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Questions & Answers about Droga do domu jest długa.
Why is there no the or a before droga?
Polish does not use definite or indefinite articles like the or a. Nouns appear on their own, so droga simply means “road” or “way” without any article.
What case is domu and why is it used after do?
domu is the genitive form of dom (“home”). The preposition do (“to” or “toward”) always requires the genitive case, so do domu means “to home.”
Why does długa end with -a instead of -y or -i?
In Polish adjectives agree in gender, number and case with the nouns they describe. Droga is feminine, singular, nominative—so the matching adjective form is długa (ending in -a). Masculine or neuter nouns would take długi or długie instead.
What part of speech is jest and what does it do here?
jest is the third person singular present tense of the verb być (“to be”). It acts as a copula, linking the subject Droga do domu with the predicate adjective długa.
Could I change the word order and still be understood? For example, Jest długa droga do domu?
Yes. Polish word order is relatively flexible. The default is Subject-Verb-Object (SVO), but you can front jest or długa to shift emphasis. Jest długa droga do domu is grammatically correct and simply emphasizes that the road is long.
How is Droga do domu jest długa pronounced and where does the stress fall?
Polish stress normally falls on the penultimate (second-to-last) syllable. A rough phonetic transcription is:
DROH-gah DOH-moo yest DWOH-gah
Or in IPA: [ˈdrɔ.ɡa dɔ ˈdɔ.mu jɛst ˈdwʊ.ɡa].
What’s the difference between saying droga jest długa and saying do domu jest daleko using daleko?
- długa is an adjective meaning “long,” agreeing with droga.
- daleko is an adverb meaning “far.” You wouldn’t say droga jest daleko, because daleko doesn’t agree with a noun.
Instead, you can say Do domu jest daleko (“It is far to home”).
You could also use the adjective daleka (“far” in feminine form) and say Droga do domu jest daleka, but this is less common than using długa for a physical length.