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Questions & Answers about Te dzieci mają jabłka.
Why is te used instead of ci with dzieci?
In Polish, to choose the correct demonstrative pronoun, you need to pay attention to the grammatical gender and number. Dzieci is a plural noun, but it is not a so-called "masculine personal" plural (which would require ci). Instead, dzieci is a plural that traditionally falls under "non-masculine personal" and takes te. So we say te dzieci for "these children."
Why do we use mają instead of ma?
In Polish, the verb form changes according to the subject. Dzieci is a 3rd person plural subject (they), so we conjugate mieć ("to have") to mają rather than ma (which is used for he/she/it). Hence, we say dzieci mają (children have).
Which case is jabłka in?
Jabłka is the accusative plural form of jabłko ("apple"). The verb mieć ("to have") takes a direct object in the accusative case, so we need jabłka and not a different case form.
Is there a difference between saying Te dzieci mają jabłka and Tamte dzieci mają jabłka?
Yes. Te dzieci means "these children" (close to the speaker), while tamte dzieci means "those children" (further away). The difference is similar to "these" vs. "those" in English.
Why do we say dzieci instead of something like dziecka?
Dziecko is singular ("child"), and dzieci is the irregular plural form ("children"). Polish has a few nouns with irregular plural forms, and dziecko → dzieci is one of them. Dziecka can appear in other cases (such as genitive singular, meaning "of the child"), but not in this simple "these children" context.
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