Mój szalik jest ciepły.

to be

Breakdown of Mój szalik jest ciepły.

• mój: my
• ciepły: warm
• szalik: the scarf

Questions & Answers about Mój szalik jest ciepły.

Why is it Mój instead of Moje?

Mój is the masculine singular nominative form of the first-person possessive pronoun. Szalik is a masculine noun in the nominative case, so the pronoun must agree in gender, number and case—hence mój.

How do we know that szalik is masculine and in the nominative case?

Polish nouns have gender and are inflected for case. Szalik ends in a consonant, which usually indicates masculine gender. It’s in the nominative case because it’s the subject of the sentence (“my scarf”). The nominative singular masculine form is simply szalik.

Why is the adjective ciepły ending in -y, and not -a or -e?

Adjectives in Polish agree with the noun they describe in gender, number and case. Because szalik is masculine singular nominative, the adjective takes the masculine singular nominative ending -y, giving ciepły.

Why do we need the verb jest here? Couldn’t we just say Mój szalik ciepły?

In standard Polish, a present-tense linking verb (a form of być, “to be”) is required to connect a subject with a predicate adjective. Omitting jest in everyday speech sounds incomplete or poetic. So Mój szalik jest ciepły is the correct full sentence.