, because opatrunek can mean more than just a strip of bandage material. It is whatever has been applied to protect the wound.

Yes, Polish word order is fairly flexible.

This sentence could also be arranged as:

• Trzeba zmieniać opatrunek codziennie
• Trzeba codziennie zmieniać opatrunek
• Opatrunek codziennie trzeba zmieniać

These all mean roughly the same thing, but the emphasis changes slightly.

The given order, opatrunek trzeba zmieniać codziennie, brings opatrunek forward, making the dressing the main thing being talked about. That sounds natural in context, especially after talking about the injury.

Codziennie means every day or daily. It is an adverb.

It tells us how often the action happens:

• zmieniać codziennie = to change every day

Other similar adverbs are:

• często = often
• rzadko = rarely
• regularnie = regularly

So codziennie modifies the action zmieniać, not the noun opatrunek.