Różnica jest mała.

Because różnica is a feminine noun in Polish, and adjectives must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case.

• różnica = feminine singular
• so mały changes to mała

This is called adjective agreement.

Compare:

• mały dom = a small house (dom is masculine)
• mała różnica = a small difference (różnica is feminine)
• małe okno = a small window (okno is neuter)

It is in the nominative singular.

In this sentence, różnica is the subject, so Polish uses the nominative:

• Różnica jest mała. = The difference is small.

You can recognize the basic dictionary form here:

• różnica = difference

Jest means is. It is the 3rd person singular form of być (to be).

So:

• różnica = difference
• jest = is
• mała = small

Polish often uses jest just like English uses is in simple statements.

However, in everyday Polish, the verb to be is sometimes omitted in the present tense, especially in informal style:

• Różnica jest mała.
• Różnica mała. (less standard / more colloquial or stylistically marked)

For learners, it is safest to use jest.

Yes, Polish word order is more flexible than English, because endings carry a lot of grammatical information.

The most neutral order is:

• Różnica jest mała.

But you may also hear:

• Mała jest różnica.
• Jest mała różnica.

These can sound more emphatic, marked, or context-dependent. For a learner, Różnica jest mała is the best default choice.

Polish does not have articles like a, an, or the.

So różnica can mean:

• a difference
• the difference

The exact meaning depends on context.

In this sentence, English may translate it as:

• The difference is small. or
• A difference is small.

But in real usage, The difference is small is usually the natural interpretation.

A rough English-friendly guide is:

• róż sounds a bit like roozh
• ni sounds like nyi or a soft nee
• ca sounds like tsa

So approximately:

• RÓŻ-ni-tsa

A few important details:

• ó is pronounced like u
• ż sounds like the s in measure
• ni before a vowel is a soft n

A more careful approximation is:

• ROOZH-nyi-tsa

A rough pronunciation is:

• MAH-wa

Important points:

• ł in modern Polish is pronounced like English w
• the first syllable ma is like ma in mama
• final -ła sounds roughly like wa

So mała sounds quite different from how it looks to English speakers.

The letter ł is one of the most important Polish letters for learners. In modern Polish, it is usually pronounced like English w.

So:

• mała sounds roughly like mawa
• był sounds roughly like biw
• mały sounds roughly like mawy

This is very different from plain l, which is a normal l sound.

Here it is an adjective meaning small.

Its basic dictionary form is usually given as:

• mały = small

But Polish adjectives change form depending on the noun:

• mały for masculine
• mała for feminine
• małe for neuter

So in this sentence, mała is simply the feminine singular form of mały.

Yes. Niewielka also means small, slight, or not great, and it can sound a bit more natural in some contexts.

Compare:

• Różnica jest mała. = The difference is small.
• Różnica jest niewielka. = The difference is slight / not large.

Both are correct.
Mała is straightforward and basic.
Niewielka can sound a little more formal or nuanced.

In Polish, stress usually falls on the second-to-last syllable of a word.

So:

• różnica → stress on róż: RÓŻ-ni-ca
• jest → one syllable, so no issue
• mała → stress on ma: MA-ła

So the whole sentence is pronounced roughly:

• RÓŻ-ni-ca jest MA-ła

Because mała is not directly describing the noun inside a noun phrase like a small difference. Instead, it is part of the predicate:

• Różnica jest mała. = The difference is small.

This is different from:

• mała różnica = a small difference

So:

• mała różnica → adjective directly before noun
• różnica jest mała → noun + is
  • adjective

That works much like English:

• a small difference
• the difference is small

Yes, and that is a very good habit in Polish.

You should learn nouns together with their gender, because gender affects:

• adjectives
• pronouns
• past tense verbs
• some number expressions

For example, if you learn:

• różnica (feminine)

then you will more easily produce:

• mała różnica
• ta różnica = this difference
• różnica była mała = the difference was small

For Polish learners, memorizing nouns with gender is extremely helpful.