Learn Polish: W piątek o ósmej w kawiarni było za głośno. - On Friday at eight it was too loud in the cafe.

In Polish, when you describe the general environment or atmosphere (like the weather, or how it feels in a room), you use an impersonal verb like było (it was) with an adverb. So, było za głośno literally means "it was too loudly."

Could I say zbyt głośno instead of za głośno?

Yes! Both za and zbyt mean "too" when expressing excess. Za głośno is very common in everyday spoken Polish, while zbyt głośno sounds slightly more formal, but they are completely interchangeable in this sentence.

Why is the verb było (was) in the neuter form?

When making general statements about the environment or time where there isn't a specific subject (like "it was cold" or "it was loud"), Polish uses the third-person singular neuter form of the verb, which is było in the past tense.

Why is "at eight" translated as o ósmej?

When telling time in Polish, we use the preposition o (at) followed by the Locative case of the ordinal number. Ósmej is the Locative form of ósma (eighth). The word godzinie (hour) is understood and usually dropped, just like we often drop "o'clock" in English.