Breakdown of Nikt nigdy nie rozmawia podczas medytacji.
nie
no / not
rozmawiać
to talk
nigdy
never
podczas
during
Questions & Answers about Nikt nigdy nie rozmawia podczas medytacji.
Why does the word medytacja change to medytacji here?
It is in the Genitive case because it follows the preposition podczas (during). In Polish, feminine nouns ending in -cja take the ending -cji in the Genitive.
Could I use the phrase w trakcie instead of podczas in this sentence?
Yes, you can say w trakcie medytacji and it means exactly the same thing. Both podczas and w trakcie mean "during" and both force the noun that follows them into the Genitive case.
Why are there three negative words (nikt, nigdy, nie) together?
Polish uses multiple negation. When you use negative words like nikt (nobody) and nigdy (never), you must still put nie (not) before the verb. While English says "Nobody ever talks", the Polish sentence literally translates as "Nobody never not talks".
Why use rozmawia instead of mówi?
Rozmawiać specifically means "to converse" or "to chat with each other", which fits perfectly since the sentence is about people having conversations during a silent activity. Mówić just means "to speak" or "to say something".