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Schody w sąsiednim budynku są niskie i szerokie.

Schody w sąsiednim budynku są niskie i szerokie.
The stairs in the neighboring building are low and wide.
FromLesson 13inHardcore Polish
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Breakdown of Schody w sąsiednim budynku są niskie i szerokie.

być
to be
w
in
i
and
budynek
the building
schody
the stairs
sąsiedni
neighboring
niski
low
szeroki
wide

Questions & Answers about Schody w sąsiednim budynku są niskie i szerokie.

Why is schody in the plural? Is there a singular form like “a stair”?
Schody (‘stairs’) is a plurale tantum in Polish – it only exists in the plural. There is no singular schód. If you want to talk about a single step, you use stopień; for a single flight of stairs you say klatka schodowa.
What case is w sąsiednim budynku, and why do sąsiednim and budynku look different from sąsiedni budynek?

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.
Why do the adjectives niskie and szerokie both end in -e?
Schody is treated as a plural inanimate noun. In the nominative plural (for non–masculine-personal nouns), adjectives always take the ending -e. Examples: wysokie okna, zielone drzewa, niskie i szerokie schody.
Why doesn’t Polish use articles like a, an, or the in this sentence?
Polish has no definite or indefinite articles. Context or additional words (e.g. ten, jakiś) carry notions of definiteness or indefiniteness. Here you simply state Schody w sąsiednim budynku są niskie i szerokie without any article.
Can I swap the order of the two adjectives, e.g. szerokie i niskie schody?
Yes. Polish adjective order is fairly flexible. Swapping them doesn’t change the core meaning, though native speakers may prefer one order to highlight a particular feature first.
Is the placement of w sąsiednim budynku fixed? Could it go at the end?

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.

How do you pronounce ą in sąsiednim and sz in szerokie?

• 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.”

What are the base (dictionary) forms of niskie and szerokie?

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.).

More from this lesson

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