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Questions & Answers about Co pan zamawia?
The translation says "the gentleman", but would I use this to say "What are you ordering, sir?"
Yes, absolutely! In Polish, the polite way to say "you" to a man is to use pan (sir or gentleman) along with the "he/she/it" form of the verb. So asking "What is the gentleman ordering?" is exactly how you directly ask a male stranger or customer "What are you ordering?".
Since "what" is the thing being ordered, shouldn't co be in the Accusative case for direct objects?
It actually is! The word co is the direct object here. However, the Accusative form of co is exactly the same as its basic dictionary form. It doesn't change spelling, so it just stays co.
Why isn't there a word for "is" in this sentence to match "is ordering"?
Polish doesn't have a separate "is doing" form of verbs like English does. The single word zamawia covers both "orders" in general and "is ordering" right now. Adding a Polish word for "is" here would be grammatically incorrect.
Could I change the word order to Pan co zamawia?
Polish word order is very flexible, but question words like co almost always go at the very beginning of the sentence. Putting co in the middle sounds unnatural, so Co pan zamawia? is the best and most natural way to ask.