Quiz pubowy zaczyna się o ósmej.

In Polish, adjectives can go before or after the noun, but the position can affect style and emphasis.

• pubowy quiz = the more neutral, dictionary-like order
• quiz pubowy = also natural, and often sounds a bit more like a fixed label or category

In everyday usage, both can be understood. With expressions like this, Polish sometimes keeps a more flexible order than English.

So:

• pubowy quiz zaczyna się o ósmej
• quiz pubowy zaczyna się o ósmej

Both are possible.

Pubowy is an adjective meaning related to a pub.

It comes from:

• pub = pub
• -owy = a common adjective-forming ending meaning connected with / relating to

So quiz pubowy means something like:

• a pub quiz
• a quiz held in a pub
• a pub-related quiz event

In this sentence, zaczyna się means begins / starts.

Polish often uses się with verbs when something happens by itself or when no external agent is emphasized.

So:

• Quiz pubowy zaczyna się o ósmej. = The pub quiz starts at eight.

Compare:

• Zaczynam quiz. = I am starting the quiz.
  Here, someone is actively starting something.
• Quiz zaczyna się. = The quiz is starting / begins.
  Here, the event itself is beginning.

For events, zaczyna się is very natural.

Normally, no. That would sound incomplete or wrong in standard Polish.

Why?

Because:

• zaczynać coś = to start something
• zaczynać się = to start / begin

So if the quiz itself is the thing that begins, Polish usually says:

• Quiz zaczyna się o ósmej.

Without się, the verb usually expects an object:

• Organizator zaczyna quiz o ósmej. = The organizer starts the quiz at eight.

Because Polish tells the time here with:

• o
  • locative case
• and usually uses an ordinal numeral, not a basic counting numeral

So:

• o ósmej = at eight o’clock

You do not say:

• o osiem for at eight o’clock

More examples:

• o pierwszej = at one
• o drugiej = at two
• o piątej = at five
• o dziesiątej = at ten

Because there is an implied feminine noun: godzina or, more precisely in this structure, godzinie.

So o ósmej really comes from the idea of:

• o ósmej godzinie = at the eighth hour

That is why the numeral appears in the feminine locative singular form:

• ósma → ósmej

Even when godzinie is omitted, the feminine form stays.

Here o means at, and it takes the locative case.

So:

• ósma = basic form
• o ósmej = locative form after o

This is a very common pattern for clock times:

• o siódmej
• o ósmej
• o dziewiątej

Be careful: o can mean different things in Polish in other contexts too, but when talking about time, it commonly means at and is followed by the locative.

Yes, it is used in modern Polish as a loanword from English.

It behaves like a Polish noun in grammar:

• singular: quiz
• plural: quizy

And it can take case endings:

• quiz
• quizu
• quizem, etc.

So even though it comes from English, in Polish it functions as a regular noun.

Quiz is masculine inanimate.

You can see that from adjective agreement:

• quiz pubowy
  The adjective pubowy is in the masculine singular form.

Other examples:

• ten quiz = this quiz
• dobry quiz = a good quiz
• ciekawy quiz = an interesting quiz

A rough English-friendly guide:

• quiz → kweez
• pubowy → poo-BO-vih
• zaczyna → za-CHI-na
• się → roughly shyeng or sheh depending on speed
• o ósmej → o OOS-may

A few useful pronunciation notes:

• qu in quiz is pronounced like kw
• Polish z is usually voiced, but in clusters pronunciation can shift a bit naturally
• cz sounds like ch in chop
• ś/si before a vowel has a soft sh-like sound
• ó is pronounced like u
• ej in ósmej sounds a bit like ay

Yes. Polish word order is more flexible than English.

The basic sentence is:

• Quiz pubowy zaczyna się o ósmej.

But you could also say:

• O ósmej zaczyna się quiz pubowy.
• Zaczyna się o ósmej quiz pubowy.
  This is possible, though less neutral.

The most natural alternatives are usually:

• Quiz pubowy zaczyna się o ósmej.
• O ósmej zaczyna się quiz pubowy.

Moving o ósmej to the front puts more emphasis on the time.

Yes. If you want to be more explicit or use the 24-hour system, you can say:

• Quiz pubowy zaczyna się o dwudziestej. = The pub quiz starts at 20:00.

Both are correct:

• o ósmej = at eight
• o dwudziestej = at twenty hundred / 8 p.m.

Sometimes people add:

• o ósmej wieczorem = at eight in the evening

This helps avoid ambiguity.

Zaczyna się is imperfective and usually refers to:

• a regular schedule
• a present/future event in a neutral way

So in this sentence it means:

• The pub quiz starts at eight.

You can also use the perfective future:

• Quiz pubowy zacznie się o ósmej.

That means roughly:

• The pub quiz will start at eight.

Both are correct, but they feel slightly different:

• zaczyna się = more like a timetable or scheduled fact
• zacznie się = more like a single future event

In Polish, the present tense of an imperfective verb is often used for scheduled future events.

So:

• Quiz pubowy zaczyna się o ósmej.

grammatically looks present, but in meaning it is often:

• The pub quiz starts at eight
• The pub quiz is starting at eight
• The pub quiz will start at eight

This is very similar to English, where the present can also be used for schedules:

• The train leaves at six.
• The quiz starts at eight.