Ja sprawdzam numer telefonu w liście.

I

Breakdown of Ja sprawdzam numer telefonu w liście.

• w: in
• numer telefonu: the phone number
• list: the letter

Questions & Answers about Ja sprawdzam numer telefonu w liście.

Why are there no words for “the” or “a” before numer or liście?

Polish does not have articles like the or a. Definiteness and indefiniteness are expressed through context, word order or additional words (e.g. ten numer – “this number,” jakiś numer – “some number”). Here, you simply understand numer telefonu and w liście from the situation.

What case is liście and why isn’t it just lista?

liście is the locative singular form of the feminine noun lista. After the preposition w (“in”), Polish requires the locative. The full locative declension of lista is:

• Nom. lista
• Gen. listy
• Dat. liście
• Acc. listę
• Inst. listą
• Loc. liście

So w liście literally means “in the list.”

Is numer in the nominative case? It looks like the dictionary form.

Actually numer here is the direct object of sprawdzam (“I check”), so it’s in the accusative. For inanimate masculine singular nouns, the accusative form is identical to the nominative. That’s why numer looks unchanged.

Why is telefonu in the genitive case instead of telefon?