co to jest?

when to use (jak/jaki/jakie) and when to use (co)? coz in bez problemu book it both means "what" but they dont give explanation about it. Just little confused. Im a beginer learner of Polish so i still dont know much and I hope someone can help me. Dziękuję

Jak = how
Jaki = which one
jakie= which ones
co = what

im not a good teacher but one difference is:


when you use it you want somene to name the thing


and this one asks to describe

for example:

- i was in the mall and i bought something ( byłem w markecie i kupiłem coś )
- co? (what? )
- a new pair of shoes ( nową parę butów )
- jakich? (których ) (which ones? )
- tych niebieskich pum, które pokazałem Ci wczoraj ( that blue pumas i showed you yesturday)
- spoko, a teraz wypierdalaj ( cool, and now fcuk off )

hope it will help a bit

what's the new Polish guy in the store like - jaki jest ten nowy Polak z magazynu

what's the colour of your car - jakiego koloru jest twój samochód
(literally - what colour is your car - don't know if it is good English)

what is your name - jak się nazywasz/ jak masz na imię

what is the price of these oranges - w jakiej cenie są te pomarańcze

what does your country look like - jak wygląda twój kraj

Note that in most cases sentences in Polish don't translate literally (word for word) into English - it is very often the case with these two languages

with the more standalone situation of what in English Polish counterpart is co

what is it? - co to jest
vs
what is it like? - jakie to jest

what is it that you have on your coat? a stain? - co to jest to coś co masz na płaszczu? plama jakaś?

I can't now figure if there is any apparent rule when what translates into co and when into jak(i,a,ie)
just learn more examples and you may get the feeling of when to use one and when the other

Jaki, jakie, jaka you use when you want to know what something/someone is like.

Jaki on jest? (What is he like)?

And also when asking what kind of the "thing" people mean.

- Poproszę piwo.
- Jakie?
- Lech

If you ask what thing (not what kind of thing) you use co.

Thank you so much ^^, mhuaaa -Aze

@SzwedwPolsce

That was a brilliant explanation thanks.

Co to jest?
To jest piwo.
Jakie piwo?
To polskie piwo.

kto to jest?
To jest Anna.
Jaka ona jest?
Ona jest miła.

Jakie piwo lubisz?
Odp. Lubię polskie piwo.

Jaki kolor lubisz?
Lubię niebieski.

Jaką czekoladę lubisz?
Lubię ciemna.
Lubię ciemną czekoladę.

Czego lubisz? This is more of a general question as far as I can tell.
Lubię czekoladę.
Jaką czekoladę lubisz?
Lubię ciemna.


The way that this question is surprised me. It looks like questions decline nouns also etc. Am I wrong?

Is there a special way of thinking about how to ask these questions? When we want to make a statement "Like I am an engineer" we look at the question to see what case we should use etc.

I am an engineer.
Kim jestem?
Jestem inżynierem.

What do we look at to know what case to use in the question?

You doing good Cat,not that it's wrong but you can answer simply.
Odp.Polskie.


Same here:
Odp.Ciemną.


No.Lubić-kogo,co.NEVER czego.

Dzięki.

One exception is negation: negative element always requires Genitive.

Czego nie lubisz?
Nie lubię czekolady.

Kogo nie lubisz?
Anny.

Jakiej czekolady nie lubisz?
Białej.


Yes they do. The thing is, if the verb requires a given case of the noun, the rule stands both for questions and for statements.

Lubisz czekoladę? (Acc)
Lubię czekoladę (Acc)
but Nie lubię czekolady (negation - Gen).

The reason for answering in whole sentences is because it is easier to figure out what is going on with the grammar and if I was doing a test I think that the tester/teacher would prefer whole answers instead of one word answers although I do realize that a person in the street would lose patience with me if I was talking to them in whole sentences, wasting their time instead of giving the the question/answer in the shortest possible form.


This was very helpful because I was wondering about jakiej and the others. Thanks.