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A little Polish grammar. Masculine, animate objects.


mochadot18  18 | 245  
14 Apr 2014 /  #61
quickie question,
How come when you translate this is my mother
I would translate it as, Ta jest moja matka
But how come it seems to be translated as To jest moja matka??

Isnt this, Ten, Ta, To
And matka and moja are in the Fem form so why isnt this in the fem form?
krecik89  3 | 60  
14 Apr 2014 /  #62
If you want to say a general - This is - To jest - is used for all genders. This is a nice place. This is my father. etc - To jest.

If you say it in a different more specific way e.g. This woman is my mother. Then you use gender specific articles and words. Ta kobieta jest moją matką.
Wlodzimierz  4 | 539  
14 Apr 2014 /  #63
Kręcik,

What you meant was that in mochadot18's sentence, "To jest moją matką." should be governed by the Instrumental, rather than the Nominative, case:-)
cinek  2 | 347  
15 Apr 2014 /  #64
"To jest moją matką."

Never say this to anyone!
In this sentence you expresses great disapproval to the person who's your mother. Actually, you're saying that she's not even a woman but a 'to' ('it')...

You should say:
- "To jest moja matka" when pointing or introducing
or
- "Ta pani/kobieta jest moją matką" when describing the person.

Beware! Omitting 2 small ogonki (a-ą) makes a HUGE difference in the meaning of this sentence.
Cinek

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