Breakdown of Między pocztą a apteką jest księgarnia.
być
to be
a
and
księgarnia
the bookstore
apteka
the pharmacy
poczta
the post office
między
between
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Polish grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Między pocztą a apteką jest księgarnia.
Why are pocztą and apteką in the instrumental case?
Because the preposition między requires the instrumental case when you describe a static location “between” two things. The base forms are poczta and apteka, and their instrumental singular forms are pocztą and apteką.
Could I use pomiędzy instead of między, and would anything else change?
Yes. Pomiędzy is a synonym of między. You can say Pomiędzy pocztą a apteką jest księgarnia with no other changes—same cases, same word order. Pomiędzy is sometimes a bit more emphatic or formal, but both are correct.
Why is księgarnia in the nominative case even though it comes after jest?
In Polish, after the linking verb jest (is), the predicate noun remains in the nominative case. Here księgarnia is effectively the subject or the thing whose existence is stated, so it stays nominative.
Is jest here the equivalent of English “is,” or is it “there is”?
Polish uses jest for both functions. In this sentence it’s existential—more like “there is.” So Między pocztą a apteką jest księgarnia literally means “Between the post office and the pharmacy there is a bookstore.”
Why do we connect pocztą and apteką with a instead of i?
In the construction między … a …, you always use a (“and”). Using i after między would be ungrammatical.
Can I switch the word order to Księgarnia jest między pocztą a apteką? Would that sound OK?
Absolutely. Polish word order is flexible. Fronting Między pocztą a apteką puts the location first; fronting Księgarnia puts the emphasis on the bookstore. Both versions are correct and mean the same thing.
Why aren’t there any articles like “a” or “the” before księgarnia?
Polish has no indefinite or definite articles. Indefiniteness can be implied by context or words like jakieś (some), and definiteness by ta (that) or possessives. In this sentence, księgarnia is just an unspecified bookstore.
How is księgarnia pronounced, and which syllable is stressed?
Polish stress almost always falls on the second-to-last (penultimate) syllable. So księgarnia is pronounced księ-GAR-nia.