Kiedy kończy się karma, pies od razu stoi przy szafce i patrzy na mnie.

No. In Polish, karma very often means pet food or animal feed.

So in this sentence, karma means dog food, not the English spiritual idea of karma.

That makes this a classic false friend for English speakers.

Here kończyć się means to run out, to come to an end, or to be finishing.

So:

• kończyć = to finish / to end something
• kończyć się = to end / to run out

In this sentence, karma kończy się means the dog food is running out or the dog food runs out.

The się changes the verb from something that finishes something else into something that ends by itself / comes to an end.

Compare:

• Kończę książkę. = I am finishing the book.
• Książka się kończy. = The book is coming to an end.

Both are possible.

Polish word order is flexible, and both of these can work:

• Kiedy kończy się karma...
• Kiedy karma się kończy...

The version in your sentence sounds natural and smooth. Putting the verb before the subject is common, especially in subordinate clauses.

Also, się often appears early in the clause, usually after the verb or near it.

So this word order is not something you need to translate literally from English. It is just a natural Polish arrangement.

Karma is in the nominative case, because it is the subject of kończy się.

Even though English speakers may feel like food is the object in the food runs out, in Polish the food is grammatically the thing that is ending.

So:

• karma = nominative singular
• it is the subject of kończy się

Yes, kończy się is present tense.

In Polish, the present tense is often used for:

• things happening now
• general truths
• repeated/habitual actions

So this sentence describes a habitual situation:

Whenever the dog food runs out, the dog immediately stands by the cabinet and looks at me.

That is why present tense is perfectly natural here.

Because Kiedy kończy się karma is a subordinate clause introduced by kiedy.

In Polish, subordinate clauses are normally separated by a comma.

So the structure is:

• Kiedy kończy się karma,
• pies od razu stoi przy szafce i patrzy na mnie.

This comma is required.

It can be understood as when or whenever, depending on context.

In this sentence, because the rest is in a habitual present and describes a repeated pattern, kiedy is best understood as:

• when
• or more naturally in English, whenever

So the sense is:

Whenever the dog food runs out, the dog immediately stands by the cabinet and looks at me.

Od razu means immediately, right away, or straight away.

It is a very common Polish expression.

Examples:

• Zadzwoń do mnie od razu. = Call me right away.
• Pies od razu stoi przy szafce. = The dog immediately stands by the cabinet.

It does not literally break down in a way that helps much in English, so it is best learned as a set phrase.

Przy means by, next to, at, or near, depending on context.

Here:

• stoi = stands
• przy szafce = by the cabinet / next to the cupboard

So pies stoi przy szafce means:

the dog is standing by the cabinet

This is a normal way in Polish to describe location near something.

Because the preposition przy requires the locative case.

So:

• nominative: szafka
• locative: szafce

That is why you get:

• przy szafce = by the cabinet

This is something you simply have to memorize with the preposition:

• przy
  • locative

Szafka usually means a small cabinet, cupboard, storage unit, or little cupboard.

It is related to szafa (wardrobe / large cabinet), and szafka is a smaller form.

In this sentence, it probably means the cupboard or cabinet where the dog food is kept.

So natural translations could be:

• cabinet
• cupboard
• little cabinet

The exact English word depends on the home setting.

Because the verb patrzeć normally goes with na when you say what someone is looking at.

So:

• patrzeć na kogoś/coś = to look at someone/something

That is why the sentence has:

• patrzy na mnie = looks at me

This is different from English, where look also needs at, but in Polish you must remember the full pattern:

• patrzeć na + accusative

Because na requires the accusative case here.

The forms are:

• nominative: ja = I
• accusative: mnie = me
• dative: mi / mnie = to me

Since patrzeć na kogo? na co? takes the accusative, you need:

• na mnie = at me

So:

• patrzy na mnie = he looks at me

not na ja and not na mi.

Polish has no articles like a or the.

So pies can mean:

• a dog
• the dog

You decide from context.

In this sentence, the context clearly suggests the dog — probably a specific dog the speaker knows well.

This is very normal in Polish. Learners have to get used to understanding definiteness from context instead of from articles.

Because stać means to stand, and it describes the dog’s position once it gets there.

So the sentence focuses on the typical result:

• the food runs out
• the dog immediately stands by the cabinet
• and looks at me

If you wanted to emphasize movement toward the cabinet, you might use another verb, such as podchodzi (comes up/walks up). But stoi przy szafce is perfectly natural if the point is where the dog ends up.

Grammatically, that literal idea helps explain the structure, but it is not good English.

A more natural English translation would be:

• When the dog food runs out, the dog immediately stands by the cabinet and looks at me.
• or Whenever the dog food runs out, the dog immediately goes and stands by the cabinet, looking at me.

So yes, the Polish structure is a bit like the food is ending, but in English you would normally say the food runs out.