Nie zgaduj, tylko przeczytaj dokładnie, co jest napisane na bilecie.

Polish usually leaves out subject pronouns when they are clear from the verb form. Both zgaduj and przeczytaj are imperative forms meaning guess! and read!, so the sentence clearly addresses you.

So the full idea is:

• Nie zgaduj = Don’t guess
• Przeczytaj dokładnie = Read carefully

English needs you less often than Polish? Actually it is the opposite here: Polish can omit it much more freely.

This is about verbal aspect and how Polish usually forms negative commands.

• zgadywać / zgaduj = imperfective
• zgadnąć / zgadnij = perfective

In negative imperatives, Polish very often prefers the imperfective:

• Nie zgaduj = Don’t guess
• Nie rób tego = Don’t do that

Using the imperfective focuses on stopping or avoiding the activity in general. So Nie zgaduj sounds natural and standard.

Because przeczytaj is perfective and means read it through / read it completely.

Compare:

• czytaj = read / be reading (focus on the process)
• przeczytaj = read through, finish reading (focus on completion)

In this sentence, the speaker wants the person to actually read what is on the ticket, not just start reading. That is why przeczytaj fits better.

Here tylko means something like just, instead, or rather.

So:

• Nie zgaduj, tylko przeczytaj...
  = Don’t guess, just read... = Don’t guess; instead, read...

This use of tylko contrasts two actions:

1. the wrong one: guessing
2. the right one: reading carefully

Because the sentence links two imperative clauses:

• Nie zgaduj
• tylko przeczytaj dokładnie...

In Polish, a comma is commonly used before tylko when it means but rather / instead and connects contrasting parts of a sentence.

So the comma helps show the contrast:

• not this, but that

In this sentence, dokładnie means carefully, thoroughly, or closely.

Although dokładnie can sometimes mean exactly, here it modifies przeczytaj and tells you how to read:

• przeczytaj dokładnie = read carefully / read thoroughly

So it does not mean read exactly in the English sense. It means pay close attention to what is written.

co jest napisane literally means what is written.

Breakdown:

• co = what
• jest = is
• napisane = written

So:

• przeczytaj dokładnie, co jest napisane na bilecie = read carefully what is written on the ticket

It is a very common Polish structure:

• Powiedz mi, co jest ważne. = Tell me what is important.
• Sprawdź, co jest w środku. = Check what is inside.

Both can relate to writing, but they are different structures.

• jest napisane = is written
• napisano = someone wrote / it was written in an impersonal sense

In this sentence, jest napisane focuses on the text as it appears on the ticket right now. It is similar to English what is written on the ticket.

If you said co napisano na bilecie, that would sound more like what was written on the ticket, focusing more on the act of writing than on the visible wording itself.

bilecie is the locative singular form of bilet.

The preposition na can take different cases depending on meaning:

• na + accusative for movement onto something
• na + locative for location on something

Here it means location:

• na bilecie = on the ticket

So:

• Co jest na bilecie? = What is on the ticket?
• napisane na bilecie = written on the ticket

Because after na in a location meaning, Polish uses the locative case, and bilet changes in the locative singular:

• nominative: bilet
• locative: bilecie

This change is normal for many masculine nouns. The ending -e is typical, and the stem also changes slightly:

• t → ci in spelling/pronunciation here: bilet → bilecie

This is something you mostly have to get used to through exposure.

Yes, Polish word order is fairly flexible, but the original version is natural and clear.

For example, you might also hear:

• Nie zgaduj, tylko dokładnie przeczytaj, co jest napisane na bilecie.

That still means essentially the same thing. But the original:

• Nie zgaduj, tylko przeczytaj dokładnie...

sounds very natural, with dokładnie placed after the verb.

Polish often changes word order for emphasis, rhythm, or style more than English does.

Here co is not introducing a direct question. It introduces a subordinate clause meaning what.

So this is not:

• Co jest napisane na bilecie? = What is written on the ticket?

but rather:

• Przeczytaj, co jest napisane na bilecie. = Read what is written on the ticket.

So co works like what in English when it links a main clause to a subordinate clause.

Usually yes, in this kind of sentence.

• zgadywać = to guess
• zgadnąć = to guess correctly / figure out / hit on the right answer in a perfective sense

In Nie zgaduj, the meaning is simply don’t try to guess. The speaker is telling someone not to rely on guessing, but to check the actual text.

It can sound firm, but not necessarily rude. It depends on tone and context.

Imperatives in Polish are normal for instructions:

• Przeczytaj dokładnie = Read carefully
• Nie zgaduj = Don’t guess

So it could be:

• neutral instruction
• impatient correction
• strong advice

If you wanted to sound softer, Polish could use extra words such as:

• Proszę, przeczytaj dokładnie... = Please read carefully...
• Lepiej nie zgaduj, tylko przeczytaj... = Better not guess, just read...

But the original sentence itself is completely natural.