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Mój przyjaciel jest miły.

Mój przyjaciel jest miły.
My friend is nice.
FromLesson 6inHardcore Polish

Breakdown of Mój przyjaciel jest miły.

być
to be
mój
my
przyjaciel
the friend
miły
nice

Questions & Answers about Mój przyjaciel jest miły.

Why is mój spelled with ó instead of u, and what does it mean?
mój is the masculine singular form of the possessive pronoun meaning my. In modern Polish ó and u both sound like /u/, but ó remains in certain words for historical reasons. You just have to memorize which words use ó and which use u.
Does mój change if the speaker is female, or does it depend on the gender of the friend?
Possessive pronouns in Polish agree with the gender, number and case of the noun they modify, not the speaker. Because przyjaciel (“friend”) is masculine, you say mój whether you’re a man or a woman. If your friend were female (przyjaciółka), you’d use moja.
Why is there no a or the in this sentence?
Polish does not have articles. You simply say Mój przyjaciel jest miły and that covers both “My friend is nice” and “A friend of mine is nice” or “The friend I was telling you about is nice” depending on context.
How do you pronounce mój przyjaciel jest miły?

Approximate pronunciation:
• mój = /muj/ (“moy” but with an u sound)
• przyjaciel = /pʂɨˈja.t͡ɕɛl/ (pshih-YA-chel)
• jest = /jɛst/ (like “yes” + t)
• miły = /ˈmi.wɨ/ (MEE-wih)
Stress in Polish almost always falls on the second-to-last syllable: przyJA​ciel, MI​ły.

What case are mój, przyjaciel and miły in, and why?
They’re all in the masculine singular nominative. In a simple statement the subject (przyjaciel) is nominative, and its modifiers (mój and miły) must agree with it in gender (masculine), number (singular) and case (nominative).
Why is jest included here? Can you drop the verb “to be” like in Russian?
In Polish you normally must use the present-tense form of to be (jest) in such sentences. Unlike Russian or Ukrainian, you don’t omit it in everyday speech.
Can I change the word order, for example say Jest miły mój przyjaciel?
While Polish word order is more flexible than English, Jest miły mój przyjaciel sounds poetic or marked. The neutral, most common order is Mój przyjaciel jest miły (subject–verb–predicate).
How would I say “My friend is nice” if my friend were female or if I were talking about several friends?

• Female friend (singular):
Moja przyjaciółka jest miła.
• Several friends (masculine or mixed group):
Moi przyjaciele są mili.
• Several friends (female group):
Moje przyjaciółki są miłe.

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