Breakdown of Ten bilet jest drogi, ale kino jest nowe.
być
to be
nowy
new
ale
but
ten
this
kino
the cinema
bilet
the ticket
drogi
expensive
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Polish grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Ten bilet jest drogi, ale kino jest nowe.
Why is ten used before bilet instead of ta or to?
In Polish ten/ta/to agree in gender, number and case with the noun they modify. Bilet is masculine singular, so you use ten (masc. sg. nom.). Ta is feminine singular, to is neuter singular.
What case are bilet, drogi, kino and nowe in?
They’re all in the nominative singular. After the verb jest (“is”), the subject and its adjective or predicate adjective both appear in the nominative.
Why is the adjective drogi used here and what exactly does it mean?
Drogi is the nominative masculine singular form of the adjective meaning “expensive.” It describes bilet (“ticket”). Note that drogi can also mean “dear” (as in beloved), but in this context it means “costly.”
Why does drogi not change when preceded by jest?
In Polish, after a linking verb like jest, the adjective agrees with the subject in gender, number and case. Since bilet is masc. sg. nom., the adjective stays drogi (not, for example, drogiego or drogiemu).
Why is there a comma before ale?
Ale is a coordinating conjunction meaning “but.” In Polish you separate two independent clauses connected by ale with a comma, just as in English.
What does ale exactly convey here?
Ale introduces a contrast. The sentence says: “The ticket is expensive, but the cinema is new.” It highlights that although one thing (the ticket) is costly, another thing (the cinema) has a positive feature (it’s new).
Why is kino paired with nowe, not nowy?
Kino is a neuter noun in Polish. Neuter nominative singular adjectives end in -e, so “new” becomes nowe (not nowy, which is masc. sg.).
Polish doesn’t have “a” or “the” in this sentence. How do you know whether it’s a specific ticket or any ticket?
Polish has no articles. Context and word order usually tell you whether something is definite or indefinite. Here ten bilet (“this ticket”) is specific; if you wanted “a ticket,” you’d say simply bilet without ten.
Why is the verb jest repeated twice? Could you omit the second one?
Each clause needs its own verb. You could speak colloquially and say Ten bilet jest drogi, kino jest nowe, but grammatically you still have two clauses each with jest. Omission of the second jest (like in English “is”) is possible in casual speech or subtitles but less formal in writing.