Jeden hamburger / jednego hamburgera

I've heard some different version of these expressions in Poland.

Which do you prefer? (a) or (b)?

1.
(a) Poproszę jeden hamburger.
(b) Poproszę jednego hamburgera.

2.
(a) Właśnie zjadłem jeden hamburger.
(b) Właśnie zjadłem jednego hamburgera.

(a) is hypercorrect, hence incorrect :) (well, not really, but it doesn't sound natural anymore)
(b) is perfectly OK.

The "-a" Accusative ending of non-animate male nouns is becoming increasingly popular in spoken everyday Polish and it's no longer considered bad grammar. On the Poradnia językowa PWN site Mirosław Bańko says: "W języku potocznym wymienione rzeczowniki mają biernik liczby pojedynczej równy dopełniaczowi, w języku oficjalnym ich biernik może być równy mianownikowi" - In everyday speech the Acc sing. of these nouns is the same as Genitive, while in formal language it's the same as Nominative.

With hamburger, and most other edible things (ogórek, pomidor, banan, kotlet etc.), I wouldn't hesitate to use the -a ending. But with other male nouns the Acc. still equals Nominative - poproszę jeden telewizor, jeden telefon, jeden komputer. So it depends on the word, really - with some nouns you can use the -a ending and with other, you can't.

Ugh!!!


not in my day :).......it's confusing :(

So, Strzyga, if I went to a kiosk in Wrocław tomorrow and asked "jeden hamburger poproszę" would I get a look?

yeah, I know :))


well, the language changes and with Polish, it's mostly simplification (there's hope for the foreign learners, just wait another couple of decades or so ;)


No, you wouldn't, the process has not gone that far yet. But I bet the next nine customers would say "jednego hamburgera".

I get it :)
Ok then, it's jednego hamburgera from now on!

When in doubt, take two ;)

Hahaha
We used to do exactly that back in the day! lol