Questions & Answers about Dziękuję za miły gest.
What is the infinitive form of dziękuję, and how is the first-person singular present tense formed?
Dziękuję is the first-person singular present tense of the infinitive dziękować (“to thank”). To form it:
- Remove the infinitive ending -ać from dziękować, leaving the stem dziękow-
- Add the personal ending -ę (for “I”), yielding dziękuję
So dziękuję literally means “I thank” and is used in Polish as “thank you.”
Why is za used before miły gest, and which case does it govern here?
In Polish, dziękować za means “to thank for.” In that meaning, the preposition za always takes the accusative case. Since gest is an inanimate masculine noun, its accusative singular form is identical to its nominative (gest). Hence za miły gest (“for a nice gesture”).
Why is the adjective miły not in the form miłego?
Because gest is an inanimate masculine noun. In Polish grammar:
- Animate masculine nouns change in the accusative (e.g. pies → psa)
- Inanimate masculine nouns keep the nominative form in the accusative
Therefore the adjective stays as masculine nominative/accusative singular: miły gest.