Dziecko widzi króla.

Because króla is the accusative singular form of król.

In this sentence:

• dziecko = the subject, so it stays in the nominative
• króla = the direct object, so it goes into the accusative

A very important Polish pattern is that masculine animate nouns often have:

• nominative: król
• accusative: króla

So Dziecko widzi króla literally has the structure Child sees king.

Because dziecko is the subject of the sentence, and subjects are normally in the nominative case.

Its basic dictionary form is dziecko, and that is also the nominative singular form.

So:

• dziecko = nominative singular
• widzi = sees
• króla = accusative singular

Dziecko is grammatically neuter.

That can feel strange to an English speaker, because it refers to a person, but in Polish grammatical gender does not always match natural gender.

So you would say things like:

• małe dziecko = a small child
• to dziecko jest zmęczone = this child is tired

The adjective and past tense forms would agree with neuter grammar, unless you switch to a more specific word like chłopiec or dziewczynka.

Widzi is the 3rd person singular present tense of widzieć (to see).

So it means:

• he/she/it sees

Here it agrees with dziecko, which is singular, so the verb is singular too.

A few present-tense forms of widzieć are:

• widzę = I see
• widzisz = you see
• widzi = he/she/it sees
• widzimy = we see
• widzicie = you all see
• widzą = they see

Usually just sees, but depending on context it can also correspond to English is seeing.

Polish present tense does not force the same distinction that English does between:

• sees
• is seeing

So Dziecko widzi króla can simply mean that the child sees the king / a king.

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

So króla can mean:

• a king
• the king

And dziecko can mean:

• a child
• the child

The exact meaning depends on context.

That is why Dziecko widzi króla could be understood as either:

• The child sees a king
• The child sees the king

Yes. Polish word order is more flexible than English because case endings show what each noun is doing.

The most neutral order here is:

• Dziecko widzi króla.

But you could also say:

• Króla widzi dziecko.
• Widzi dziecko króla.

These can sound marked or emphasize different parts of the sentence, but the case endings still help you identify:

• dziecko = subject
• króla = object

So even if the order changes, the child is still the one seeing, and the king is still the one being seen.

You know it from the dictionary form król and from its meaning.

In Polish, a masculine noun referring to a person is typically masculine animate. For many masculine animate nouns, the accusative singular looks like the genitive singular.

So:

• nominative: król
• genitive: króla
• accusative: króla

This is a very common pattern with words for people and animals.

Compare:

• mam psa = I have a dog
• widzę nauczyciela = I see the teacher
• znam króla = I know the king

A rough pronunciation guide is:

• dziecko ≈ JETS-koh or JECK-koh
• widzi ≈ VEE-jee
• króla ≈ KROO-wah

A few helpful notes:

• dz in dziecko is part of a soft sound
• dzi in widzi sounds somewhat like j in jeep, but softer
• ó is pronounced like u
• ł is pronounced like English w

So króla sounds roughly like KROO-wa.

In modern Polish pronunciation, ó is pronounced the same as u.

So:

• król sounds roughly like krul
• króla sounds roughly like kroo-wa

The spelling with ó is historical and must simply be learned. It often helps when related word forms are compared, but for a learner the most important thing is:

• ó = pronounced like u

It is singular.

Even though in English child has an irregular plural (children), in Polish the singular and plural are:

• singular: dziecko
• plural: dzieci

So this sentence is about one child.

Yes. Dziecko is a general word meaning child, so it does not specify sex.

It can refer to:

• a boy
• a girl
• simply a child without saying which

That is one reason the noun is useful, but grammatically it still behaves as neuter.

The dictionary forms are:

• dziecko → dziecko
• widzi → widzieć
• króla → król

So when learning vocabulary from this sentence, you would normally record:

• dziecko = child
• widzieć = to see
• król = king

Yes. It is a perfectly normal, complete sentence.

It has:

• a subject: dziecko
• a verb: widzi
• a direct object: króla

So it is a simple and natural example of a basic Polish sentence pattern: subject + verb + object.

Yes, króla can also be a genitive singular form in other contexts, but in this sentence it is accusative because it is the direct object of widzi.

So the form itself can match more than one case, but the sentence structure tells you which one it is.

Here:

• widzi kogo? co? = sees whom? what?
• answer: króla

That means it is functioning as the accusative here.