Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Polish grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Podróż do pracy jest długa.
What part of speech is podróż, and what is its gender?
podróż is a noun. In Polish it is feminine gender, singular, and in this sentence it’s in the nominative case. The noun’s gender determines the forms of any adjectives or pronouns that refer to it.
Why does the adjective end in -a (długa) instead of -y (długi)?
Adjectives in Polish must agree with the noun’s gender, number, and case. Since podróż is feminine singular nominative, the adjective długi takes its feminine singular nominative form długa. A masculine noun would require długi.
Why is there no article like “the” or “a” before podróż?
Polish does not have articles. Definiteness (the vs. a) is inferred from context rather than marked by words. Podróż do pracy jest długa can mean “The commute to work is long” or “A journey to work is long,” depending on context.
Why is pracy not praca, and what role does do play?
The preposition do (“to”) always requires the genitive case. The base form praca (nominative) becomes pracy (genitive). So do pracy literally means “to (the) work,” and grammatically pracy is in genitive because of do.
Why is the verb jest needed in this sentence?
jest is the third-person singular present tense of być (“to be”). In standard Polish you generally need a copula in present-tense statements. Omitting jest would make the sentence ungrammatical in normal speech.
Can I omit jest and say Podróż do pracy długa?
No. Unlike in English where you might drop “is” for headlines, Polish requires jest in a full, neutral present-tense sentence. Leaving it out would sound incorrect outside of very terse headlines or poetic styles.
Can I change the word order to Długa jest podróż do pracy?
Yes. Polish has flexible word order. Długa jest podróż do pracy is grammatically correct but less neutral. It puts extra emphasis on długa (“long”) and can sound more formal or poetic. The most straightforward order is subject–verb–predicate: Podróż do pracy jest długa.
Could I use dojazd instead of podróż here?
Yes. dojazd (“commute” or “getting to”) is a masculine noun. You would then say Dojazd do pracy jest długi (using masculine długi). podróż is more general (“journey”), while dojazd focuses on the act of getting somewhere, often daily.
What’s the difference between długa and daleka when describing a journey?
długa refers to length in time or duration (“long” in time or distance). daleka means “far” in terms of spatial distance (“far away”). So Podróż do pracy jest długa means “The commute takes a long time,” whereas Podróż do pracy jest daleka would mean “The commute covers a long distance” (or “the workplace is far away”).