Dźwięk wiatru jest głośny.

The sound of the wind is loud.

Breakdown of Dźwięk wiatru jest głośny.

• być: to be
• głośny: loud
• wiatr: the wind
• dźwięk: the sound

Questions & Answers about Dźwięk wiatru jest głośny.

What grammatical case is wiatru in, and why is that case used here?

Wiatru is in the genitive case. In Polish, when one noun (“dźwięk”) describes a relationship like “sound of the wind,” the second noun (the thing you’re talking about) goes into the genitive. This is called a genitive attribute.

Why does głośny end with -ny rather than -na or -ne?

Głośny is an adjective describing dźwięk, which is a masculine singular noun in the nominative. Polish adjectives must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun they modify. For a masculine singular nominative noun you get the ending -ny.

Why is the verb jest needed in this sentence? Can it be omitted?

In standard Polish, you normally include the copula jest for clear descriptions in the present tense. Omitting jest (as in Dźwięk wiatru głośny) can sound poetic, emphatic, or like a newspaper headline. In everyday speech and writing, it’s best to keep jest to form a complete clause.

How do you pronounce dźwięk? The letters dź and ę look tricky.

Phonetically it’s /d͡ʑvjɛŋk/.

• dź sounds like a soft “j” after a slight “d” (similar to “j” in “jeep,” but palatalized).
• ę is a nasalized “e,” almost like “en” in “French.”
  Put it together: dź-vj-ę-nk.

Could I say Wiatr jest głośny instead? Does it mean the same thing?

You can say Wiatr jest głośny (“The wind is loud”), but you’re then commenting on the wind itself rather than specifically on its sound. In everyday conversation, people might use them interchangeably, but strictly speaking Dźwięk wiatru jest głośny focuses on the sound and Wiatr jest głośny on the wind as a phenomenon.

What role does dźwięk play in the sentence, and what case is it in?

Dźwięk is the subject of the sentence, so it’s in the nominative case. It’s what the sentence is about—“the sound” that is being described as loud.

Polish doesn’t have articles like “a” or “the.” How do I know if dźwięk wiatru means “a sound of wind” or “the sound of the wind”?

Polish relies on context rather than articles. Dźwięk wiatru can be translated as either a or the sound of the wind depending on the situation. If you’re talking about any wind sound, you’d think “a sound of wind”; if you mean a specific one you heard, you’d use “the sound of the wind.”