Language /
Impersonal verb form [3]
the difference comes from such notions
to learn - uczyć się (i.e. siebie) - it can also be rendered as to teach oneself (this is actually a litteral translation)
I learn - uczę się ( uczę siebie) - I am the object (as well as the subject) (so I teach myself)
he learns - uczy się (uczy siebie) - he is the object in the sentence as well as the subject (in other words he teaches himself)
while
dzieci uczy się.. (one teaches children.. or children are taught...)
in this case dzieci/children are the object of the action but they are not the subject
the subject is not determined (not in focus) and it is exatly
się that indicates it is noone particular that teaches the children whatever they are supposed be taught
(otherwise the subject is missing in this sentence (lexiacally))
dzieci uczy się is completely different to dzieci uczą się:
one teaches children.. vs children learn (literally children teach themselves)
dzieci in both of these are in different grammatical cases
dzieci uczy się - here dzieci are in genitive (because they are the object of to teach)
(kogo/czego? - dzieci)
dzieci uczą się - here dzieci are in nominative (because they are the subject of to learn (to teach oneself) (kto/co? - dzieci)
it is not that rare that polish nouns have the same forms in two cases ( like say
ta pani (Nom.) and
tej pani (Dat. and Gen.))
or sometimes two forms of different words look the same ( for example
szal can either be Nom. of masculine noun for scarf or a Gen. of
szala - which is cage (the one that goes with the scales)
sometimes even forms of a noun and a verb can look the same (even not semanticly close one):
duma - can be a noun in Nom (pride) or a present tense 3rd person of singular of
dumać - to ponder, to think, to contemplate ( can be translated as 's/he contemplates')
