Prowadzący czyta pytanie, a uczestnik zapisuje odpowiedź na karcie odpowiedzi.

Prowadzący literally comes from prowadzić = to lead / conduct / run. Grammatically, it is an adjectival participle, but in real Polish it is very often used like a noun.

In this sentence, it means the person leading the activity — for example the presenter, the instructor, the test leader, or the invigilator, depending on context.

The form prowadzący is masculine singular. A female version would be prowadząca.

Polish often uses the present tense to describe a procedure, routine, or set of instructions.

So this sentence does not have to mean only right now, at this exact moment. It can also mean:

• this is what happens
• this is the procedure
• this is what each person does

Also, both verbs are imperfective:

• czytać = to read
• zapisywać / zapisać? Here zapisuje is the imperfective present form of zapisywać or a present habitual use related to zapisać in modern usage depending on analysis, but in practice it means an ongoing or routine action.

In a sentence like this, imperfective verbs are natural because the focus is on the process, not on one completed result.

Here a means something like and, but with a slight contrast or switch of focus.

So:

• Prowadzący czyta pytanie, a uczestnik zapisuje odpowiedź...

means:

• The presenter reads the question, and the participant writes down the answer...

Why a instead of i?

Because the sentence is contrasting two different people doing two different actions:

• one person reads
• another person writes

I would be a more simple and, just adding information. A is more natural when the subject changes and there is a mild contrast.

Because pytanie is a neuter noun, and in the singular its nominative and accusative forms are the same.

So:

• nominative: pytanie
• accusative: pytanie

Even though the form does not change, it is still the direct object of czyta, so grammatically it is accusative here.

For the same general reason: the word is functioning as the direct object, so it is in the accusative, but for many feminine nouns like odpowiedź, the nominative and accusative singular look identical.

So here:

• nominative: odpowiedź
• accusative: odpowiedź

That means the form does not visibly change, even though the case does.

A different case does show a change, for example:

• genitive: odpowiedzi

Zapisuje usually means writes down, records, or enters in writing.

That fits this context very well: the participant is not just writing in general, but specifically writing the answer down on the answer sheet.

Compare:

• pisze = writes in a general sense
• zapisuje = writes down / records / notes down

So zapisuje odpowiedź sounds more precise and natural here.

Because Polish normally uses na when talking about writing something on a surface such as a page, form, sheet, card, or board.

So:

• na karcie odpowiedzi = on the answer sheet

Using w here would sound wrong or at least unnatural in standard Polish.

Also, when na means location, it takes the locative case, which is why karta changes to karcie.

Because after na meaning on in a location sense, Polish uses the locative.

So:

• basic form: karta
• locative singular: karcie

That gives:

• na karcie = on the sheet / card

If there were movement onto it, Polish would use the accusative instead, for example:

• położyć coś na kartę = to place something onto the card

But here there is no movement; it is just location, so na karcie is correct.

Because Polish often expresses noun + of + noun using the genitive.

So:

• karta odpowiedzi literally means card/sheet of answer(s)

Here:

• karta = card / sheet / form
• odpowiedzi = genitive form of odpowiedź

This is a very common structure in Polish. English often uses a noun directly before another noun, but Polish often prefers a genitive construction instead.

The forms in this sentence are grammatically masculine singular:

• prowadzący
• uczestnik

If you were specifically talking about a woman, you would normally use:

• prowadząca
• uczestniczka

However, in some formal instructions or general descriptions, masculine forms may be used in a generic way. That said, modern Polish often tries to match the actual person’s gender more clearly, especially in everyday usage.

So the exact sentence given is masculine in form, but depending on context it may be understood either specifically as masculine or more generically.

Because Polish does not have articles like English the and a/an.

Whether something is definite or indefinite is usually understood from:

• context
• word order
• situation
• sometimes extra words if needed

So prowadzący, pytanie, uczestnik, and odpowiedź do not need articles. English must choose between the presenter, a participant, and so on, but Polish does not.

Not completely. Polish word order is more flexible than English because case endings help show what each word is doing.

Still, the order here is very natural and neutral for formal instructions:

• Prowadzący czyta pytanie, a uczestnik zapisuje odpowiedź na karcie odpowiedzi.

It clearly presents:

• subject
• verb
• object

in both parts of the sentence.

You could change the order for emphasis, but this version is the most straightforward. Also, the comma before a is standard, because a is joining two full clauses.