Breakdown of Schody w sąsiednim budynku są niskie i szerokie.
Questions & Answers about Schody w sąsiednim budynku są niskie i szerokie.
The preposition w (‘in’) here governs the locative case.
- Budynek (building) → locative singular budynku
- sąsiedni (neighbouring) → locative singular masculine sąsiednim
Adjectives in Polish must agree with their nouns in gender, number and case.
Polish word order is quite free. You can say:
• Schody w sąsiednim budynku są niskie i szerokie (neutral)
• Schody są niskie i szerokie w sąsiednim budynku (puts location last)
Both sentences mean the same, though the first is stylistically more common.
• ą is a nasal vowel similar to the French on in bon, so są- sounds like “son-”.
• sz is a voiceless retroflex fricative [ʂ], like English sh in ship.
All together, sąsiednim ≈ “son-shyed-neem” and szerokie ≈ “sher-oh-kyeh.”
They come from the masculine singular nominative adjectives:
• niski – low
• szeroki – wide
In other genders, numbers or cases they will take different endings (e.g. feminine niska, neuter niskie, genitive plural niskich, etc.).